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Reflections on ‘hevel’ – theme from Eccesiastes

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, Home, Worship

Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.– Toby Mac

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. — Mary Oliver

All thoughts, all passions, all delights Whatever stirs this mortal frame All are but ministers of Love And feed His sacred flame. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The moment of surrender is not when life is over, it’s when it begins. – Marianne Williamson

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.  – Epictetus

SONGS about HEVEL –  LIFE’s RANDOMNESS, DEATH & TIME:
SONGS about MINDFULNESS for LITTLE MOMENTS:

GUEST HOUSE — Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

RANDOMNESS of LIFE: Humans Are Not in Control

So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness. —  Sidney Poitier

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. —Graham Greene

Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow. – Tony Schwartz

I had had a feeling of freedom because of the sudden change in my life. By comparison to what had come before, I felt immensely free. But then, once I became used to that freedom, even small tasks became more difficult. I placed constraints on myself, and filled the hours of the day. Or perhaps it was even more complicated than that. Sometimes I did exactly what I wanted to do all day—I lay on the sofa and read a book, or I typed up an old diary—and then the most terrifying sort of despair would descend on me: the very freedom I was enjoying seemed to say that what I did in my day was arbitrary, and that therefore my whole life and how I spent it was arbitrary. — Lydia Davis

There will be days when you feel defeated, exhausted, and plain old beat-up by life’s whiplash. People you love will disappoint you – and you will disappoint them. You’ll probably struggle with some kind of mortal appetite. Some days it will feel as though the veil between Heaven and Earth is made of reinforced concrete. — Sheri L. Dew

Chance is hugely significant in biology. In fact, the presence of apparent randomness in so many aspects of biology – from mutations in DNA to the chance involved in that one sperm reaching that one egg that became you – suggests that randomness is useful, even necessary, in very many cases. — Alice Roberts

What people fear most about tragedy is its randomness – a taxi cab jumps the curb and hits a pedestrian, a gun misfires and kills a bystander. Better to have some rational cause and effect between incident and injury. And if cause and effect aren’t possible, better that there at least be some reward for all the suffering. —  Jeffrey Kluger

When it turns out that the greatest enemy of truth is not falsehood, but gibberish, it turns out that the greatest intellectual virtue is not deductive brilliance or factual erudition, but common sense. When it turns out that the greatest enemy of decency is not hatred, but arbitrariness, it turns out that the greatest moral virtue is not kindness or mercy, but perseverance. When it turns out that the greatest enemy of good taste is not vulgarity, but ostentation, it turns out that the greatest aesthetic virtue is not elegance or refinement, but moderation. And when it turns out that the greatest enemy of civilization is not barbarity, but infantilism, it turns out that the greatest cultural virtue is not sophistication, but integrity. ―Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski

Trajectories aren’t linear. Life’s just a roller coaster. If you’re getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it’s varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I’m a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.—  Riz Ahmed
MORTALITY: Death Is Inevitable for All Beings
For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. — William Penn
To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror, to learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror. — Frank Herbert
Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal. — John F. Kennedy
When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn’t believe that we were mortal. —  Lana Del Rey
All men think that all men are mortal but themselves. —  Edward Young

Injury in general teaches you to appreciate every moment. I’ve had my share of injuries throughout my career. It’s humbling. It gives you perspective. No matter how many times I’ve been hurt, I’ve learned from that injury and come back even more humble. — Troy PolamaluThe day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. —  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Living in the light of eternity changes your priorities. — Rick WarrenWhen we are healthy, wealthy and powerful, we forget about our mortality. It’s only when irreparable cracks set in that we come back to reality. ― Bangambiki Habyarimana

TIME: Ephemeral and Eternal

What is important is to keep our mind high in the world of true understanding and returning to the world of our daily experience to seek therein the truth of beauty. No matter what we may be doing at a given moment, we must not forget that it has a bearing upon our everlasting self.. — Basho

Eternity is not something that begins after you’re dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now. —  Charlotte Perkins Gilman

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. – Annie Dillard

Don’t get me wrong, it is true that to have eternal life means that death is not the final word…that beyond the death of these human bodies is a life with God everlasting,  That’s beautiful, and yes, it is good news.  But I dare say that it’s not the whole picture.
Because I need eternal life to be about more than just what happens after I die.  I need eternal life to also be about life before death.  Eternal life can’t just be about time that never ends – because my relationship to time is in some ways, the very source of a lot of fear and anxiety in my life.  The philosopher Kierkegaard knew about this.  He wrote about how our anxieties are about how we relate to time – See, The fixed nature of what has already happened can feel terrifyingly final.   But the unknowable and vast nature of what can happen in the future is also frightening. It seems a simple enough truth – that we can’t change the past and we can’t control the future. Yet this is what haunts so many of us… Eternal life is life that is available now and it’s life that comes from knowing that death has finally been put in it’s place. — Nadia Bolz-Webe

I became a very simple person. The simple things are the most precious to me. I don’t ascribe much significance to the things I have now. That feeling of touching death has never left me. — Yossi Ghinsberg

Time puts things in proper perspective. — Cameron Crowe

Those who see the cosmic perspective as a depressing outlook, they really need to reassess how they think about the world. Because when I look up in the universe, I know I’m small but I’m also big. I’m big because I’m connected to the universe, and the universe is connected to me. — Neil deGrasse Tyson

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. —  Henry David Thoreau

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity. —  Edvard Munch

Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity. —  Herman Melville

Eternity’s a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it all going to end? —  Tom Stoppard

I am just sitting back and trying to take in the idea that the God who created everything around us, He didn’t call the mountains or the forest or the ocean to spend eternity with Him, but He called us. —  Bart Millard
ILLUSION of CONTROL: Letting Go and Accepting

When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. — Viktor FranklWe must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. – Joseph Campbell

We can control how we respond to things we can’t control … This devastating change was not my choice, but what I did next was … While we have to relinquish control over the circumstances, we can still maintain our connection to ourselves. We can work with this knowledge, to paraphrase Victor Frankl, to face the challenge of changing ourselves. … Transformation is all around us. Transitions are the birthing pains, alternately exhilarating and difficult, that can bring wondrous, challenging, beautiful changes into our lives.— Laura Fenamore

Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go. – Herman Hesse

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. – Lao Tzu

You like to claim that you’re in charge of the world, but it’s as if the world hasn’t noticed and it does whatever it pleases in spite of you. ― Trish MercerThe reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us. – A.W. Tozer

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. – Alexander Graham Bell

Letting go isn’t a one-time thing, it’s something you have to do every day, over and over again.– Dawson’s Creek

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. — Jean de La Fontaine

The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don’t have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it. —  Chris Pine
Compassion does not just happen. Pity does, but compassion is not pity. It’s not a feeling. Compassion is a viewpoint, a way of life, a perspective, a habit that becomes a discipline – and more than anything else, compassion is a choice we make that love is more important than comfort or convenience. — Glennon Doyle

Many of us rely on our own illusion of control. But when God makes it known to you that you’re not the one steering the ship, be thankful. He has removed the illusion, and forced you to rely only on Him. — Yasmin MogahedIf you want real control, drop the illusion of control; let life have you. It does anyway. You’re just telling yourself the story of how it doesn’t. — Byron Katie

Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms. —  Sterling K. Brown
Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. We can love and care for others but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family, or friends. We can assist them, pray for them, and wish them well, yet in the end their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes. — Jack Kornfield
Radical acceptance rests on letting go of the illusion of control and a willingness to notice and accept things as they are right now, without judging. — Marsha M. Linehan

QUOTIDIAN MOMENTS: Mindfulness for Life’s Simple Gifts: Relationships & Experiences

If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. – Eckhart Tolle

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

Life everlasting is always about the present. It’s about a promise in Christ made in the past, which continues in the future but is most especially for right now in the present. I think this is why all the great spiritual leaders teach mindfulness. Because  the gift of the present is the only thing that is real. — Nadia Bolz-WeberIf the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. — Eleonora Duse

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward. – Steve Maraboli

As you get older, the cliches of life ring true. It’s the simple things that matter most: your family, the people you love, your health and sanity. — Ronan Keating

Joy comes from places you least expect it. It’s usually the simple things, like watching my son play basketball or going through Central Park when the blossoms are blooming. — Dave Gahan

Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. – William Morris

To find the universal elements enough, to find the air and the water exhilarating, to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter … to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. – John Burroughs

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. – Oprah Winfrey

We do not heal the past by dwelling there; we heal the past by living fully in the present. – Marianne Williamson

Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.—  Jen Sincero
It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. — Laura Ingalls Wilder

Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. – Charles Spurgeon

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.  – Henry David Thoreau

Every area in our life that is full of stuff is crowding out relationships. As we get rid of the things that consume our time and stress, we make room for those we love the most. – Jeff Goins

Think how joyous each and every day could be when you are making the most of what you have. – Chrissy Halton

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. – Khalil Gibran

Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world. – Oscar Wilde

Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy. – Leo Babauta

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. – Marcel Proust

There are often many things we feel we should do that, in fact, we don’t really have to do. Getting to the point where we can tell the difference is a major milestone in the simplification process. – Elaine St. James

Happiness is actually found in simple things, such as taking my nephew around the island by bicycle or seeing the stars at night. We go to coffee shops or see airplanes land at the airport. — Andrea Hirata
Reflections on ‘hevel’ – theme from Eccesiastes
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