Monthly Archives: November 2010

But a Fool Can Be a Wiseman Some of The Time

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Looking back on my life and at all the friends that came into my life and have gone away, I remember the fun and boring times with a sense of bliss. Wondering am I, About where they all are and how there lives have turned out. Pondering on the possibility if any of them think of me or even remember my name. Makes me even question what effect I had on this world and the people I have known. I know sometimes I played the fool and other times I played the Loner. I know I may have done wrong to to others with no malice in my heart, Yet good intentions or not what is wrong is wrong. I may have done some good for a handful of people I have met, yet the majority of the time I was just there and had no effect.

All the dreams I had are now just ghostly thoughts from my youth. What dreams remain are very simple and down to earth. The wandering fool has no direction nor no destination and this wandering fool walks in too many circles. The Wiseman who puts away his wisdom is more a fool than the fool himself. For wisdom and knowledge should be used if not shared and if wasted is as useless as a boat on dry land. And I need to get my boat back out to sea instead of letting it rot on the sandy shore.

The realization that friends and family are the true treasures of life brings this fool one step closer to being a sage. Love is the life force that is in us all and it is the greatest gift god gave us all. Be compassionate and loving to one another, shoulder the weight for your brother and or your sister when they are in need. Look beyond color,sex,origin and religion to see we are all one big family in a quite large house. Put Greed,fear,selfishness and deceit behind you for they are nothing but stumbling blocks on the path to happiness. Most Important is to remember to Love,Forgive and accept yourself as who and what you are.

Looking back on my life I see all the good friends and family I had. I am fortunate to had the friends and family I had and those I still do have. I May be a fool, But a fool can be a Wiseman some of the time.

Peace and Love to you all.
Raymond Barbier

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Black Friday marks the beginning

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The Christmas Shopping Season is Officially Begun, Black Friday marks the beginning of the mass rush of consumers trying to get the best deals on products as gifts for Christmas. Giving gifts has been a part of Christmas for many of generations but it was meant to be just a part of Christmas not the main theme. The true meaning behind Christmas is the celebrating  the birth of the messiah, the lord Jesus Christ. The day is meant to be an expression of our joy for his coming and the grace he brought to us through his life and sacrifice.

The meaning is still there just it has become more of a side show than the main attraction it should be. Give gifts in Joy and in thanks for our savior for without his grace we would all fall short of the glory of god.

Hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday season

R. Barbier

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Blessings, Curses and Thanksgiving

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  With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I should write about thankfulness. To be thankful for all that you have is to realize that you are blessed even if your life is a mess. Look at me for example, I am 800 miles away from family and friends in several directions and lead a pretty dull life. Yet I am thankful for the family that I still have and for having the friends I do even though they are so far away. Age is catching up to me and my health isn’t as good as I would like I am still generally healthy and thankfully I have awoke to see another day.

  Too many of us focus on what is bad or causes us ill in our life way too much and rarely look at the blessings that are in our life. No matter how big or small a blessing may seem they all are equally important and should be equally cherished. Life is way to short not to focus on the blessings we have and defiantly too short to ponder on our curses.

  So on this Thanksgiving take a good look at all the things that are blessings in your life and give thanks for them.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving

R. Barbier

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Honor and Chivalry

Giotto - Scrovegni - -44- - Faith

 

 In modern times honor has became rare in our society and almost nothing but a historical footnote.
Below is a Basic Version of the Knights Code of Honor A.K.A. Chivalry

A Code of honor (Based on the knights code of honor)

Faith:  Trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures

Charity:   Benevolent feeling, especially toward those in need or in disfavor

Justice:  The moral principle determining just conduct and the conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment

Sagacity:  To Have keen perception and or the ability to make good judgments.

Prudence:  Caution with regard to practical matters; discretion

Temperance:  Moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc.; self-control.

Resolution:  The mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

Truth:  Honesty; integrity; truthfulness

Liberality:  The quality or condition of being liberal in giving; generosity; bounty.

Diligence:  Constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.

Hope:  To believe, desire, or trust

Valor:  Boldness or determination in facing great danger, esp. in battle; heroic courage; bravery

Just think if we taught this code to our children, what impact it could have on society and on the childrens view of the world.

Just a Interesting thought is all.

Peace to all

R. Barbier

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Pleasure in the suffering of others is Childish and Cruel

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I often wondered why some people find the misfortunes of others either funny or entertaining. What could drive a person to find enjoyment in such things is beyond my own understanding. I myself could not find any enjoyment or entertainment in the suffering even in my worst enemy. It is cruel minded to find joy or pleasure in the sufferings of others, regardless if they be friend or foe. I guess it boils down to what one defines as just and or justice, If one believes that justice is to see the suffering of the villain or criminal rather than the putting right of which is wrong then maybe that makes it seem ok to find pleasure in the suffering of another.

I believe that the sufferings of others is not to be pleasured in, it is to be abhorred and found a sad or terrible sight. To find pleasure in such things is either madness or a cruel and evil way of thinking. I only hope one day mankind can grow out of such childish thinking and become more compassionate, caring and peaceful.

Peace and Happiness to all
R. Barbier

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What kind of Legacy Do you want to leave for the children?

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To walk the path of compassion and servitude to your fellow man/woman is to walk the path of being a true human. Humans are the caretakers of this world and all living creatures including other humans. We are the only species capable of creating change on a large scale. With our ability to adapt and to create tools and technologies we have surpassed all of the other species on this planet. With great knowledge and power comes even greater responsibility. This is our home and we should take care of it and all that is within it.

We humans have the gift of freewill and thus we can choose to or not to be guardians, keepers and healers of this world. Though the choice is yours I hope you can see that it is the future of not our generations I worry about it is the future of the teenagers, children and babies that I have concern for. We can leave them a legacy of a generation that strived for a better world in many ways or one of selfishness and consumerism.

What kind of Legacy Do you want to leave for the children?
Think hard about it, and make your own choice.

Enough of my Babbling for now.

PEACE
R. Barbier

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Dell Axim x5 as a E-Book Reader

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I have recently purchased a Dell Axim x5 Pocket PC to use as a E-Book Reader, And I will tell you it was a pretty good choice. I can read e-books of all formats except for Amazon’s Kindle Version. But MobiPocket.com Amazon’s Sister company I can, So I can pretty much read any type of E-Books out there. The Pocket PC also can surf the web and play both mp3s and Videos (Not on the web due to lack of flash and will update if I fix this issue) which most E-Book Reader Devices can not do. Size is also a plus for me, It fits in your hand and still has a large enough screen to make reading enjoyable. Though I think the Kindle and Sony‘s E-book readers may give you a better experience in the amount of text you can read per page. Price is what sold me, now days you can get pocket pcs used for around $40 – $70 on both amazon.com and eBay.com .

Well enough about that..

Peace to all

R. Barbier

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E-Books The Future of Written Word

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With the new trend in E-Books and readers there is many sites out there offering both free and purchasable EBooks. From amazon to MobiPocket and software from both of them to enable both your pc and your mobile devices to read e-books it seems the way of paper and ink are becoming like the way of cds and dvds. The possibilities are grand for the new digital trend especially in the education sector. Just imagine the collage student can carry all of his or her books in one SD card or on her laptop. This could also lower the cost of books for both the university/collage and the k-12 schools.

  Though I have a feeling the publishing companies will either try and squash the possibilities of E-books for schools or make the cost of them the same to make it  less advantageous to go digital. Either way I believe E-books will eventually be the norm both in ones house and in the schools across America.

Below are a few links that might be helpful to those interested in E-books.

E-Book Software

Amazon’s Kindle Software

MobiPocket ’s  Software

Microsoft Reader

Uread

E-Book Sites

Amazon Kindle Books

MobiPocket.com

Diesel E-Books

Google Books

Archive.org E-books / Texts

Peace and Happy Reading
Ray Barbier

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Get through each day

Illustration depicting thought.

Just Passing on a Email from a friend I thought everyone would enjoy.

Original Author M. Barr

Okay I decided to pass along a few secrets I have discovered that help me get through each day.

  1. Wake up.
  2. Find something to smile about. To this end. I do what Paul (New Testament) says. If there is anything noble anything good anything of good report, dwell upon these things. I find it simple to just remember things I have enjoyed doing in my life and think upon them.
  3. Whatever is in your mind is what you will focus on. Whatever you think about will reflect in your attitude. If you find yourself hung up on a thought that upsets you or brings you down. Try listening to music that is up beat and singing along with the song. This one is important. Its takes effort but the reward is simply a better attitude. With your every thought you create the world as you believe it to be.
  4. Stop comparing yourself to others. What you will find is that there are those below you and those above you. Do not look down on anyone and try not to envy those that have more material things than you. All you really need is in you at this very moment. So many people are looking for happiness when it is as simple as believing you’re happy and you ARE.
  5. Find something you enjoy and do it!
  6. Forgive the world and move on. Stop looking for negative things to justify your negative mood. Get over it. Forgive the event and make peace with yourself about whatever it is and pick up the pieces and carry on. Stop carrying around that piece of shit baggage and put it down. Put it down right now and every time you pick it up gently remind yourself to let it go.
  7. I find myself meditating 70% of the day. Meditating is simply thinking upon a thing. Sometimes I think about nothing at all. Just content to be in the moment. After all is said and done the moment is all there really is, the past and the future are untouchable but can be accessed through thought.
  8. Relax take a deep breathe and laugh.

Pug

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Freewill, Evil and Human Nature

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I have often pondered on if there is a God and he loves us then why does evil exist and suffering? The answer to each of those questions vary with whom you ask them. My thoughts are as follows, God allows evil to exist in order to allow us to enjoy the gift of freewill that he gave us. Thus the majority of the evil in this world if not all of it is solely our responsibility. Human beings are the source of evil here on earth as well as the source of goodness. If Evil exists here on earth it is due to our free choice to allow it to be a part of our lives. Unfortunately being such a large population it would be next to impossible to stamp out all evil in our society. The only way would to try and enlighten everyone and promote love, peace and understanding on a global scale. This is something I fear could never happen due to the people in power would reject and obstruct such a global movement. War one of the greater evils of mankind is the most profitable and is the thing most governments support as long as its not on their soil.

Far as suffering, it is no more than a side effect of the evil man creates. Greed and the lust for power fuels the leaders of our world either consciously or subconsciously. There may be many politicians and political leaders that are not evil by nature but fall to the wayside as a necessity to gain position or favor. So why does god allow all of this? Well its all the freewill thing, He gave us the reigns and only intercedes if asked or if necessary. Man must learn on his own that Sin, wickedness and evil are the enemy of life. Being a human myself, I face many faults within myself and fall to sin. The nature to be selfish and to be self satisfying seems to be a embedded part of human nature. To resist and to control it is a choice that one must make.

Well that’s my thoughts on the issue, right or wrong its here for all to see.

Peace and happiness to all
Raymond Barbier

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