One thing---Nothing---Everything

A Sufi once said: "Every religion serves a Divine purpose. Hinduism
teaches us how to master the body. Buddhism teaches us how to master
the mind. Judaism teaches us how to master the intellect. Christianity
teaches us how to master the heart. Islam teaches us how to master the
soul."

word to 108. 

#Dec15 #GratitudeDay

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Sunday morning in Hong Kong

Sun is bursting on crisp water this morning and the view of Victoria Harbour is clear and inviting.



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Location:South Ln,,Hong Kong

TO YOUNG AMERICANS OF SYRIAN ORIGIN

A little known poem penned by one of the world's best selling poets, Gibran Kahlil Gibran, in the July 1926 issue of "Syrian World" (NYC's first Arab American English newspaper):

TO YOUNG AMERICANS OF SYRIAN ORIGIN
By Kahlil Gibran

I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny.
I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization.
I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America.
I believe that you can say to the founders of this great nation, "Here I am, a youth, a young tree whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet I am deeply rooted here, and I would be fruitful."
And I believe that you can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, "Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke, and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written."
I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born to produce riches by intelligence and labor.
I believe that it is in you to be good citizens.
And what is it to be a good citizen?
It is to acknowledge the other person's rights before asserting your own, but always to be conscious of your own.
It is to be free in word and deed, but it is also to know that your freedom is subject to the other person's freedom.
It is to produce by labor and only by labor, and to spend less than you have produced that your children may not be dependent upon the state for support when you are no more.
It is to stand before the towers of New York and Washington, Chicago and San Francisco saying in your hearts, "I am the descendent of a people the builded Damascus and Byblos, and Tyre and Sidon and Antioch, and I am here to build with you, and with a will."
It is to be proud of being an American, but it is also to be proud that your fathers and mothers came from a land upon which God laid His gracious hand and raised His messengers.
Young Americans of Syrian origin, I believe in you.

BBC's One Block in Harlem

Although it starts off with a questionable introduction about the subject matter: "Harlem: It means ghetto, political activism, impoverished despair" it is worth hearing my former master's thesis advisor, scholarly mentor, the late Manning Marable's analysis of the historic meaning of Harlem in the black imaginary.

"Harlem was a school for civic education"-Manning Marable

Part 1:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/mobile/documentaries/2011/02/110202_one_block_harlem_tx_1.shtml

Part 2:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/mobile/documentaries/2011/02/110208_one_block_in_harlem_tx_2.shtml

On Spirituality & Religion

Although it can be problematic to see the two as isolated binaries, I once had a friend brilliantly characterize the difference between spirituality and religion:

Spirituality is an experience with the Divine

Religion is an explanation of that experience.

My new job

Sometimes there is an upside to flight delays.



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Location:Propeller Ct,,États-Unis