Appearance can be deceiving
Men
in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have
eyes, but few have the gift of penetration. ~Niccolo Machiavelli- philosopher, humanist, writer
of course, Machiavelli is not talking about males but about "men" as the
human species. We, as people, so often take things as face value.
What we can see, read, feel we perceive as truth. Especially as when
something that frightens, bothers, upsets us, we go into reaction mode
without penetrating underneath the surface. One negative response,
criticism of anything will cause us to question everything we have
believed. Dr Phil says that "it takes 1000 atta boys to negate 1 "how
dumb can you be?" 1 person calling us saying <"I saw him/her with
this person in his/her car" can start world war 3 in our home, our
relationship. 1 off photo on the social networks, even though we all
know photos are very often posed, not showing what we may really be
feeling about this person can send us spiraling into inner chaos. We
must stop, think about what we are seeing compared to what spirit is
telling us. People very seldom say what they mean, mean what they say.
Masks are thrown up, walls are built. We have to get down to the
inner being, the nitty gritty to decide what our next steps are going to
be. Everything in life has a negative, a positive side. We can go
around consistently letting the dark side rule our lives, our thoughts,
our relationships, or we can try to see what the positive side, the
lesson is in all of this. Penetrate the situation with inner thoughts,
study the whole concept, then decide if the appearance of what is
happening is the reality before making our decisions, our next steps.
Saints of old: Joan of Arc has always caught my attention over some of the others. Here is what Wikipedia says about her:Saint Joan of Arc or
The Maid of Orléans (
French:
Jeanne d'Arc,
[1] IPA:
[ʒan daʁk]; ca. 1412
[2] – 30 May 1431) is considered a national
heroine of France and a
Catholic saint. A
peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed Divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the
Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the coronation of
Charles VII. She was captured by the
Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an
ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was 19 years old.
[3] Twenty-five years after the execution,
Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a
martyr.
[3] She was
beatified in 1909 and
canonized in 1920.
[2] She is, along with
St. Denis,
St. Martin of Tours,
St. Louis IX, and
St. Theresa of Lisieux, one of the
patron saints of France.Joan asserted that she had visions from
God that instructed her to recover her homeland from
English domination late in the
Hundred Years' War.
The thing amazing about her is that we can know that "free will" had
nothing to do with any of this. Women just weren't brought into
military prominence in that day and age. Yet at 16,. she took over
military campaigns, and won a seige in 9 days.
I am here my usual hours today. We had a bit of turmoil around here
yesterday. I love storms, never get worried, but the dogs and I were in
the hall closet yesterday when we had very horrible tornadoes
yesterday. Today should be pretty relaxed so looking forward to sharing
with each person. Talk to you soon. love ya, Me, Bob, Bets, T