Wordless Wednesday: After the Rain

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“They both listened silently to the water,

which to them was not just water,

but the voice of life, the voice of Being,

the voice of perpetual Becoming.”
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Hermann Hesse

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2019

Illumination and The Freedoms We Celebrate

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“But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue?

It is the greatest of all possible evils;

for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

Those who know what virtuous liberty is,

cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads,

on account of their having

high-sounding words in their mouths.”

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Edmund Burke

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“If ever a time should come,

when vain and aspiring men

shall possess the highest seats in Government,

our country will stand in need

of its experienced patriots

to prevent its ruin.”

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Samuel Adams

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“Liberty without Learning is always in peril

and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.”

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John F. Kennedy

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“They who can give up essential liberty

to obtain a little temporary safety

deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

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Benjamin Franklin

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“Those who deny freedom to others,

deserve it not for themselves”

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Abraham Lincoln

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2018

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“I am an American; free born and free bred,

where I acknowledge no man as my superior,

except for his own worth,

or as my inferior,

except for his own demerit.”

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Theodore Roosevelt

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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom,

must, like men,

undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”

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Thomas Paine

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WPC: Temporary

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Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world:

as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;

a flash of lightning in a summer cloud,

a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

 

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Buddha Shakyamuni, The Diamond Sutra

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“Letting go gives us freedom,

and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

If, in our heart, we still cling to anything –

anger, anxiety, or possessions –

we cannot be free.”

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Thich Nhat Hanh

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“…for you know that soft is stronger than hard,

water stronger than rock,

love stronger than force.”

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Hermann Hesse

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For The Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Temporary

WPC: Transient

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“The only way to make sense out of change

is to plunge into it, move with it,

and join the dance.”

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Alan W. Watts

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“Nothing endures but change.”

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Heraclitus

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“If a beautiful thing were to remain

beautiful for all eternity, I’d be glad,

but all the same I’d look

at it with a colder eye.

I’d say to myself: You can look

at it any time, it doesn’t have to be today.”

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Hermann Hesse

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“It is in changing that we find purpose.”

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Heraclitus

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Clematis ‘Violet Elizabeth’

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For The Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Transient

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Wordless Wednesday: Water Lily

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“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous,

the cheerful, the planners, the doers,

the successful people with their heads in the clouds

and their feet on the ground.

Let their spirit ignite a fire within you

to leave this world better

than when you found it…”

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Wilferd Peterson

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“Plant seeds of happiness, hope,

success, and love; it will all

come back to you in abundance.

This is the law of nature.”

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Steve Maraboli,

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

taken at Brent and Becky Heath’s display gardens in Gloucester, VA

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Wednesday Vignette: Peace

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“Peace begins with a smile..”
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Mother Teresa

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness:

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate:

only love can do that.”

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Martin Luther King Jr.

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“The day the power of love overrules the love of power,

the world will know peace.”

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Mahatma Gandhi

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“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.

If you are attentive, you will see it. ”

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Thich Nhat Hanh,

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“The mind can go in a thousand directions,

but on this beautiful path,

I walk in peace.

With each step, the wind blows.

With each step, a flower blooms.”

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Thich Nhat Hanh

Wednesday Vignette: Vision

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“The truth.” Dumbledore sighed.

“It is a beautiful and terrible thing,

and should therefore be treated with great caution.”

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J.K. Rowling

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“I believe in everything until it’s disproved.

So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons.

It all exists, even if it’s in your mind.

Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares

aren’t as real as the here and now?”

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John Lennon

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“Facts do not cease to exist

because they are ignored.”

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Aldous Huxley

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“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”

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Pablo Picasso

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“In a time of deceit

telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

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George Orwell

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

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Oscar Wilde

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For the Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Reflecting

Wednesday Vignette: Connected

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“Just as the wave cannot exist for itself,

but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean,

so must I never live my life for itself,

but always in the experience which is going on around me.”

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Albert Schweitzer

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“There is a deep interconnectedness of all life on earth,

from the tiniest organisms,

to the largest ecosystems,

and absolutely between each person.”

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Bryant McGill

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“When we know ourselves to be connected to all others,

acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do. ”

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Rachel Naomi Remen

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“…the Ultimate Truth: nothing exists in the universe

that is separate from anything else.

Everything is intrinsically connected,

irrevocably interdependent,

interactive, interwoven into the fabric of all of life.”

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Neale Donald Walsch

 

 

 

Wednesday Vignette: Intricacies

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“Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind:

Study the science of art.

Study the art of science.

Develop your senses-

especially learn how to see.

Realize that everything connects to everything else.”

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Leonardo da Vinci

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“The artist is the confidant of nature,

flowers carry on dialogues with him

through the graceful bending of their stems

and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms.

Every flower has a cordial word

which nature directs towards him.”

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Auguste Rodin

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“All sciences are vain and full of errors

that are not born of Experience,

the mother of all Knowledge.”

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Leonardo da Vinci

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“Patience is also a form of action.”

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Auguste Rodin

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“While human ingenuity may devise

various inventions to the same ends,

it will never devise anything more beautiful,

nor more simple,

nor more to the purpose than nature does,

because in her inventions nothing is lacking

and nothing is superfluous.”

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Leonardo da Vinci

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“If you paint the leaf on a tree without using a model,

your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves;

but Nature offers you millions, all on the same tree.

No two leaves are exactly the same.

The artist who paints only what is in his mind

must very soon repeat himself.”

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

of Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifolia,

a  North American native shrub

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“Details make perfection,

and perfection is not a detail.”

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Leonardo da Vinci

Wednesday Vignette: Iris

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“Hope is a rainbow of thought.”

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Harley King

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“To find the rainbow and life’s incredible beauties,

learn to play with adversity.”

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Debasish Mridha

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“Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”

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Maya Angelou

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“If it rains during sunshine,

don’t worry; you’ll see your rainbow.”

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Vikrmn

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“Pointing to another world

will never stop vice among us;

shedding light over this world can alone help us.”

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Walt Whitman

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“Love, I’m pretty sure, is light.”

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Jan Zwicky

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“Iris was the personification of the rainbow in Greek mythology, as well as messenger of the gods along with Hermes. She was also known as the goddess of the sea and the sky.  It was said that she traveled on the rainbow while carrying divine messages to the mortals.”

from Greekmythology.com

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