We must live by the love of what we will never see

I was given a passage by the Brazilian theologian, Ruben Alvez, who described hope in this way:

“What is hope? It is the presentiment that imagination is more real and reality less real than it looks. Continue reading

It is arduous. Much courage will be needed.

 The seed cannot know what is going to happen, the seed has never known the flower. And the seed cannot even believe that he has the potentiality to become a beautiful flower. Long is the journey, and it is always safer not to go on that journey because unknown is the path, nothing is guaranteed. Continue reading

embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. Continue reading

Sometimes, it is our task to find out how much music we can make with what we have left

Yitzhak Perlman, the great violinist, was playing in New York. Yitzhak Perlman was crippled by polio as a young child, so the bottom part of his body doesn’t work well and he wears these very prominent leg braces and comes on in crutches, in a very painful, slow way, hauling himself across the stage. Then he sits down and, very carefully, unbuckles the leg braces and lays them down, puts down his crutches, and then picks up his violin. So, this night the audience had watched him slowly, painfully, walk across the stage; and he began to play. And, suddenly, there was a loud noise in the hall that signaled that one of his four strings on his violin had just snapped.

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A butterfly is a transformation, not a better caterpillar.

 

 

 

Change fixes the past. Transformation creates the future. Continue reading

Our Calling in Life

I like the word “calling,” but I think it gives us a false idea about our life’s work. I prefer the word in its plural form — “callings.” I’ve been “called” or “prompted” by an inner voice many times in my life. These callings have taken several forms — the impulse to change jobs, to relocate to a different country or city, to begin or end a business relationship, to give up a full-time job in order to care for a relative, etc. Continue reading

A balance between two extremes

First thing in the morning, pick three goals you want to accomplish. Each one should require some initiative on your part, activities that aren’t going to be completed if you merely go with the flow of the day. Continue reading

Steven Jobs from The Playboy Interview (1985)

Why are most people in the computer industry so young?

People get stuck as they get older. … Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind … In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them. It’s a rare person who etches grooves that are other than a specific way of looking at things, a specific way of questioning things. It’s rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing. Of course, there are some people who are innately curious, forever little kids in their awe of life, but they’re rare. Continue reading