28th Oct - 4th Nov 2007

I have been reading "Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World" by John O'Donohue. The book is described as "a rare synthesis of philosophy, poetry and spirituality" and begins with some thoughts about friendship (anam cara means 'soul friend'). This quotation is typical of O'Donohue's writing:

"A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you."

John O'Donohue (Irish poet, philosopher; see www.johnodonohue.com).

Additional Thoughts

"You can depend upon a friend… Between friends there rules only the promise to walk with each other and to be there for each other, in other words, a faithfulness that has to do not with acting and possessing but with the individual person and with being. Friendship is then a deep human relation that arises out of freedom, consists in mutual freedom, and preserves this freedom."

Jürgen Moltmann (theologian; from 'The Open Church', SCM Press, 1978).

Such friends are very different from the majority of 'friends' we may have in Facebook. Friendship described by John O'Donohue and Jurgen Moltmann have something of the divine within them:

"Jesus said…'I have called you friends.' "

The Bible (John 15:15).

21st - 28th Oct 2007

A quotation submitted by Elizabeth Plant:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962, known as Eleanor Roosevelt, American political leader, wife of President Franklin D Roosevelt, active First Lady from 1933 to 1945).

Additional Thoughts
The quotation above is the counterpart to Proverbs 29:18, translated in the King James version of the Bible as:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Or in the words of Sir Richard Livingstone:

“The eternal trait of men [understand ‘people’] is the need for vision and the readiness to follow it; and if men are not given the right vision, they will follow wandering fires.”

(1880-1960; from “On Education”).

Which raises the question about what is the “right vision”.