Do we see and hear when people are hurting?
Do we pay attention or look away?
Do we even care?
Do we do anything about it?
As queen Marie-Antoinette said when told that her people were starving and had no bread, what did she say?
Let them eat cake!
Pray that we are better than that. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Finding Reality in a Floating Pink Abstract World.”
But when we return home to our Maker then we’ll see beyond time and space what we could never see while we were enveloped in a physical body and a material world. For the spirit survives the life as our L-rd spans infinity and one day too we will rejoin with Him and discover what our eyes could never see and our ears did never hear.
For our heart was hardened of flesh while our soul was molten and deep until eventually we awake from our slumber and find what we always did seek.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
There is too much violence in the world.
Physical violence.
Verbal violence.
Emotional violence.
When there aren’t body sores.
There are emotional and mental ones.
So much suffering.
The silent masses.
Their doors close.
But behind them.
And outside.
In the chaos of the streets and on the subways.
You can see it in the eyes.
And hear it in their voices.
Maybe they are black and blue.
The people are troubled.
The world is insane.
The children are especially innocent.
The weak at the hands of the strong.
Anarchy reigns where G-dliness is absent.
Why? Why? Why?
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So as we have done for ages…
We pray.
We weep.
We bless.
We request.
We thank.
We only control what we say and do.
The rest is in G-d’s merciful, blessed hands. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Finishing Natan Sharansky’s book Fear No Evil.
And I rarely write twice on a book or movie, but this was so impactful.
First on our souls, Sharansky writes:
The law of attraction, interconnection, and interdependence of human souls…there is a universal gravitational pull of souls, of the bond between them and influence of one soul on the other.
Wow, Sharansky understood the deeper meaning of the soul and how they all emanate and are pieces from G-d and they are all connected to their source and each other, and what one person says or does impacts all the others (and thereby G-d himself).
Literally, I experienced this the other day…when I personally made amends on something I felt that I had done wrong, and I could literally feel somehow righting a wrong in the universe and G-d, Himself, smiling down on me.
It was the best feeling I think I have ever had in my life.
Second on fear, Sharansky writes:
My inner freedom [is] more powerful than the external bondage…[and] fear of the L-rd…is a necessary prerequisite for man’s achieving inner freedom, and is also the prerequisite for spiritual resolve, the fear of the L-rd is the only thing that can conquer human fear.
Wow again. Sharansky through his nine years of suffering and hardships in Soviet prisons and labor camps found his deep inner strength to resist the tyranny of the KGB worldly masters and overcame them with his finding his fear and faith in G-d and was able to overcome.
These are two amazing heavenly lessons that Sharansky shares with us from enduring and overcoming his incredible worldly hardships.
I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this and am with G-d’s help continuing to quench my thirst for this type of wisdom and true enlightenment. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Even with Coronavirus and the associated lockdowns and social distancing, the grass still needs to be mowed.
These two are doing the work but also look like they could be playing some bumper cars too!
So it is: Life goes on; the world is not (yet) ending.
Unfortunately, there are people suffering and dying.
And we need to help them and try and save their lives.
Also, not forget their families and those out of work.
But as far as the world is concerned, the grass still keeps growing.
The living will go on living as best they can. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I like this runner’s shirt a lot.
It says:
Courage is endurance for one moment more.
Just when you feel that you cannot go on for another moment.
Just when you are at your very limit.
Just when you’ve reached your total breaking point.
Then…
You take that deep breath and focus your mind intently.
You disassociate yourself from the pain and struggle.
You see the challenge in front of you for what it really is and you raise yourself above and beyond it.
Your inner spirit is so much greater than its power over you.
You have the inner faith and can endure whatever it is.
You can overcome it! 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Even when you fall down, you should always rise up again!
(Credit Videos: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was a really great photo to explain various ailments of the spine.
From the top:
Normal Disc
Degenerative Disc
Bulging Disc
Herniated Disc
Thinning Disc
Disc Degeneration with Osteophyte Formation
The spinal disc was described to me as a jelly donut between the vertebrae.
The jelly can bulge in the disc or actually herniate/rupture and spill out pressing painfully against the nerve–that’s the scary red that you see!
The disc degeneration and osteophytes are also a pretty frightening looking deterioration of the disc and cartilage.
No wonder
– “31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time…[and] back pain is the single leading cause of disability.”
– And “80 percent of adults experience lower back pain at some point in their lifetimes…[and] leading contributor to missed workdays”
When we have our health, we don’t always realize how incredibly fortunate we are. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So I’ve been having this excruciating lower back pain for about a week.
I literally cannot sit or stand without shooting pain.
When I sit, it hurts the lower back so much to get up.
And when I stand, all I want to do is relieve the pressure and sit down.
I feel like the warning from G-d in the Torah where He says (Deuteronomy 28:67):
In the morning you will say ‘”If only it were evening!” and in the evening “If only it were morning!”
The only real relief so far is lying down or going in the pool.
Planning to see the doctor to check it out and hopefully with G-d’s mercy it will be better very soon. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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