BEAUTY

MEDITATION ON BEAUTY If "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," is there no universal ideal of beauty? If so, what is it? Or, is beauty, instead, an acquired, a derived abstraction formed within rather than an image from without? These meditations on beauty come to me by my reading in the chapter on "Beauty," in the ancient classic book by Plotinus, THE ENNEADS (1991). Therein this ancient African sage writes: "Beauty enthrones itself, giving itself to the parts as to the sum: when it lights on some natural unity, a thing of like parts, then it gives itself to the whole. Thus, for an illustration, there is the beauty, conferred by craftsmanship, of all a house with all its parts, and the beauty which some natural quality may give to a single stone. "This, then, is how the material thing becomes beautiful--by communicating in the thought (Reason, Logos) that flows from the Divine." P.47-48

NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBESI, excerpt

"When the wagon was left eight years before, several loose articles, as the medicine-chest, magic lantern, tools and books were given by Sekeletu, into the charge of his wives. Everything was found in safety... Sekeletu's wives, Seipone and Mantu, without being asked, cooked abundance of good beef, and baked a large supply of little cakes ... With gentle reproaches for not bringing Ma-Robert, or Mrs. Livingstone, they repeated some of the prattle of her children... "Are we never more to know anything of them but their names?"... It ought never to be forgotten that influence among the heathen can be acquired only by patient continuance in well-doing, and that good manners are as necessary among barbarians, as among the civilized." P.239-240,"The Makololo," NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBESI by David and Charles Livingstone (1865)

SOUL ON FIRE

OLD HOME ELEGY I reached intellectual and physical maturity as a black man in the early 1960s, while yet a "boy," still living at home with my family. We went to church every Sunday, ate family dinners together and we all highly valued school, learning, education. Both Daddy and Mama had jobs. Chores around the house were us kids' jobs . We lived by a big green, natural park, playground, athletic field, and public school all in one . A library, stores, convenient public transportation by bus, and city hall, were just up the street, up Rockhill Road, on Manchester. We all drove cars and owned our own homes. We were blessed, even if we didn't know that we were blessed by God. This recitation of basic, personal, mundane facts, about my own life, were common characteristics shared with many of our neighbors, all who were mainly black. So, we were not extraordinary at that time. Yet, these facts may seem to be strange, made-up, very rare today, in 2016, if one believes the views of some popular, present-day opinion makers, who are alleged experts! That said, there were still real-life dramas back then, not as today with the police, all of whom we knew well, but with similar, nearby communities of color, like the ever-dangerous Meacham Park, which our family had moved from in 1963. In addition, there were guys from nearby Richmond Heights, whose hatted-males brandished a species of "cool," that our Webster Groves girls often deemed to be charming which caused friction and fights. When I started writing this piece, my purpose was to encourage the reading of the classic, SOUL ON ICE by Eldridge Cleaver, and/or his post-baptized book, SOUL ON FIRE , as I have done and enjoyed. But, I became diverted by my own nostalgic memories of our old street, Eldridge Avenue in Rock Hill, Missouri, Webster Groves School District, about 5 miles southwest of the City of St. Louis, idyllic indeed! Please read Eldridge Cleaver, and please also forgive my elegiac, if inelegant, old personal threnody.

PRAYING FOR RECIPROCAL LOVE

PRAYING FOR RECIPROCAL LOVE I pray today for a manifestation of love, knowledge, wisdom, power, health, wealth in/for every man or woman or child on Earth, oh Lord! May each human of each kind, type, and description, personally experience for themselves, plainly know personally, the power, the glory, dominion, verity, of YOUR infinitely ever-radiating love for themselves, as they return this love, reciprocally, to you by loving each other, loving themselves, and loving one another as has always been done by your bestowing life , blessed life, on them/us all. AMEN!

DIFFERENCES

DIFFERENCES Differences, if sought, are most easily found, among things that exist even between identical twins. Similarities, among things however, predominate over our differences magnificently from earth to infinity . Too often, however, we choke on a gnat and swallow a camel, as Jesus says, meaning that mankind loves overlooking the obvious in search for the obscure, for the differences.

DUMB BEASTS

The term "dumb beast" suggests a degree of intemperate, presumptive superiority over other life forms that may well be ill-advised considering that one day our mortal bodies will be food for worms and microbes, which see us as such "dumb beasts" as well! Is it not better that we humble ourselves and be respectful of life, as we all emanate from one and the same spirit whatever our form may now be, or that of others!

PAINE NEVER ASSIGNED IN SCHOOL

I do recall reading bits about Thomas Paine in public schools, college, and law school. But, I do not recall having ever being assigned to read anything BY Thomas Paine, in any of my schools. Thomas Paine is strong meat, mighty medicine, whose writings against tyranny, being rooted in nature, are capable of many uses!