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As you view the world, remember that the black patches of evil which you see are shown against a white background of ultimate good. You do not view merely white patches of good which show up miserably against a black background of evil.
When there is so much good truth to publish and proclaim, why should men dwell so much upon the evil in the world just because it appears to be a fact? The beauties of the spiritual values of truth are more pleasurable and uplifting than is the phenomenon of evil. ~ The Urantia Book, 195:5.12
It so often appears that slander, lies, dishonesty, and unrighteousness—sin—prevail. Does faith, after all, triumph over evil, sin, and iniquity? It does. And the life and death of Jesus are the eternal proof that the truth of goodness and the faith of the spirit-led creature will always be vindicated. ~ The Urantia Book, (194:3.2)
"Have faith—confidence in the eventual triumph of divine justice and eternal goodness." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (140:8.8)
"Love is the greatest of all spirit realities. Truth is a liberating revelation, but love is the supreme relationship. And no matter what blunders your fellow men make in their world management of today, in an age to come the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world. The ultimate goal of human progress is the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (143:1.4)
The Lure and the Challenge of Ultimate Goodness
In religion, Jesus advocated and followed the method of experience, even as modern science pursues the technique of experiment. We find God through the leadings of spiritual insight, but we approach this insight of the a soul through the love of the beautiful, the pursuit of truth, loyalty to duty, and the worship of divine goodness. But of all these values, love is the true guide to real insight. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:5.14)
Jesus did not advocate the practice of negative submission to the indignities of those who might purposely seek to impose upon the practitioners of nonresistance to evil, but rather that his followers should be wise and alert in the quick and positive reaction of good to evil to the end that they might effectively overcome evil with good. Forget not, the truly good is invariably more powerful than the most malignant evil.
The Master taught a positive standard of righteousness: "Whosoever wishes to be my disciple, let him disregard himself and take up the full measure of his responsibilities daily to follow me." And he so lived himself in that "he went about doing good." And this aspect of the gospel was well illustrated by many parables which he later spoke to his followers. He never exhorted his followers patiently to bear their obligations but rather with energy and enthusiasm to live up to the full measure of their human responsibilities and divine privileges in the kingdom of God. ~ The Urantia Book, 159:5.10
"Devote your life to proving that love is the greatest thing in the world. It is the love of God that impels men to seek salvation. Love is the ancestor of all spiritual goodness, the essence of the true and the beautiful." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, 192:2.1
Share Jesus' Divine Optimism!
Jesus was consistently cheerful, notwithstanding he sometimes drank deeply of the cup of human sorrow. He fearlessly faced the realities of existence, yet was he filled with enthusiasm for the gospel of the kingdom. But he controlled his enthusiasm; it never controlled him. He was unreservedly dedicated to "the Father's business." This divine enthusiasm led his unspiritual brethren to think he was beside himself, but the onlooking universe appraised him as the model of sanity and the pattern of supreme mortal devotion to the high standards of spiritual living. And his controlled enthusiasm was contagious; his associates were constrained to share his divine optimism. ~ The Urantia Book, 100:7.12
Goodness and Idealism
Is idealism—the approaching concept of the divine—desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things. ~ The Urantia Book, (3:5.11)
Goodness Connotes Personality
The concept of truth might possibly be entertained apart from personality, the concept of beauty may exist without personality, but the concept of divine goodness is understandable only in relation to personality. Only a person can love and be loved. Even beauty and truth would be divorced from survival hope if they were not attributes of a personal God, a loving Father. ~ The Urantia Book, (1:7.3)
Goodness is the mental recognition of the relative values of the diverse levels of divine perfection. The recognition of goodness implies a mind of moral status, a personal mind with ability to discriminate between good and evil. But the possession of goodness, greatness, is the measure of real divinity attainment. ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.12)
Greatness and Goodness
The estimate of greatness varies from sphere to sphere. To be great is to be Godlike. And since the quality of greatness is wholly determined by the content of goodness, it follows that, even in your present human estate, if you can through grace become good, you are thereby becoming great. The more steadfastly you behold, and the more persistently you pursue, the concepts of divine goodness, the more certainly will you grow in greatness, in true magnitude of genuine survival character. ~ The Urantia Book, (28:6.22)
Greatness is synonymous with divinity. God is supremely great and good. Greatness and goodness simply cannot be divorced. They are forever made one in God. … Greatness cannot be estimated without knowing the content of goodness, while goodness cannot be portrayed without exhibiting its inherent and divine greatness. ~ The Urantia Book, (28:6.21)
Goodness Correlates with Truth and Beauty
Beauty, rhythm, and harmony are intellectually associated and spiritually akin. Truth, fact, and relationship are intellectually inseparable and associated with the philosophic concepts of beauty. Goodness, righteousness, and justice are philosophically interrelated and spiritually bound up together with living truth and divine beauty. ~ The Urantia Book, (44:7.2)
Truth is the basis of science and philosophy, presenting the intellectual foundation of religion. Beauty sponsors art, music, and the meaningful rhythms of all human experience. Goodness embraces the sense of ethics, morality, and religion—experiential perfection-hunger. ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.10)
An experience is good when it heightens the appreciation of beauty, augments the moral will, enhances the discernment of truth, enlarges the capacity to love and serve one's fellows, exalts the spiritual ideals, and unifies the supreme human motives of time with the eternal plans of the indwelling Adjuster, all of which lead directly to an increased desire to do the Father's will, thereby fostering the divine passion to find God and to be more like him.
As you ascend the universe scale of creature development, you will find increasing goodness and diminishing evil in perfect accordance with your capacity for goodness-experience and truth-discernment. The ability to entertain error or experience evil will not be fully lost until the ascending human soul achieves final spirit levels. ~ The Urantia Book, (132:2.5)
Goodness is living, relative, always progressing, invariably a personal experience, and everlastingly correlated with the discernment of truth and beauty. Goodness is found in the recognition of the positive truth-values of the spiritual level, which must, in human experience, be contrasted with the negative counterpart—the shadows of potential evil.
Until you attain Paradise levels, goodness will always be more of a quest than a possession, more of a goal than an experience of attainment. But even as you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you experience increasing satisfaction in the partial attainment of goodness. The presence of goodness and evil in the world is in itself positive proof of the existence and reality of man's moral will, the personality, which thus identifies these values and is also able to choose between them.
By the time of the attainment of Paradise the ascending mortal's capacity for identifying the self with true spirit values has become so enlarged as to result in the attainment of the perfection of the possession of the light of life. Such a perfected spirit personality becomes so wholly, divinely, and spiritually unified with the positive and supreme qualities of goodness, beauty, and truth that there remains no possibility that such a righteous spirit would cast any negative shadow of potential evil when exposed to the searching luminosity of the divine light of the infinite Rulers of Paradise. In all such spirit personalities, goodness is no longer partial, contrastive, and comparative; it has become divinely complete and spiritually replete; it approaches the purity and perfection of the Supreme. ~ The Urantia Book, (132:2.7)
To say that mind "emerged" from matter explains nothing. If the universe were merely a mechanism and mind were unapart from matter, we would never have two differing interpretations of any observed phenomenon. The concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness are not inherent in either physics or chemistry. A machine cannot know, much less know truth, hunger for righteousness, and cherish goodness.
The Urantia Book, (195:6.11)
Divine Goodness
Universal beauty is the recognition of the reflection of the Isle of Paradise in the material creation, while eternal truth is the special ministry of the Paradise Sons who not only bestow themselves upon the mortal races but even pour out their Spirit of Truth upon all peoples. Divine goodness is more fully shown forth in the loving ministry of the manifold personalities of the Infinite Spirit. ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.17)
True Goodness - Akin to the Supreme
True goodness is like water in that it blesses everything and harms nothing. And like water, true goodness seeks the lowest places, even those levels which others avoid, and that is because it is akin to the Supreme. The Supreme creates all things, in nature nourishing them and in spirit perfecting them. And it is a mystery how the Supreme fosters, protects, and perfects the creature without compelling him. He guides and directs, but without self-assertion. He ministers progression, but without domination. ~ The Urantia Book, (131:8.3)
Attractive Goodness
Goodness always compels respect, but when it is devoid of grace, it often repels affection. Goodness is universally attractive only when it is gracious. Goodness is effective only when it is attractive. ~ The Urantia Book, (171:7.2)
Religious insight possesses the power of turning defeat into higher desires and new determinations. Love is the highest motivation which man may utilize in his universe ascent. But love, divested of truth, beauty, and goodness, is only a sentiment, a philosophic distortion, a psychic illusion, a spiritual deception. ~ The Urantia Book, (196:3.29)
God's Goodness
We are constantly confronted with this mystery of God; we are nonplused by the increasing unfolding of the endless panorama of the truth of his infinite goodness, endless mercy, matchless wisdom, and superb character.
The God of universal love unfailingly manifests himself to every one of his creatures up to the fullness of that creature's capacity to spiritually grasp the qualities of divine truth, beauty, and goodness. ~ The Urantia Book, (1:4.4)
God's primal perfection consists not in an assumed righteousness but rather in the inherent perfection of the goodness of his divine nature. He is final, complete, and perfect. There is no thing lacking in the beauty and perfection of his righteous character. And the whole scheme of living existences on the worlds of space is centered in the divine purpose of elevating all will creatures to the high destiny of the experience of sharing the Father's Paradise perfection. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:2.5)
Mercy is the natural and inevitable offspring of goodness and love. The good nature of a loving Father could not possibly withhold the wise ministry of mercy to each member of every group of his universe children. Eternal justice and divine mercy together constitute what in human experience would be called fairness. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:4.4)
After all, the greatest evidence of the goodness of God and the supreme reason for loving him is the indwelling gift of the Father—the Adjuster who so patiently awaits the hour when you both shall be eternally made one. Though you cannot find God by searching, if you will submit to the leading of the indwelling spirit, you will be unerringly guided, step by step, life by life, through universe upon universe, and age by age, until you finally stand in the presence of the Paradise personality of the Universal Father. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:5.5)
I find it easy and pleasant to worship one who is so great and at the same time so affectionately devoted to the uplifting ministry of his lowly creatures. I naturally love one who is so powerful in creation and in the control thereof, and yet who is so perfect in goodness and so faithful in the loving-kindness which constantly overshadows us. I think I would love God just as much if he were not so great and powerful, as long as he is so good and merciful. We all love the Father more because of his nature than in recognition of his amazing attributes. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:5.7)
In the physical universe we may see the divine beauty, in the intellectual world we may discern eternal truth, but the goodness of God is found only in the spiritual world of personal religious experience. In its true essence, religion is a faith-trust in the goodness of God. God could be great and absolute, somehow even intelligent and personal, in philosophy, but in religion God must also be moral; he must be good. Man might fear a great God, but he trusts and loves only a good God. This goodness of God is a part of the personality of God, and its full revelation appears only in the personal religious experience of the believing sons of God. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:5.7)
The "richness of the goodness of God leads erring man to repentance." "Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights." "God is good; he is the eternal refuge of the souls of men." "The Lord God is merciful and gracious. He is long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." "Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who trusts him." "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He is the God of salvation."" He heals the brokenhearted and binds up the wounds of the soul. He is man's all-powerful benefactor." ~ The Urantia Book, (2:6.3)
Facing the world of personality, God is discovered to be a loving person; facing the spiritual world, he is a personal love; in religious experience he is both. Love identifies the volitional will of God. The goodness of God rests at the bottom of the divine free-willness—the universal tendency to love, show mercy, manifest patience, and minister forgiveness. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:6.9)
In divine goodness I discern no difference between the Father and the Son. The Father loves his universe children as a father; the Eternal Son looks upon all creatures both as father and as brother. ~ The Urantia Book, (6:2.8)
It is not possible that the Spirit could have more of goodness than the Father since all goodness takes origin in the Father, but in the acts of the Spirit we can the better comprehend such goodness. The Father's faithfulness and the Son's constancy are made very real to the spirit beings and the material creatures of the spheres by the loving ministry and ceaseless service of the personalities of the Infinite Spirit. ~ The Urantia Book, (7:5.6)
One believes truth, admires beauty, and reverences goodness, but does not worship them; such an attitude of saving faith is centered on God alone, who is all of these personified and infinitely more. ~ The Urantia Book, (101:8.1)
God is not the mere invention of man's idealism; he is the very source of all such superanimal insights and values. God is not a hypothesis formulated to unify the human concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness; he is the personality of love from whom all of these universe manifestations are derived. The truth, beauty, and goodness of man's world are unified by the increasing spirituality of the experience of mortals ascending toward Paradise realities. The unity of truth, beauty, and goodness can only be realized in the spiritual experience of the God-knowing personality. ~ The Urantia Book, (196:3.24)
The Seraphic Evangels and the Conservation of Goodness
These seraphic evangels are dedicated to the proclamation of the gospel of eternal progression, the triumph of perfection attainment. On the mansion worlds they proclaim the great law of the conservation and dominance of goodness: No act of good is ever wholly lost; it may be long thwarted but never wholly annulled, and it is eternally potent in proportion to the divinity of its motivation.
Even on Urantia they counsel the human teachers of truth and righteousness to adhere to the preaching of "the goodness of God, which leads to repentance," to proclaim "the love of God, which casts out all fear." Even so have these truths been declared on your world:
The Gods are my caretakers; I shall not stray;
Side by side they lead me in the beautiful paths and glorious refreshing of life everlasting.
I shall not, in this Divine Presence, want for food nor thirst for water.
Though I go down into the valley of uncertainty or ascend up into the worlds of doubt
Though I move in loneliness or with the fellows of my kind,
Though I triumph in the choirs of light or falter in the solitary places of the spheres,
Your good spirit shall minister to me, and your glorious angel will comfort me.
Though I descend into the depths of darkness and death itself,
I shall not doubt you nor fear you,
For I know that in the fullness of time and the glory of your name
You will raise me up to sit with you on the battlements on high.
That is the story whispered in the night season to the shepherd boy. He could not retain it word for word, but to the best of his memory he gave it much as it is recorded today. ~ The Urantia Book, (48:6.7)
Goodness In Human Experience
Through truth man attains beauty and by spiritual love ascends to goodness. ~ The Urantia Book, (103:9.10)
It is sometimes possible to have the mind illuminated, to hear the divine voice that continually speaks within you, so that you may become partially conscious of the wisdom, truth, goodness, and beauty of the potential personality constantly indwelling you. ~ The Urantia Book, (109:5.2)
In so far as man's evolving morontia soul becomes permeated by truth, beauty, and goodness as the value-realization of God-consciousness, such a resultant being becomes indestructible. If there is no survival of eternal values in the evolving soul of man, then mortal existence is without meaning, and life itself is a tragic illusion. But it is forever true: What you begin in time you will assuredly finish in eternity—if it is worth finishing. ~ The Urantia Book, (111:3.7)
The great mistake of the Hebrew religion was its failure to associate the goodness of God with the factual truths of science and the appealing beauty of art. As civilization progressed, and since religion continued to pursue the same unwise course of overemphasizing the goodness of God to the relative exclusion of truth and neglect of beauty, there developed an increasing tendency for certain types of men to turn away from the abstract and dissociated concept of isolated goodness. The overstressed and isolated morality of modern religion, which fails to hold the devotion and loyalty of many twentieth-century men, would rehabilitate itself if, in addition to its moral mandates, it would give equal consideration to the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience, and to the beauties of the physical creation, the charm of intellectual art, and the grandeur of genuine character achievement. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:8.6)
The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. Such a new and righteous vision of morality will attract all that is good in the mind of man and challenge that which is best in the human soul. Truth, beauty, and goodness are divine realities, and as man ascends the scale of spiritual living, these supreme qualities of the Eternal become increasingly co-ordinated and unified in God, who is love.
All truth—material, philosophic, or spiritual—is both beautiful and good. All real beauty—material art or spiritual symmetry—is both true and good. All genuine goodness—whether personal morality, social equity, or divine ministry—is equally true and beautiful. Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience. Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems. ~ The Urantia Book, (2:7.10)
The consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a spirit-led mortal, "for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance." Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the lowly paths of toil and in human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world… ~ The Urantia Book, (34:6.13)
Divine goodness represents the revelation of infinite values to the finite mind, therein to be perceived and elevated to the very threshold of the spiritual level of human comprehension. ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.9)
To finite man truth, beauty, and goodness embrace the full revelation of divinity reality. As this love-comprehension of Deity finds spiritual expression in the lives of God-knowing mortals, there are yielded the fruits of divinity: intellectual peace, social progress, moral satisfaction, spiritual joy, and cosmic wisdom. The advanced mortals on a world in the seventh stage of light and life have learned that love is the greatest thing in the universe—and they know that God is love. ~ The Urantia Book, (56:10.20)
God answers man's prayer by giving him an increased revelation of truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmented concept of goodness. ~ The Urantia Book, (91:8.11)
Lao-tse also made one of the earliest presentations of the doctrine of returning good for evil: "Goodness begets goodness, but to the one who is truly good, evil also begets goodness." ~ The Urantia Book, (94:6.4)
No matter what upheavals may attend the social and economic growth of civilization, religion is genuine and worth while if it fosters in the individual an experience in which the sovereignty of truth, beauty, and goodness prevails, for such is the true spiritual concept of supreme reality. And through love and worship this becomes meaningful as fellowship with man and sonship with God. ~ The Urantia Book, (99:4.4)
There is a real purpose in the socialization of religion. It is the purpose of group religious activities to dramatize the loyalties of religion; to magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness; to foster the attractions of supreme values; to enhance the service of unselfish fellowship; to glorify the potentials of family life; to promote religious education; to provide wise counsel and spiritual guidance; and to encourage group worship. And all live religions encourage human friendship, conserve morality, promote neighborhood welfare, and facilitate the spread of the essential gospel of their respective messages of eternal salvation. ~ The Urantia Book, (99:6.2)
Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one's nearness to God and the measure of one's usefulness to fellow beings. Spirituality enhances the ability to discover beauty in things, recognize truth in meanings, and discover goodness in values. ~ The Urantia Book, (100:2.4)
Genuine spiritual faith (true moral consciousness) is revealed in that it: Produces a sublime trust in the goodness of God even in the face of bitter disappointment and crushing defeat. ~ The Urantia Book, (101:3.4)
Religious desire is the hunger quest for divine reality. Religious experience is the realization of the consciousness of having found God. And when a human being does find God, there is experienced within the soul of that being such an indescribable restlessness of triumph in discovery that he is impelled to seek loving service-contact with his less illuminated fellows, not to disclose that he has found God, but rather to allow the overflow of the welling-up of eternal goodness within his own soul to refresh and ennoble his fellows. Real religion leads to increased social service. ~ The Urantia Book, (102:3.4)
Paradise values of eternity and infinity, of truth, beauty, and goodness, are concealed within the facts of the phenomena of the universes of time and space. But it requires the eye of faith in a spirit-born mortal to detect and discern these spiritual values. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:7.4)
The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts and out of harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness. ~ The Urantia Book, (195:9.5)
More Goodness from Jesus
The Master came to create in man a new spirit, a new will—to impart a new capacity for knowing the truth, experiencing compassion, and choosing goodness—the will to be in harmony with God's will, coupled with the eternal urge to become perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect. ~ The Urantia Book, (140:8.32)
The Hebrews based their religion on goodness; the Greeks on beauty; both religions sought truth. Jesus revealed a God of love, and love is all-embracing of truth, beauty, and goodness. ~ The Urantia Book, (5:4.6)
"If you, my earthly father, possess such human reflections of the Divine, how much more must the heavenly Father be filled with goodness and overflowing with mercy. I refuse to believe that my Father in heaven loves me less than my father on earth." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (125:0.6)
"My brother, God is love; therefore he must be good, and his goodness is so great and real that it cannot contain the small and unreal things of evil. God is so positively good that there is absolutely no place in him for negative evil. Evil is the immature choosing and the unthinking misstep of those who are resistant to goodness, rejectful of beauty, and disloyal to truth. Evil is only the misadaptation of immaturity or the disruptive and distorting influence of ignorance. Evil is the inevitable darkness which follows upon the heels of the unwise rejection of light. Evil is that which is dark and untrue, and which, when consciously embraced and willfully endorsed, becomes sin." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (130:1.5)
One of the young men who worked with Jesus one day on the steering paddle became much interested in the words which he dropped from hour to hour as they toiled in the shipyard. When Jesus intimated that the Father in heaven was interested in the welfare of his children on earth, this young Greek, Anaxand, said: "If the Gods are interested in me, then why do they not remove the cruel and unjust foreman of this workshop?" He was startled when Jesus replied, "Since you know the ways of kindness and value justice, perhaps the Gods have brought this erring man near that you may lead him into this better way. Maybe you are the salt which is to make this brother more agreeable to all other men; that is, if you have not lost your savor. As it is, this man is your master in that his evil ways unfavorably influence you. Why not assert your mastery of evil by virtue of the power of goodness and thus become the master of all relations between the two of you? I predict that the good in you could overcome the evil in him if you gave it a fair and living chance. There is no adventure in the course of mortal existence more enthralling than to enjoy the exhilaration of becoming the material life partner with spiritual energy and divine truth in one of their triumphant struggles with error and evil. It is a marvelous and transforming experience to become the living channel of spiritual light to the mortal who sits in spiritual darkness. If you are more blessed with truth than is this man, his need should challenge you. Surely you are not the coward who could stand by on the seashore and watch a fellow man who could not swim perish! How much more of value is this man's soul floundering in darkness compared to his body drowning in water!" ~ The Urantia Book, (130:2.4)
"As you ascend the universe scale of creature development, you will find increasing goodness and diminishing evil in perfect accordance with your capacity for goodness-experience and truth-discernment. The ability to entertain error or experience evil will not be fully lost until the ascending human soul achieves final spirit levels." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (130:2.6)
"Revealed truth, personally discovered truth, is the supreme delight of the human soul; it is the joint creation of the material mind and the indwelling spirit. The eternal salvation of this truth-discerning and beauty-loving soul is assured by that hunger and thirst for goodness which leads this mortal to develop a singleness of purpose to do the Father's will, to find God and to become like him." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (132:3.4)
To a Roman soldier, as they walked along the Tiber, he said: "Be brave of heart as well as of hand. Dare to do justice and be big enough to show mercy. Compel your lower nature to obey your higher nature as you obey your superiors. Revere goodness and exalt truth. Choose the beautiful in place of the ugly. Love your fellows and reach out for God with a whole heart, for God is your Father in heaven." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (132:4.6)
Jesus always insisted that true goodness must be unconscious, in bestowing charity not allowing the left hand to know what the right hand does. ~ The Urantia Book, (140:8.26)
The Master offered no solutions for the nonreligious problems of his own age nor for any subsequent age. Jesus wished to develop spiritual insight into eternal realities and to stimulate initiative in the originality of living; he concerned himself exclusively with the underlying and permanent spiritual needs of the human race. He revealed a goodness equal to God. He exalted love—truth, beauty, and goodness—as the divine ideal and the eternal reality.
The Master came to create in man a new spirit, a new will—to impart a new capacity for knowing the truth, experiencing compassion, and choosing goodness—the will to be in harmony with God's will, coupled with the eternal urge to become perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect. ~ The Urantia Book, (140:8.31)
"Your sonship is grounded in faith, and you are to remain unmoved by fear. Your joy is born of trust in the divine word, and you shall not therefore be led to doubt the reality of the Father's love and mercy. It is the very goodness of God that leads men into true and genuine repentance. Your secret of the mastery of self is bound up with your faith in the indwelling spirit, which ever works by love. Even this saving faith you have not of yourselves; it also is the gift of God. And if you are the children of this living faith, you are no longer the bondslaves of self but rather the triumphant masters of yourselves, the liberated sons of God." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (143:2.7)
"You cannot buy salvation. You cannot earn righteousness. Salvation is the gift of God, and righteousness is the natural fruit of the spirit-born life of sonship in the kingdom. You are not to be saved because you live a righteous life; rather is it that you live a righteous life because you have already been saved, have recognized sonship as the gift of God and service in the kingdom as the supreme delight of life on earth. When men believe this gospel, which is a revelation of the goodness of God, they will be led to voluntary repentance of all known sin. Realization of sonship is incompatible with the desire to sin. Kingdom believers hunger for righteousness and thirst for divine perfection." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (150:5.5)
"Devote your life to proving that love is the greatest thing in the world. It is the love of God that impels men to seek salvation. Love is the ancestor of all spiritual goodness, the essence of the true and the beautiful." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (192:2.1)


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There is no denying that we are in a candidate driven market, so it has never been more important for you and your company to stand out in a competitive marketplace.
From speaking to hundreds of job seeker over the past 12 months here are our top 5 strategies to ensure you attract the best talent to your business;
1. Have a clear vision and clear company values.
Candidates want to know that they are joining an organisation that has an exciting future along with a core set of values. With this structure in place everyone knows what purpose they play in the long-term success of the business and will feel motivated to achieve that daily.
2. Increase your brand awareness.
With small/ medium size businesses competing with the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft it has never been so important to invest in your social media and digital marketing strategies. Empower your people to spread the brand message and encourage them to share content daily. This can be articles, blogs', videos, anything relevant to your industry. Take pictures whenever you are attending or hosting events and start to be seen and the expert in your field.
3. Offer flexibility.
We live in a digital age. There is no need to have your people sat at a desk from 9-5/ 5 days a week. 75% of candidates say that work/life balance is one of the main factors when candidates look for a new role and most say this is more important than salary. Time is everyone's biggest commodity so ask your people what's Important to them.
4. Offer education and learning.
Growth is extremely important for most employees. People want to feel like they are working for a company who are invested in their development. There are some fantastic conferences and courses out there and use both internal and external trainers.
5. Be Authentic and honest.
There is nothing worse than being sold the dream at the first interview and then at offer stage reading the contract to discover all the perks that were discussed have not been written into the contract. If your business can't offer the salary, flexibility and career progression then be upfront from the offset. This will stop your company brand being tarnished and candidates discussing what a poor experience they had dealing with you and your company, not to mention, it's a waste of everyone's time. If the candidate does accept, chances are they won't be with you for long!

subset: commoncrawl


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Simple Plans to Deal with Writer's Block
You already know content marketing is an effective strategy to grow your business. However, this plan completely hinges on continually putting new content out into the world. This may have seemed easy enough when you first got started, but after a while, your creative well has gone dry. This is bound to happen. Inspiration will likely strike again soon, but in the meantime, you need to keep moving forward and create high-quality content. Here are some easy blog post ideas to keep you writing when you are fresh out of ideas.
Consult Your FAQs
Check out the FAQ page of your site. Find a question or questions, you routinely field from customers and write a blog post around that. If you don't have an FAQ page, you should consider creating one. In that case, check your email, social media or just think back to the questions people ask. If one person asked the question, it's likely other people had the same question but didn't speak up.
Address the question to clear up any confusion and help your customers better understand your products and services. Proactively providing information helps readers who may have questions while also presenting your brand as helpful and approachable. Direct readers to your FAQ page to find answers to other questions they may have and encourage them to ask questions not currently addressed. Make sure to add any new questions to your FAQ page.
Pro Tip
If you find you are answering the same questions again and again, this info may need a more visible home on your site than on the FAQ page or in a blog post. For instance, if you have a print shop, and customers are always asking questions about requirements for submitted artwork, it may better serve your clients to place this info on a 'how we work' type of page on your site.
Address Comments
A variation of writing blog posts around FAQs is to write a post around blog or social media comments. If the comment was insightful or posed a question and is something that could be turned into a blog post, then go for it. Maybe you wrote a blog post about 5 tips to do something, and a reader left a comment about a tip they use that didn't make your list. Write a blog post around that tip and possibly look for more tips. Make sure to give credit where it is due.
Go Behind the Scenes
Give your readers a glimpse behind the curtain. People like seeing the inner workings. This can be a nice way to introduce your team and help customers put faces to names. This is also a great way to help readers see the people behind your brand. Transform your business from a faceless brand, into real living and breathing people who have names, pets, favorite flavors of ice cream, and a unique set of life experiences that make them uniquely positioned to do their job.
Solicit Help
You can also just ask for easy blog post ideas. Poll your readers to find out what they want to read about. This method ensures you are giving your readers what they want and you'll have a built-in audience.
You can also ask members of your team, friends, family or whomever. If you work in a technical business, it may be helpful to ask your less technical acquaintances what they would like to understand or learn more about. You are likely so caught up in what you do that you take a lot of your knowledge for granted. Gaining an outside perspective can help you come up with informative topics that will educate your readers and provide value.
Call in Reinforcements for Easy Blog Post Ideas
Routinely cranking out blog posts when you are also running your business can be stressful. Blog posts are a necessary component of your content marketing strategy, but who has the time? That may have sounded like a rhetorical question, but it isn't. The answer is me. I have the time to write your blog and I can also come up with topics to keep you in a steady supply of blog posts. The way this works is we chat, I get a handle on your business and what exactly it is that you do. You can tell me what you envision from detailed outlines to abstract concepts or I brainstorm topics for you. We'll reconvene, I'll run my ideas by you and once I have your approval I'll get to work writing your blog.
Do you have questions or are you ready to do this? Let's talk.


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A quick reminder that this year's "Bull Moose Festival" is happening in Roosevelt on Saturday July 25th. This is the annual festival to celebrate our neighborhood and have some fun with friends, family and local businesses.
The festival runs from 9am to 3pm, at the Calvary Christian Assembly parking lot on 68th and Roosevelt Way. The action starts with a free pancake breakfast (yum!), and then includes a dog show, a moose-calling competition (not to be missed ;-)), live bands, stalls, a dance exhibition, a historical re-enactment of the Klondike gold rush, and all kinds of other family-friendly stuff.
It would be great to get as big a crowd as possible, so please come along and spread the word to friends and family – the event is totally planned and organized by neighborhood residents; helps support our neighborhood; and will be a ton of fun.
All the details and schedule are here: https://rooseveltseattle.org/bullmoose/
[Dave Wood]


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AKA Daniel C. Pearl
Born: 10-Oct-1963Birthplace: Princeton, NJDied: 21-Feb-2002Location of death: Karachi, PakistanCause of death: MurderRemains: Buried, Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, CA
Gender: MaleReligion: JewishRace or Ethnicity: WhiteSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Journalist
Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Murdered Wall Street Journal reporter
Father: Judea PearlMother: Ruth PearlWife: Mariane Pearl (French journalist, m. 8-Aug-1999, until his death)Son: Adam D. Pearl (b. 26-May-2002)
High School: Birmingham High School, Los Angeles, CA (1981) University: BA Communications, Stanford University (1985)
The Wall Street Journal (1990-2002) The Indianapolis Star Intern Phi Beta Kappa Society Kidnapped 23-Jan-2002 Beheaded Televised Death Proxy Baptism: Mormon Twin Falls, ID (2011) Jewish Ancestry
Official Website:http://www.danielpearl.org/
Rotten Library Page:Daniel Pearl
Author of books:
At Home in the World: Collected Writings from The Wall Street Journal (2002, essays)
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications


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Projects and Updates, 2020-01-01
Dear Amazon-
In fairness, it was sort of fun in the beginning! See you in a few years, once you own all the other companies in the world.
Playlist of music in this post: Spotify
Support your community*
*(but only if you want your community to survive)
I like to think of the United States as a collection of 50 states and little else.[1] There are people who talk about the country being in a not-so-great place and set about doing things to make the country better, healthier, etc.; I find their tactics are, generally, wildly inefficient. This is, in part, because of how I think of the United States: a collection of 50 states and little else.
If those people who want to improve the country improved their own states, by definition the country would be improved. Similarly, if those people who want to improve the country improve their own counties, their states would be improved and the country would be improved. And, just to skip to the end, let's say that counties are giant collections of people: if the people themselves improve, automatically the counties improve, the states improve, the country improves.
All of that is to say this: You are (and everyone around you is) a part of the "people" above who might be improved; if you want the country to be healthy, you also want you to be healthy. There is no bypass for this work.
This (admittedly simplified) idea is true for "country", and it's also true for "society" and "community" and a number of other big, nebulous concepts.
So if look at Amazon and think that "we", as a society, should support healthier ways:
- to treat employees,
- for entities to be good corporate citizens,
- to partner with product makers and sellers,
- to engage with customers,
- to consider "convenience"[2]...
...then I need to learn how to support those healthier ways. There is no bypass for that work.
For me, the best part about leaving Amazon is that it frees up resources I can spend at places I actually want to see thrive -- businesses like I Like You and Cooks of Crocus Hill and North Loop Wine & Spirits[3]. I got to know the faces that work there, we chat about life, and I specifically want them to be successful.
Other awesome places!
While I started visiting the above businesses specifically because of my quest to leave Amazon, I'm duty-bound to shout out a few other local businesses I've been shopping for years:
- Michael Lynne's Tennis Shop
- Mill City Running
- The Naughty Greek
- Subtext Books
- Ted Cook's 19th Hole BBQ
- Workhorse Coffee Bar
Party Notes
Two quick party notes for you.
I have an idea: homemade hot chocolate in a coffee percolator. I'm not certain this idea will work, but that's okay because I have another idea that I think will work: mulled wine in a coffee percolator.
Better ingredients make better cocktails, and apparently there's such a thing as "cheap" vermouth. Using better vermouth and really nice cherries will make your Manhattans taste better.
Disabling Keyboard Keys in Linux
The laptop I use for writing and coding has Page Up and Page Down keys that are way too close to the left and right keys. Without going too much into it, accidentally shifting a document by 5 to 10 pages, instead of moving a cursor 5 to 10 places, is uniquely infuriating.
As a result, I remapped my Page Up and Page Down keys; they now function as additional left and right keys.
I made the change by adding two lines to this file: /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/pc
(For the record, I'm running Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS.)
// Neutralizing Page Up and Down
key <PGDN> { [ Right ] };
key <PGUP> { [ Left ] };
Since I don't use Page Up or Page Down too often on this computer, I didn't take the time to re-map the functionality to some other key combination. The full file follows, in case it's helpful for anyone.
default partial alphanumeric_keys modifier_keys
xkb_symbols "pc105" {
key <ESC> { [ Escape ] };
// The extra key on many European keyboards:
key <LSGT> { [ less, greater, bar, brokenbar ] };
// The following keys are common to all layouts.
key <BKSL> { [ backslash, bar ] };
key <SPCE> { [ space ] };
include "srvr_ctrl(fkey2vt)"
include "pc(editing)"
include "keypad(x11)"
key <BKSP> { [ BackSpace, BackSpace ] };
key <TAB> { [ Tab, ISO_Left_Tab ] };
key <RTRN> { [ Return ] };
key <CAPS> { [ Caps_Lock ] };
key <NMLK> { [ Num_Lock ] };
key <LFSH> { [ Shift_L ] };
key <LCTL> { [ Control_L ] };
key <LWIN> { [ Super_L ] };
key <RTSH> { [ Shift_R ] };
key <RCTL> { [ Control_R ] };
key <RWIN> { [ Super_R ] };
key <MENU> { [ Menu ] };
// Neutralizing Page Up and Down
key <PGDN> { [ Right ] };
key <PGUP> { [ Left ] };
// Beginning of modifier mappings.
modifier_map Shift { Shift_L, Shift_R };
modifier_map Lock { Caps_Lock };
modifier_map Control{ Control_L, Control_R };
modifier_map Mod2 { Num_Lock };
modifier_map Mod4 { Super_L, Super_R };
// Fake keys for virtual<->real modifiers mapping:
key <LVL3> { [ ISO_Level3_Shift ] };
key <MDSW> { [ Mode_switch ] };
modifier_map Mod5 { <LVL3>, <MDSW> };
key <ALT> { [ NoSymbol, Alt_L ] };
include "altwin(meta_alt)"
key <META> { [ NoSymbol, Meta_L ] };
modifier_map Mod1 { <META> };
key <SUPR> { [ NoSymbol, Super_L ] };
modifier_map Mod4 { <SUPR> };
key <HYPR> { [ NoSymbol, Hyper_L ] };
modifier_map Mod4 { <HYPR> };
// End of modifier mappings.
key <OUTP> { [ XF86Display ] };
key <KITG> { [ XF86KbdLightOnOff ] };
key <KIDN> { [ XF86KbdBrightnessDown ] };
key <KIUP> { [ XF86KbdBrightnessUp ] };
hidden partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "editing" {
key <PRSC> {
type= "PC_ALT_LEVEL2",
symbols[Group1]= [ Print, Sys_Req ]
key <SCLK> { [ Scroll_Lock ] };
key <PAUS> {
type= "PC_CONTROL_LEVEL2",
symbols[Group1]= [ Pause, Break ]
key <INS> { [ Insert ] };
key <HOME> { [ Home ] };
key <PGUP> { [ Prior ] };
key <DELE> { [ Delete ] };
key <END> { [ End ] };
key <PGDN> { [ Next ] };
key <UP> { [ Up ] };
key <LEFT> { [ Left ] };
key <DOWN> { [ Down ] };
key <RGHT> { [ Right ] };
20 Songs
Here are 20 songs I've recently played very loudly.
(in alphabetical order (not case sensitive))
- "Again", John Legend
- "All My Favorite People", Maren Morris
- "bad guy", Billie Eilish
- "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored", Ariana Grande
- "Die From A Broken Heart", Maddie & Tae
- "Downpour", Brandi Carlile
- "Glad He's Gone", Tove Lo
- "God is a woman", Ariana Grande
- "If You Get Lost", Will Gray
- "Judas", Lady Gaga
- "Let Him Fly", Patty Griffin
- "Love Song", Sara Bareilles
- "Mother's Daughter", Miley Cyrus
- "MY POWER", Beyoncé
- "Never Too Much", Luther Vandross
- "Shallow", Lady Gaga
- "Sorry Not Sorry", Demi Lovato
- "Sugar", Maren Morris
- "Tempo", Lizzo
- "We Belong Together", Mariah Carey
I have not forgotten about D.C., areas set aside for America's native people, or America's 5, 7, or 16 territories, depending on how one counts. While my point does scale well enough to incorporate them, I'm ignoring them for simplicity's sake. ↩
There's this lingering notion that "Amazon is convenient"... For me, Amazon had become very unpredictable in both product quality and delivery timing, which made Amazon rather inconvenient. ↩
While I didn't buy alcohol at Amazon, the mindset of looking for local alternatives led me to consider other areas as well ↩


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Expert's Rating
- Unobtrusive gateway can be stashed in any nearby plug
- Bright bulbs with quick responsiveness
- Most attractive and familiar bulb form factor of the lot
- Poorly designed setup process
- Dimming isn't smooth
- Full-color bulbs not available yet
Our Verdict
Lightify suffers badly from an arcane setup process, but once it gets going, it's an impressive but simple tunable solution.
Best Prices Today: Lightify Classic Tunable White
Osram is another ZigBee solution that requires multiple components to operate. But unlike the Philips Hue, Lightify's gateway is a simple plug-in device that connects via Wi-Fi, not ethernet. This gives you considerably more flexibility in where you place the gateway, since it just needs a power outlet, not a permanent home next to your router.
Connecting Lightify's hardware is a brainless, two-step process (plug in the gateway, then twist in the bulb), but dealing with the final steps of configuration within its mobile app is another story. This incredibly obtuse setup almost had me quit in frustration. First you must register for an account, and then wait for an email with an automated passphrase to activate it. The passphrase is provided in upper and lowercase letters and numerals, making for some frustrating data entry (is that an I or an l ?). After that, you connect to Osram's temporary Wi-Fi network with another complex, single-use passphrase. Same issue here with the lengthy, hard-to-parse characters. Then you can actually use the bulb. All told this is clearly a product from an old-school manufacturer (Osram is a 96-year-old German lighting company) and not a tech startup focused on the needs of the user.
Once things are set up, the Lightify app is fairly simple in use. Basic functions for each bulb are handled by a wheel around a central power button. Set brightness, color temperature (for white tunable bulbs), and full color settings (for future color-tunable bulbs) all by orbiting around that center button. Unfortunately, Osram's full-color bulb won't be available until later this year; only the tunable white is currently for sale. A few presets let you configure bulbs for "relax," "active," or "plant light" modes—all points on the white color temperature spectrum. There's also a basic light timer that's easy to work with.
One caveat on the app: Don't accidentally hit the "+" button to add a new bulb (unless you really have one to add to your network). Once activated, there's no way to cancel this process short of quitting the app manually.
Overall I found Lightify's light quality to be exceptional, and the bulb—rated at 800—was bright enough to easily illuminate a large room without much trouble. The dimmer isn't terribly smooth, unfortunately, as the brightness rises and falls in chunky stair-steps instead of in a gentle gradient. The tunable white bulb ranges from 2000- to 6500K, which is plenty of range for both energizing early and relaxing later.
Setup hiccups aside, the Osram Lightify is a capable tunable lighting solution. It's also compatible with Belkin Wemo out of the box and the company says Nest integration is in the works, too. The affordable price point is just icing on the cake.


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New York
NFL Colour Rush
Jump to navigation
To celebrate the Thursday night Nike NFL colour rush, we designed and curated an immersive lighting exhibition at 45 Grand, for 10 artists commissioned by Nike. The artwork was based on the two home teams, New York Giants and New York Jets who were set to play the opening night. Working with metal frameworks and inset fluorescent lighting, we created a sequential and contemporary exhibition space. In addition to this we designed a screening room and a bespoke display for the 32 innovative NFL jerseys.
NFL Colour Rush


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|From: Robby Findler (robby at eecs.northwestern.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 11 22:53:21 EST 2010
On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 9:49 PM, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt <samth at ccs.neu.edu> wrote: > On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 9:47 PM, Robby Findler > <robby at eecs.northwestern.edu> wrote: >> This seems like an unfortunate naming discrepancy. > > I agree. I think the solution is to change Racket, however. From the > perspective of the type system, inexact integers are useless - they > have no closure properties, don't obey various laws we'd like the > integers to obey, etc. This seems like it would cause far too much breakage to far too much code. I certainly wouldn't want to attempt it. Changing TR (as I suggest below) seems far easier. > Changing Racket is tricky, but I think using the `Integer' type for > something useless (it's not even currently represented in the TR type > system) would be a mistake. Well, the change to TR would be to change "Integer" to "ExactInteger" (or similar) presumably, not to add a useless type. Robby
|Posted on the dev mailing list.


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Post buckling of composite plates
In this subject, Prof. C. Kassapoglou talks about the post buckling behavior of composite plates and derives an expression for the post buckling of an anisotropic plate using the Von Karman equations.
The lecture starts off with a video of a fatigue shear test of a stiffened plate which displays how the buckling modes will change as the mechanical properties degrade due to stiffener separation. From this a discussion on post buckling behavior of a structure ensues.Read more
The Von Karman equations are then used to find an analytical expression for the post buckling behavior. After the derivation the results are used to define the 'effective width' of a post buckled plate. The lecture is concluded with an explanation of the second homework assignment.
Advanced Design and Optimization of Composite Structures I – Week 6


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Loose-fit and super-soft training tee.
Charge SS Loose Tee is an oversized training tee that is perfect for layer-on-layer outfits. The loose-fit tee is made of soft and lightweight polyester and comes with V-neck, high slits at side seams and raw-cut edges for a modern expression.
- Soft and lightweight polyester
- Oversized, loose fit
- V-neck
- High slits at side seams
- Raw-cut edges
100% Polyester
Machine wash in 40 degrees.
Select size
Evedalsgatan 5, SE-504 35
Borås, Sweden
Org.nr 556529-1845


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All 1,400 officers from Honduras' investigative police unit have been suspended over alleged corruption and ties to organized crime, once again underscoring the extent of police corruption in Honduras and the scale of the challenge facing reform attempts.
On June 5, every officer from Honduras' Criminal Investigation Unit (DNIC) -- which makes up around 10 percent of Honduras' police force -- was suspended indefinitely, and will now be submitted to confidence tests.
The head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortes (CICC), Fernando Jaar, said he was told by Security Minister Arturo Corrales that the DNIC intervention was in response to links between the investigative body and organized crime. "He told us ... they are leaking information to organized crime and were planning criminal acts from that office [the DNIC]," said Jaar.
Since June 2012, Honduran police have been undergoing confidence tests -- including psychological assessments, polygraph tests, and drug testing -- in an effort to tackle endemic corruption.
The day before the suspension was announced, Congress gave final approval for the creation of a special national police unit, the "Tigers" (for their Spanish acronym), a proposed high-technology force with investigative and intelligence capacities. Officials said the force will not be military in nature, as previously planned.
InSight Crime Analysis
The claim that the suspended officers were involved with organized crime is unsurprising, given the notoriety of Honduras' police force. In 2011, one official claimed that 40 percent of police had ties to organized crime, while police have also been accused of extortion, drug trafficking, and carrying out contract killings.
As part of an ongoing reform effort, 652 officers had been removed as of April and members of the top command have been subjected to confidence tests. However, the process has been criticized for its slowness and for failure to suspend some officers who had previously failed confidence tests.
In view of the latest suspensions, the approval of the Tigers unit is an interesting move by Congress. While Tigers officers will be submitted to rigorous testing before being hired, the dynamics of Honduran police corruption indicate that increasing numbers and adding units will not make the force more effective unless this is accompanied by an overall change in police culture.


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Editor's note: Corri is one of the contributors to Rational Creatures who has her own blog as well! You can check out this post and others at Biscuit Fortune. – Chelsea
I don't sit still. I mean, not ever. At work, I am required to sit for extended periods of time, and the best I can do to rally against the system there is to bob my knee up and down relentlessly. Yeah. Take THAT, 9-5 Lifestyle. I'll..show you.
My body is a fidgety one: constantly shifting, adjusting, exercising, then injuring, healing, swaying (in place like my mother), expressing, gesturing, dancing. If that sounds like it would be a constant distraction for anyone sitting with me (though I've managed to curl my toes in my shoes discreetly if need be to hide the movement), you'd be right.
But it's nothing compared to what's happening in my head. The squirming on the outside is a physical manifestation of the mental gymnastics I'm executing for infinite Russian judges. Not gymnastics of any significant difficulty – no algebra or code sequencing. It's just regular thought. SO MUCH THOUGHT all at once.
As an example, I recently blurted something out to my husband that was approximately the 5th step in a mental journey I was taking enirely alone.
Something thoughtful, something eloquent. I believe it was, "If I water did I? No, I'm good."
"What?" my husband calmly asked, since he's known me for 12 years and realizes I'm not having a stroke. (more…)