[Photo Source: Google online images]
17 Feb 2012 -- Our Path through Life weaves through a maze of daily challenges, sorrows, disappointments, pain, suffering; and if fate allows, some LOVE and JOY and LAUGHTER. The remainder of Life's Journey is a mystery – an adventure to unfold moment by moment – in a woven tapestry.
IS IT wise to let circumstance play its tune -- without spending energy to battle outcomes that may never eventuate (some call this the "Worry - Wart Syndrome")?
IS IT wise to waste your life changing or organizing events that cannot be altered from your efforts (some call this the "Serenity Prayer")?
IS IT wise to put on a 'brave face', a 'smiley face', a 'false face', a MASK – in order that one may be accepted by others?
So many questions – so many answers – so many perspectives!
WHAT MASK will I wear today? To be accepted! Loved! Forgiven! Penitent! Remembered! Cherished! Employed! Promoted! Successful! Saved! Released! Imprisoned!
WHO will see my MASK?
WHO will see that I'm even wearing a MASK?
WHO will see behind my MASK?
WHO will even be looking?
(Dorothy Hazel Tarr)
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[Photo Source: Google online images]
SOURCE LINK—
(God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. ~ "Serenity Prayer", by Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian and commentator, 1892-1971)
(JUST A NOTE — WHERE does ONE find the COURAGE to move on – beyond what can be seen?. ~dht)
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We CAN'T control the impressions others form about us, and THE EFFORT TO DO SO only debases our character. [~Epictetus]
(JUST A NOTE—I do not think that this Greek slave Epictetus used these exact words! DO YOU? The words used in this phrase "CAN'T" and "THE EFFORT TO DO SO" seem too colloquial. Nevertheless, the idea as recorded by Epictetus's pupil Arrian, may cause one to PAUSE and PONDER. ~dht)
SOURCE LINK—
Epictetus (Greek: Ἐπίκτητος; AD 55 – AD 135) was a Greek sage and Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present day Pamukkale, Turkey), and lived in Rome until banishment when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece where he lived the rest of his life. His teachings were noted down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses. Philosophy, he taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty to care for all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness and peace of mind.
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