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JOSEPH HOLBROOK JOURNAL
 2015  COMMENTARIES  WORKING NOTES  FRANK’S GARAGE    PERS. CHRONICLE  A CHANGING PAGE  MOM’S EARLY LIFE  (12) PERS.PHOTOS
Last year’s  “Gathering Marbles and Passing Thoughts”, click 2014 above.  I’ll continue to create ‘A Changing Pageof pared down comments and quotes. . .it’s just fun.
 Journals 2015 :  This year’s entry formats will vary.  I think I’ll make use of a Personal Chronicle approach for at least some of it.  I’ll also be reviewing comments from the last decade or so.  Maybe rewriting some.  Most of them have never appeared on-line.  Perspectives and attitudes can change and as I’ve said in the past, I don’t have a problem being a person with ‘evolving conclusions’.  ‘Certainty’ is something that’s only ‘approachable’; and even then, only when you’re fortunate.  I’ve never had a need to be ‘right’, just a desire to be headed toward it.
      I’ve neglected my physical artwork for too long and I’m looking forward to a more productive schedule.  Looking forward to materializing ideas that have been brewing for awhile, and not only paintings.  It’ll be an interesting year.     My Spiritual Life is primarily founded on experience and intuition.  And though worshiping personages is not a part of my spiritual repertoire, I’ve derived inspiration from religions that subscribe to it.   I revere wisdom that’s gleaned through a variety of philosophies and creeds, and what I have found most humbling is this personal opportunity at our fingertips for spiritual evolution. (JH) Starlings Flocking,  Magnificent.  It seems there’s an innate social camaraderie and purpose that supersedes any single bird.  Imagine how beautiful the world might be if we could learn that trick, just for a day. (Click the photo for more starling photos and vids) I'm not warm to Politics at all anymore, though in the upcoming year I'll no doubt include some comments here and there.  (I think I’ve said that every year for the past few).  I remain convinced that in the absence of a more evolved understanding of human potential, politics remains important, but only by default. (JH) " I miss my naiveté ". It sounds strange, but I found no other way to put it this morning.  I found myself missing that time when I was unaware that people could do what they’re doing to each other these days.   I suppose those types and their actions have always been around.  I've read about them, but now I seem bombarded daily with how horribly some people treat others.. . . .I can only compartmentalize it successfully by saying:  I can’t change them so. . .sometimes I just miss naiveté. (JH) The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money. (Thomas Jefferson) The paradigm required for "everyone" to see everyone else through the same lenses and toward common goals is an imagined model.  Though tangent to reality in theory, it seems only substantive within the esoteric hopes and prayers of those peaceful souls who speak of it as 'Our common goal'.  And though I personally have faith in an individual's potential to surmount virtually any obstacle when in pursuit of enlightenment and happiness,  I have no such trust in 'All' individuals accomplishing such a feat at the same time.  Given any era-length you might outline, I'd give it the same odds as everyone deciding to believe in the same religion, tomorrow.  
	I suppose there are historical examples of success in appropriately sized communities of the past.  And they may whet the whistle for our dreams of a universal common sense and reason, but at least to this point, global epiphanies seem nonexistent.  
	I don't classify any of this as a negative perspective, only as a reasonable conclusion based on world history and daily news.  If it’s possible, Now is the time to recognize the box and begin to actively seek avenues outside it.

    “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.  It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” (Einstein)

    "Every failure of humanity is a failure of imagination" (Steven Fry) 
	
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge." (Einstein)           Email to a good friend with an upcoming 70th birthday.  It’s a difficult number for a lot of people.
70: I've been thinking about it and my suggestion about celebrating your 71st instead makes a lot of sense.  After all, it's the number 70 itself that seems to be getting in the way.  Probably from some adolescent subconscious 'age definition' of 'old'.  
	 The object then is to spit right in the eye of chronology itself by celebrating 71 now.  Numbers like 51, 61, 71  don't strike any of those subconscious 'age event' definitions, so just celebrate that you feel 55, no matter what number they throw at you.  And as an added incentive, a 71st birthday won't be required next year, because you've already done it.  
	It's seems a good scenario for a guy who I know realizes that 'Age Numbers' don't mean squat.  It's how you Feel man.  
"I am able to say that while I am not ruggedly well, I am not ill enough to excite an undertaker" (Mark Twain) Joseph  Holbrook / Journals  All Joseph Holbrook Images and Commentary within this web site are Legally Protected.  Written Permission is required for ANY use. 2014