Today's Thought Gem—November

[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 1 November is “All too often, when we battle for the right, it turns out that both the victor and the vanquished have sustained defeat” a suggested match would be:

I heard the Master say only yesterday

that the “wise man, when seeking entrance

through the locked door, would not destroy

the door but rather would seek

for the key wherewith to unlock it”

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 2 November is “Too often we engage in a fight merely to convince ourselves that we are not afraid” a suggested match would be:

My philosophy tells me

that there are times when I must fight,

if need be, for the defense of my concept of righteousness,

but I doubt not that the Master,

with a more mature type of personality,

would easily and gracefully gain

an equal victory by his superior and

winsome technique of tact and tolerance

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 3 November is “On every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit” a suggested match would be:

From such vantage points

of high living, man is able to transcend

the material irritations of

the lower levels of thinking — worry,

jealousy, envy, revenge, and

the pride of immature personality

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 4 November is “The two major problems of life are: making a temporal living and the achievement of eternal survival. And even the problem of making a living requires religion for its ideal solution” a suggested match would be:

 These are both highly personal problems.

True religion, in fact, does not function

apart from the individual

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 5 November is “Skill is one of the real sources of the satisfaction of living” a suggested match would be:

Ability implies

the gift of foresight,

farseeing vision

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 6 November is “Be not deceived by the tempting rewards of dishonest achievement: be willing to toil for the later returns inherent in honest endeavor” a suggested match would be:

The wise man is able to distinguish

between means and ends;

otherwise, sometimes overplanning

for the future defeats its own high purpose

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 7 November is “As a pleasure seeker you should aim to be a producer as well as a consumer” a suggested match would be:

Ability is that which you inherit,

while skill is what you acquire

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 8 November is “Train your memory to hold in sacred trust the strength-giving and worth-while episodes of life, which you can recall at will for your pleasure and edification” a suggested match would be:

Thus build up for yourself

and in yourself reserve

galleries of beauty, goodness,

and artistic grandeur

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 9 November is “…the noblest of all memories are the treasured recollections of the great moments of a superb friendship” a suggested match would be:

And all of these memory treasures

radiate their most precious

and exalting influences under

the releasing touch of spiritual worship

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 10 November is “There is an art in defeat which noble souls always acquire; you must know how to lose cheerfully; you must be fearless of disappointment” a suggested match would be:

…life will become

a burden of existence

unless you learn

how to fail gracefully

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 11 November is “Never hesitate to admit failure. Make no attempt to hide failure under deceptive smiles and beaming optimism” a suggested match would be:

It sounds well always to claim success,

but the end results are appalling.

Such a technique leads directly

to the creation of a world of unreality

and to the inevitable crash of ultimate disillusionment

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 12 November is “Success may generate courage and promote confidence, but wisdom comes only from the experiences of adjustment to the results of one’s failures” a suggested match would be:

Wisdom embraces both

the fact and the ideal and therefore

saves its devotees from both of those

barren extremes of philosophy — the man

whose idealism excludes facts and

the materialist who is devoid of spiritual outlook

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 13 November is “Men who prefer optimistic illusions to reality can never become wise. Only those who face facts and adjust them to ideals can achieve wisdom” a suggested match would be:

Wisdom embraces both the fact

and the ideal and therefore saves its devotees

from both of those barren extremes

of philosophy — the man whose idealism

excludes facts and the materialist

who is devoid of spiritual outlook

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 14 November is “Failure is simply an educational episode—a cultural experiment in the acquirement of wisdom…” a suggested match would be:

And it is in this business of facing failure

and adjusting to defeat

that the far-reaching vision of religion

exerts its supreme influence

 

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[Vern]

Vern wrote:  Today, 15 November is “The career of a God-seeking man may prove to be a great success in the light of eternity, even though the whole temporal-life enterprise may appear as an overwhelming failure, provided each life failure yielded the culture of wisdom and spirit achievement ” a suggested match would be:

Do not make the mistake of confusing

knowledge, culture, and wisdom.

They are related in life, but they

represent vastly differing spirit values;

wisdom ever dominates knowledge

and always glorifies culture

 

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[Auteur]

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