When you correct your mind, everything else falls into place. — Lao Tse (ca 604–531 B.C.) Taoism, Philosopher

We are all unique, have a distinctive personality, a Particular way of doing things and looking at the universe. This probably means we all have a little different variety of Wisdom. In the end the alignment of one’s subjective reality with Objective Reality dictates our spiritual progress.

Peace,
Jim

          PARTICULAR

Synonyms: appropriate, distinct, exact, exclusive

          WISE

Balancing Quality: appreciation

Compatible Quality: common sense

Familial Qualities: farsighted, foresighted, prepared

Sayings:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.

The heart is wiser than the intellect.

Quotes:
The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms. — Socrates (c. 4th Century bc) Greek Philosopher

Wisdom is better than strength, and a wise man is better than a strong man. — Amenemope (c. 1100 bc) The Book of Wisdom 6:1

Comments:
•Wisdom is the result of balancing positive qualities. It is the ability to contrast opposites and choose the highest possible good. It is also seeing the positive in a muddled and complex situation.

•When one is able to see a broader or a longer view, to encompass a greater quantity of reality, or a purer essence of reality, they possess a fundamental aspect of wisdom. People who have a greater wisdom usually want to share it, and, if possible, share it in such a way that those caught in a constrictive web of their own realities will be able to expand their realities, thus finding a way out.

Tip: Even a little bit of wisdom helps. Say you are driving and you notice the person in front of you is going to turn. You get over in the other lane and your progress is not impeded – small wisdom. You look even farther ahead and you take one freeway instead of another. Again you are rewarded with a smoother trip. The larger your ability to choose wisely, the greater your ability to live as you intend.

Advice: If you can’t reach the heights of wisdom then be satisfied with the dregs of wisdom.

Color: yellow

Consider the Source

A person’s actions determine a person’s fate. There is only one energy in the universe manifesting as matter, mind, or spirit; vibrating at all levels of intensity and frequency. Thought energies lead to choice energies that lead to creations of actions. — The Law of Karma

We have a hard time really perceiving ourselves as we truly are. Others, especially those who love us, can more readily see clearly through the window of our soul. Therefore consider yourself Privileged to have a true friend through whose eyes you can witness your Lovely self. (And tell them, “thank you.”)

Peace,
Jim

LOVELY

Definitions: (1) having a beauty appealing to the heart, mind, or eye; charmingly graceful; (2) highly pleasing; delightful; (3) possessing moral or spiritual splendor

PRIVILEGED

Definitions: (1) having advantage, favor, or benefit of one over another; (2) Recognition of relative value

Quote:
Few mortals ever dare to draw anything like the sum of personality credits established by the combined ministries of nature and grace. The majority of impoverished souls are truly rich, but they refuse to believe it. — The Urantia Book (48:7.6)

Consider the Source

A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil, harmonious home. — Author Unknown

Peace,
Jim

          TRANQUIL

Too Far: lax

Quote:

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which gives happiness. — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) 3rd President of the United States

Color: green

          LONG-SUFFERING

Balancing Quality: hope

Even if everything is going well, it is necessary to deal with the repercussions of internal growth, external change, and aging.

Admonition: Do not call stubbornness, a lack of willingness to change, long-suffering. Most of the time you can do something about the situation. If nothing else, control your attitude.

Symbol: the ox

Consider the Source

This brief sermon was delivered by Bob Kalk during a music service at Bell Church in Leicester, North Carolina on July 6, 2014. The guest pianist is Gerald Ball from nearby Mars Hill University. Bell Church was organized immediately after the civil war in 1866. At that time, the circuits in and about the Blue Ridge were largely served by native preachers, either ordained or local. Leicester was a center for “Northern Methodism,” with a great emphasis on education and connectional ministries. Today Bell is wired for, and focused upon, a set of challenges that include new educational initiatives and outreach.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!

Simplify your life. Balance needs with wants and harmonize inner and outer well-being. — Steps Toward Inner Peace, Peace Pilgrim

“No man is an island,” so says John Donne. We all have many opportunities to deal with other persons. Often the Symmetry of Diplomacy is required. Especially in those contentious interactions. And often in our long term relationships.

Peace,
Jim

          DIPLOMATIC

Definitions: (1) tactful and clever in dealing with people; (2) politic and adroit in conduct

Compatible Qualities: open-minded, perspicacious

Comment: The diplomat who sticks only to small talk gets no respect and gets nothing done. The diplomat who cares only for winning will not win. The diplomat who is fair is valued.

          SYMMETRICAL

Definitions: (1) possessing beauty of form <arising from balanced proportions>; (2) showing similarity of arrangement on either side of a dividing line or plane; having correspondence of opposite parts in size, shape, and position; (3) able to comprehend the nature of reality <symmetrical thinking (often beyond logic and reasoning)>

Quotes:

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. — Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English Philosopher

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. — John Muir (1838-1914) Scottish-born American Naturalist

Observation: The perfect proportion is known as the Golden Section: the square root of 5 plus 1 divided by 2. This ratio is 1 to 1.618. A is to B as B is to A & B. This is the ratio of most of nature’s most beautiful things: the human body, DNA, the spiral nautilus, et cetera.

Comment: Symmetry is beautiful in physical manifestation. Symmetry of the soul not only seen, it is also felt.

Symbol: Gemini (Zodiac)

Consider the Source

“The way solar is progressing it will just be a matter of time before it becomes competitive with fossil fuels and eventually replace them.”

So says Dr Jon Major who led a team at Liverpool University that has found a way of replacing one toxic element, used in the process of manufacturing solar cells, with a material found in bath salts.

Around 7% of the solar cells manufactured today are made from a material called cadmium telluride. The cadmium telluride cells are thinner than silicon and they are popular because they are also lighter and cheaper.

They have more than one drawback. Tellurium is rare. And a toxic chemical, cadmium chloride, is needed to manufacture the the cells. Cadmium chloride is also expensive. In addition, a significant proportion of the manufacturing cost of cadmium telluride cells is to protect the workforce from toxins and to dispose of contaminated waste products safely, according to the research team.

Dr Major discovered that a cheaper, non-toxic alternative, magnesium chloride, could be used instead of the toxic compound and work just as well. Magnesium chloride is completely safe. It is used to make tofu and is found in bath salts. It also extracted from sea water and so is a small fraction of the price of cadmium chloride.

Dr. Major believes that solar energy could eventually meet the world’s energy needs.

“There is enough sunlight that falls on the Earth every hour to generate enough electricity for the planet for a year,” he said.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

Ethanol is but one of the products the bacterium can be taught to produce. Others include butanol and isobutanol (transportation fuels comparable to ethanol), as well as other fuels and chemicals-using biomass as an alternative to petroleum.

Janet Westpheling, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, and her team of researchers — all members of U.S. Department of Energy-funded BioEnergy Science Center in which the University of Georgia is a key partner — succeeded in genetically engineering the organism C. bescii to deconstruct un-pretreated plant biomass.

Pretreatment of the biomass feedstock — nonfood crops such as switchgrass and miscanthus — is the step of breaking down plant cell walls before fermentation into ethanol. This pretreatment step has long been the economic bottleneck hindering fuel production from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks.

The UGA research group engineered a synthetic pathway into the organism, introducing genes from other anaerobic bacterium that produce ethanol, and constructed a pathway in the organism to produce ethanol directly.

“Now, without any pretreatment, we can simply take switchgrass, grind it up, add a low-cost, minimal salts medium and get ethanol out the other end,” Westpheling said. “This is the first step toward an industrial process that is economically feasible.”

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

One of the most satisfying sensations is to be productive – Fruitful. Growth, especially good growth, seems to be built into our most basic makeup. We can know what is worth perusing because it is Attractive to us. We sense or see its value.

Peace,
Jim

          FRUITFUL

Compatible Quality: generous

Color: red

Mythological Figure: Vertumnus, the Roman god of gardens, crops, orchards, and Spring

          ATTRACTIVE

Synonyms: engaging, fascinating, winning

Too Far: egotistical

Comment: One’s physical attributes help form one’s other qualities. Because the outside world responds to physical beauty, a pretty or handsome person will react to that stimulus. If they get caught up in the attention paid them, without balancing it with charm and humility, they may end up with an inflated sense of self-worth.

Consider the Source

Whatever you think about, give your attention to, or are interested in, begins to reveal its secrets to you. — The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, Catherine Ponder (1927-) Minister

Many qualities need to be experienced but also modified, for if they are not kept in check they will get exaggerated out of proportion. All things and beings need to be in balance. Therefore enjoy adding your Spice to this life with a Sureness we can all enjoy.

Peace
Jim

          SPICY

Saying: Variety is the spice of life. — William Cowper (1731-1800) English Poet

Symbol: peppers

          SURE

Consider the Source

This is the Ecooking unit that Italian manufacturer Clei showed in Milan at the 2014 Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The Ecooking kitchen’s moving parts rotate around a central pivot that also serves as the exhaust pipe for the sink and dishwasher — and as the conduit for the plumbing and electricity.

The tower can be placed against one wall, as the rotating elements open in three of the cube’s four directions, for a span of 270 degrees. Because appliances are close to each other, they can “easily interact and exchange heat, moisture and cooling with one another and with the environment to save energy.

The microwave is at the top; below it is a small dishwasher. The water from the sink and dishwasher is reused to nourish the tower’s simple herb garden. The vertical garden has special grow lights. The tower has an induction cooktop. When the tower is placed near a window, to take advantage of the sunlight, solar panels positioned on upper modules of the tower can power appliances.

Consider the Source

Tooling Up for Hydroponics

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!