BEAUTY
Oh, God every time I think I've seen
all the beauty You have shown me
You surprise me
with yet another flamed sunset
with the reflection of a stork in calm pond waters
with an insight of wisdom
with a painting magnificent
with a smile of an infant.
And I, ever insatiable,
implore You,
please, show me more. - Helen Bar-lev.
Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Happy Saturday my friends. For all of you who have read these morning missives you know that I have recurrent themes. Padre rants about the CABAL, post barn and other photos seeking beauty, quotes from across the spectrum of authors and subjects to put in the rock tumbler of thought, probes around the edges of wisdom and reflection, occasionally stumbling across something meaningful, and things that make me laugh and smile. Often laughing at things that others might find offensive, off-putting or crude, but hey humanity and life is often as funny as it is sad and troubling.
The Triggeratti at Triggernometry get to see more of my love of the Far Side than the rest of you and less of all that I have mention above as a summary of my morning posts. I don't mind reposting my morning jabbering's at Rubin Report and Phetasy since those communities were home before I opened Padre's. I joined Triggernometry before as well, but I am more of spectator there and wanted to do something other than repost my musings from RR & Phetasy. I have met wonderful soul in all these communities that blessed and enriched my ventures onto Locals and some have become friends whose company I appreciate. After prayer and the morning coffee, here is where I first place my mind and heart in engagement with whatever the day might hold and whoever might share my path on any given day.
faith - gratitude - humor - awareness - reflection- beauty - friendship - personalism - wonder at life - a dash of healthy skepticism and probably a little too much interior cynicism are all part of my interior peace and exterior engagement. Beauty - Wonder - Joy - Laughter Please show me more.
The Downs - July 2012 - Sussex
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.
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.”
