Adjust Reality

last summer – on an Island. Can’t wait to go back.

(click for larger view)

The sun shone down with golden rays,
the light poured over our bodies,
we walked the wells and grass fields,
to balance the weight of our troubles.

o sun pour down your golden rays!
let them sift over and through our bodies,
as we ebb and flow on top of earth,
knowing one day we’ll return.

If you are bent on revenge, dig two graves. —Eleanor Roosevelt

I hear over and over that Christianity is a crutch. In fact there was a long time I believed this myself, it’s mostly why I was agnostic. Now, however– the more I learn about Christianity the more I realize it’s not a crutch, it’s not easy, and it’s very much not what most people think it is. If you think Christianity is a crutch and is easy, then you have a fatal misunderstanding of Christianity. People have been; killed, tortured and ridiculed, the list goes on. Doesn’t sound easy to me. In fact this mere fact and pile on top of the persecution that it’s received is evidence there is something higher at work than just mans search for meaning.

I truly ask how this is a crutch, to detach yourself from things that are worldly (money, cars, houses) and to set your focus on something intangible (not to be confused with unattainable) is probably one of the hardest things to do. A response might be: why would you devote yourself to something you cannot see? my answer is that everyone does it; agnostic, atheist and religious alike.  Think about the idea of a promise, someone promises you something, but you can’t see it, yet you trust in the words. Though this is a drastic simplification, its the same concept. You can come to a logical understanding that, sure this promise will probably be fulfilled because this person has never let me down. Christianity works in the same way.

I dare anyone to challenge that Christianity is a cop-out in life. Not in an aggressive way, but in a honest and true sense of  challenge. I would hearty like to hear the reasons, and not the statement and what justifications there are. If you have any please do lay them down, I’m honestly curious because I hear it thrown around, but never reasons for it.

Hippocrates: And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul?
Socrates: Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul.

Came across a particular insight last night in prayer–It hit me like a ton of bricks, it was on the idea that faith for the sake of faith can strengthen your love for someone you know nothing  about. Yet in happens in such a profound and unique way that it’s almost easy to overlook. Sure God can show himself every generation, prove himself and be done with it. But there is something profound in trusting in that which you cannot see. Yet not as a crutch, this kind of trust is the same that you apply when someone tells you something like “I need some cash for a ride across town, can you help me out?” One’s first reaction might be “He want’s to get a beer or cigarettes.” Think of the trust it takes to just give someone hard earned money in the trust that they might use it for a ride or actually for food.  When one trains that trust eventually it comes innate and reactive, but not a thought.

I believe England exists, I believe there are people there, but I’ve never been there. I have faith in its existence. All the videos I’ve seen could be faked and images of a different place. But come on, lets get real. England exists

everything is so tightly interwoven, it’s almost disarming.

“There are some that say; ‘history is written by the victors,’ well if history was written by the victors then why are there so many different versions of the same history?” —Simon Rafe

In light of recent job offers I’m redoing the personal portfolio site, new domain and all that jazz. Should be up soon, but until then–some random work. more to come. these are all a bit old but all I have ready for web that isn’t tied to silly “cannot post on web” contracts.

someone totally ganked this concept recently and took it as their own. bummer, but whatever.

poster.

99% vectors. wanted to see how far I could push myself in vector land.

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Think of what is right and true.

Practice and cultivate the science.

Become acquainted with the arts.

Know the principles of the crafts.

Understand the harm and benefit in everything.

Learn to see everything accurately.

Become aware of what is not obvious.

Be careful even in small matters.

Do not do anything useless.

— Miyamoto Musashi

edit: it’s come to my attention that this is a story of plagiarism, unfortunately. It seems the story was taken from Joshua Harris. If you would like to read more about it check it out here: http://www.joshharris.com/authorship_controversy.php

none-the-less, still a beautiful story (the original)

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This is powerful, it shows the permanence of our actions and the responsibility we hold for infinitely offending an infinite God. We should remember that even the smallest offense against God is an infinite one.

17-year-old Brian Moore had only a short time to write something for a class. The subject was, “what Heaven is like.” “I wowed ‘em,” he later told his father, Bruce. It’s a killer. It’s the bomb, It’s the best thing I ever wrote.” It also was the last…

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A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.
Saint Augustine

Don’t really buy their stuff, but I like the message, ha.

really excited to be learning to render things in 3D! it’s a blast. heres a sample of what I have been trying:

Keep a look out for some wallpapers soon! woohoo.

Make me a channel of your peace:
where there is hatred let me bring your love,
where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,
and where there’s doubt, true faith in you:
O Master grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love with all my soul!
—St Francis of Assisi

Please, do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, it’s just true.—Conan O’Brien

Cruelty only breeds cruelty…hatred only causes hatred…if there is any way of soften this human heart which is hard enough at its best, if there is any way to kill evil an hatred and all that goes with it, it is not through evil and hatred and cruelty; it is through charity, and love and understanding. — Clarence Darrow: Leopold and Loeb Trial

Analysis of the verb ‘to use’

The world in which we live is composed of many objects. The word ‘object’ here means more of less the same as ‘entity’. This is not the proper meaning of the word, since an ‘object’, strictly speaking, is something related to a ‘subject’. A ‘subject’ is also an ‘entity’- an entity which exists and acts in a certain way. It is then possible to say that the world in which we live is composed of many subjects. It would indeed be proper to speak of ‘subjects’ before ‘objects’. If the order has been reversed here, the intention was to put the emphasis right at the beginning of this book on its objectivism, its realism, if we begin with a ‘subject’ especially when that subject is man, it is easy to treat everything which is outside the subject, i.e. the whole world of objects, in purely subjective way, to deal with it only as it enters into the consciousness of the subject, establishes itself and dwells in that consciousness. We must, then, be clear right from the start that every subject also exists as an object, and objective ‘something’ or ‘somebody’.

that is the FIRST paragraph of the book “Love and Responsibility by John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla). its heavy stuff. he sets up the idea he presents through the first part of the book about how love cannot be fully realized unless it’s understood on a basic level and that a Utilitarian way of seeing love is just flat out wrong. Unfortunately it’s the kind that seems to be prevalent here in the states. Hate to be the nay-sayer but it is true. In fact, it might not be going too far to say that it might be the human inclination to have a utilitarian view of love.

anyway, he goes on, and even that first paragraph has an entire section in the back expanding on just that first section. talk about heavy! But it is so fulfilling when you start to grasp what he is saying. He truly is going to be one of the great Philosophers of our age.

check his book out if you haven’t already its under $12 and worth EVERY penny and more:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Responsibility-Pope-John-Paul/dp/0898704456

Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and surpassing itself; if all it does it maintain itself, then living is only not dying.—Simone de Beauvoir

I’ve been trying to learn to write/read better since my speaking is fluent, and yikes has it been harder than I thought. Starting to realize that I hardly know anything other than basic Polish, what I do know is very fluent, but its also very surface level.

was looking at photos from last time I was in Poland, and man talk about big words. and you thought English grammar was hard?

the pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are all permitted to remain children all our lives.
—Albert Einstein