Help Children Learn to 'Pay it Forward.'

"It was a pleasure to help Dianna, my wife, prepare her new children's picture book for publication. 'Saturdays at the Bijou' is autobiographical; it describes yet another episode in her surprising and delightful life. It encourages children to 'pay it forward' and create stories in their own lives that they will want to tell."

Why to Divest in Oil, Coal and Gas

"The world's already-proven reserves of fossil fuels are five times the limit our children will live or die by. Burning carbon fuels is increasingly being seen as unethical, unsustainable and a threat to civilization. We cannot afford to burn these fuels to sustain the profits and stock values of oil, coal and gas companies."

Urgent: Our Children Must Learn to Love to Read.

Twitter / advice: Books. http://t.co/haIQUAwfyz

33% of High School Graduates never read another book the rest of their lives. 42% of college grads never  read another book after college. 57% off new books are not readd to completion. 70% of US adults have not been in a book store the last five years. 80% of US families did not buy or read aa book last year. Reading one hour per day in your chosen field will make you an international expert in 7 years. 

 

Essay: Implications of the Buddhist “no-self” concept

Information and comments on the essay:

Implications of the Buddhist “no-self” concept

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKVkQtc28tcVJjX0k/edit?usp=sharing

Hindu #Buddhist #Saints

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Implications of the Buddhist “no-self” concept

The Hindu concept of atman is the indestructible essential self, which is reincarnated in a series of corporeal physical existences.

The Buddhist concept of “an-atman” (or no-atman) refutes the idea of an irreducible unitary essence that sustains an existence. An-atman presumes total dissipation at death and rebirth as a new constitution from previous cause.

The implication of an-atman is that no thing or person is special. Wealth accumulated for the sole benefit of self or favored others is meaningless because we are not only related to all else, but are nothing but “all else.”

With the distinction of all things and selves being illusion, there is no need to cling or grasp for anything desired but perceived to be unobtained. In fact, the desire for things-not-had defines the dukkha (“suffering”) of the human condition.

Since the accumulation of ever-increasing possessions and the

Poem: The Strange Kid

Information and comments on the story:

The Strange Kid

from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this story as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKemRWZmlVekE1X2s/edit?usp=sharing

Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee

A story of bigotry and bullying told, disconcertingly, in a precise "Dr. Seuss" cadence. This was actually written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

The Strange Kid

This poem was written several years before the 2012 mass-shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. It addresses the kind of bigotry and prejudice that springs from fear and hate. The ideal cure for such violence is for us to get to know our neighbors, find common ground, and become true friends.

Since we first all went back to school
There’s been a boy who’s new.
He’s different in a lot of ways.
He’s not like me and you.

He wears a white cloth ’round his head
Because he is a Sikh.
He doesn’t want to take it off
To let us have a peek.

His name is even funny too,
And very hard to say.
So Bobby likes to make new names
We call him by each day.

He will not eat a hamburger
Or any kind of meat.
His mother sends him rice stuff that
Smells spicy, strange, and sweet.

And, when we sing