Happy Thursday Friends & Digital Neighbors! Labor Day has messed up my keeping track which day of the week it is. Good Morning Supporters, Members and Visitors to @ Padre's! Welcome to new members and visitors in the community. I am glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoy your visits here.
Mitch Albom - good author. I have read a few of his books. Tuesday with Morrie is still my favorite. His new one is coming out in November and his books are always enjoyable reads. He has some great quotes as well. Purpose & meaning - it provides a grounded living for individuals and communities, much more valuable than entertainment which seems to possess many to such a degree that they lead lives of self-inflicted boredom and lassitude. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy entertainment, but too much of it doesn't leads to vast fields of bliss and contentment, but rather a profound boredom with almost everything else. Persons - not things. I know the truth of that distinction but it is easy to forget and let the things lay claim when only persons should have that influence. Have a great day friends, I have found so many good persons among the various Local communities I frequent. Happy Not Wednesday, and have a great Thursday!
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Good morning, Digital Neighbors! Happy Monday to all good souls who visit and bring life to Locals and Substack. Each community has its own vibe, and I have sampled a few in the last six years. To this day I am thankful for Dave Rubin and his founding of Locals. I was burnt out on social media because of Facebook and its sanity-draining interactions. Between the coming of the Donald and the dance of the Covidiots, my confidence in social media as a way to connect with meaningful people and have actual conversations or dialogue was almost erased. People I had known for years lost their minds after the 2016 election and then doubled down during the Plan-demic.
Oh well—fond memories, and I am none the worse for wear other than weeding out friends and family members who have forgotten how to communicate or respectfully disagree. I am better off praying for them than seeking their company. I am always open to overtures of reconnection, but as I like to say: always invited, never expected. Off to ...
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
