Author Archives: James Pyles

Quoting: Courageous Progress

Choose to focus on the progress you are making. You have infinitely more courage now than you did when you were born. Since each courageous act makes you a more courageous person, by focusing on progress, you will almost always feel that you are increasing your level of courage.

This perspective will give you the encouragement to continue developing this quality. Even if you feel that you are backsliding, you still have made progress from the place where you were when you started your journey in life.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book, “Courage”

Quoting: Expand Your Consciousness

When you connect with the Creator, you will expand your consciousness of infinity and eternity. You will plug into the source of all serenity. Each time you make a blessing, or pray, or perform a good deed, you will be connecting with your love for your Father, your King, Creator and Sustainer of the universe. You will be able to connect with the love that your Creator has for you. Gaining this awareness will add a spiritual dimension to all aspects of a person’s life. Those who have integrated this live an elevated life and make wiser choices.

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book, Serenity, p.93

Quoting: Taking a Break From Stress

You feel relaxed when you take a vacation, because your mind is at rest. The change in external environment makes it easier to put aside the stressful aspects of your daily life.

While we do not always have the ability to go to the mountains or travel to Switzerland whenever we feel excessive stress, we do have the ability to take a MENTAL trip to peaceful and serene locations. Sit in your chair with your eyes closed, and imagine that you are any place in the world where you can feel calm. Don’t WISH you were there, but actually FEEL as if you are there. See how calm you start feeling as you mentally picture yourself in a peaceful meadow or forest. Imagine yourself being without any worries or anxieties.

Try it this evening when you get home from work. While this should not be used as an escape from dealing with problems, ten or fifteen minutes can be as relaxing as a short nap. You’ll be amazed at how it can ease tension!

-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book “Gateway to Happiness,” pp.89-90

Sound advice given the recent political shenanigans we’ve experienced from both sides of the Senate in the past couple of weeks.

Kavanaugh Protests Right Here In River City

boise protest

Screenshot from my Facebook page – Kavanaugh protests in Boise, Idaho

Since my grandchildren are coming over soon, and since the vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh won’t be held until between four and five this evening Eastern Time (two to three my time), I was going to give this a rest, but a friend of mine on Facebook (and in real life) posted the question above.

Here’s the link to the full news video courtesy of the Idaho Republican Party’s Facebook page. It’s not very long and I encourage you to view it before continuing.

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The Marked Man

Hyderabad slum

Hyderabad slum morning scene – 30 March 2012 – Found at Wikipedia

And Hashem placed a mark upon Cain, so that none that meet him might kill him. –Genesis 4:15 (Stone Edition Chumash)

The marked man worked with the other men and the children, laboring for the paltry sum earned in the slums, but he wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t a European, Indian or Pakistani. His Telugu was poor, but he usually made himself understood. However, none spoke to him more than they had to.

Sai was only five years old and he didn’t comprehend the mark. “Who are you?” The inquisitive child sat next to him during a break, but before the man could answer, his father Arjun picked him up and whisked him away. But in that moment, Arjun looked into the stranger’s eyes, and was gripped by the horrible realization that he who called himself Qābīl, had been cursed by God since the Creation.

I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw challenge. The idea is to take a Google maps location and/or image and use it as the inspiration for crafting a flash fiction piece no more than 150 words long. My word count is 145.

Today, the Pegman takes us to Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India. Of course I looked up Hyderabad and especially its languages, religions, and slums.

Although I’m not Jewish, I read the weekly Torah portions every Shabbat (in this case, Saturday morning) in the Jewish tradition. The reasons for this are complicated and beyond the scope of this wee commentary, but today, we begin a brand new annual Torah cycle with Beresheet or Genesis 1:1-6:8. This includes the infamous tale of Cain and Abel. After Cain killed his brother out of jealousy, Hashem (God – in Hebrew, “The Name”) banished him, and because of that, Cain feared for his life. So Hashem did this:

Cain said to Hashem, “Is my iniquity too great to be borne? Behold, You have banished me this day from the face of the earth — can I be hidden from Your presence? I must become a vagrant and a wanderer on earth; whoever meets me will kill me!” Hashem said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Cain, before seven generations have passed, he will be punished.” And Hashem placed a mark upon Cain, so that none that meet him might kill him. –Genesis 4:13-15 (Stone Edition Chumash)

Interestingly enough, Cain’s death was never recorded, although there are theories about how he was killed. But what if he didn’t die? How does a marked man live for thousands upon thousands of years, wandering the face of the earth?

I know I’ve taken great liberties with the Bible, but sometimes one way to study is to imagine what is written between the lines of the Bible. Christian and Jewish commentators have been doing that for thousands of years, although I can’t say I have the wisdom many of them possessed.

Oh, I used Cain’s name from the transliterated Arabic. The transliteration from Hebrew is Qayin.

To read other tales based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.

Quoting: Push Off Laziness

A person is lazy because he wants serenity and quiet. Comfort-seeking is the root of laziness. But realize that although the lazy way might at first appear to give comfort, in the long run, a person who is lazy will lose greatness. Why? His life will be one of mediocrity!

Today, think about what have you been pushing off because of laziness. Then commit to begin one action to counteract this tendency.

Sources: see Vilna Gaon – Proverbs 15:19; Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s – “Consulting the Wise”

Seeking Kindness in the Aftermath of Kavanaugh – It’s Not Easy

violence

Screenshot of a video on twitter showing a young woman grabbing and destroying signs made by a conservative students group.

It occurs to me that there is a certain inconsistency in promoting kindness and then, at least to some, coming off as politically snarky. Okay, it wasn’t my intent, but I can see how some folks might take it that way.

Today’s the day when the full Senate votes on whether or not to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Frankly, I don’t think either the Republicans or Democrats come away from this clean, and the result, as I said yesterday, is that American politics has officially become a denizen of the foulest sewer, like a mythical alligator.

As I also previously stated, no matter which way the vote goes, we all lose. Oh sure, some people will feel like they’ve won, but look what had to happen to achieve “victory.” Each side accused the other of some pretty vile political tricks, not to mention what ordinary people said and did. Both sides tried to destroy a human being. Both Kavanaugh’s and Ford’s reputations were dragged through the fecal matter, along with their families and anyone who might corroborate their stories, and even children were plagued with death threats.

Anyone who has ever been sexually assaulted or had a family member assaulted in such a manner absolutely projects all of their emotions onto Kavanaugh, as if confirming him to SCOTUS is tacit approval of all sexual crimes, and a total discounting of all victims everywhere.

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Quoting: Seek to do Kindness

A person who has a love for money will constantly look for ways to obtain more money. So, too, when you develop a love for doing acts of kindness, you will look for every possible opportunity to do so. Even though someone else might be able to do the kindness instead, you will feel a strong desire to do it yourself. Rather than looking for ways to free yourself from doing acts of kindness, you realize that you personally gain from helping others.

Today, try doing a kindness for someone even when they do not ask for your help. Be motivated because of an inner drive.

Sources: see Rabbi Yechezkail Levenstein – Ohr Yechezkail, Midos, pp.105, 174-5; Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Consulting the Wise”

In the Next Twenty-Four Hours…

pink hat

Photo of a Woman’s March protestor found at The Daily Wire site – no photo credit given

Just to round out this rainy Thursday afternoon (for me), let’s have the latest look at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings relative to the conclusion of the FBI investigation. First off, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has gone on record, even before reading the FBI investigative report, stating that the report’s conclusion, or Kavanaugh’s innocence or guilt doesn’t matter. He’s also using his official twitter account to send out the phone number of Congress with hashtags such as #StopKavanaugh and #BelieveSurvivors.

Generally, I’ve read that Republican Senators feel the FBI report was comprehensive and Democrats feel it is full of holes (hardly a surprise), and have gone so far as to accuse the GOP of giving the FBI a list of witnesses which excluded Dr. Ford and, according to Ford’s attorneys, a number of other witnesses who could have corroborated her allegations.

Conservative news websites such as The Daily Wire, believe Kavanaugh is being tried in the court of innuendo, public opinion, and temperament, which they feel is insufficient to stop the confirmation. Unlike Senator Booker, they, and specifically their editor-in-chief, Ben Shapiro, who is also an attorney, believe that Kavanaugh should be judged by the evidence and to a legal standard.

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Book Review of Echo Volume 2: The Taste of Ashes

echo2

Cover for Echo Vol 2: A Taste of Ashes

It’s been over two years since I reviewed Kent Wayne’s (pen name) military science fiction novel Echo Vol I: Approaching Shatter. I’ve had volumes 2 and 3 on my Kindle Fire forever, but just hadn’t managed to get around to reading them (so many books, so little time). But then, I hit just the right break in my reading schedule and inserted Echo Volume 2: The Taste of Ashes.

Echo I set the stage for the action in Echo 2, which is an adrenaline-fueled, supercharged, watch-the-body-count-rise, military “gore-fest.” No kidding, for nearly the first half of the book, the protagonist Atriya is constantly battling hordes of enemy Dissidents without a single break.

In the book’s Afterword, Wayne admits he probably could have shifted the scene a little bit or avoided describing, second by second, everything Atriya was going through in microscopic detail. My personal opinion is that he should probably just repackage Vol I and II as a single novel, since it would even things out a bit.

I’m not being particularly critical when I say this. I enjoyed the action, although there were times when, even with the Crusader’s advanced augmentations, he seemed more superhuman than any of his contemporaries.

So what’s going on?

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