Paint it Blue

‎If the tree feels blue to you, paint it blue.

Camille Pissaro

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem,

Almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee:

A professor stood before his philosophy class
And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand
And poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded
With an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
And poured the entire contents Into the jar,

Effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor,

As the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that

This jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things -

God, family, children, health, Friends, and favorite passions.
Things that if everything else was lost
And only they remained,

Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter

Like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --
The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. 

The same goes for life.'

If you spend all your time

And energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time
To clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter. 
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand
And inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Quote of the Day

Beauty is not the person.

Beauty is not the view.

Beauty is not the thing.

Beauty is I who appreciate.

Silence and Light

Inspiration is the feeling of beginning at the threshold where Silence and Light meet. Silence, the unmeasurable, desire to be, desire to express, the source of new need, meets the Light, the measurable, giver of all presence, by will, by law, the measure of things already made, at a threshold which is inspiration, the sanctuary of art, the Treasury of Shadow.

The artist offers his work to his art in the sanctuary of all expression, which I like to call the Treasury of the Shadow, lying in that ambiance: Light to Silence, Silence to Light. Light, the giver of presence, casts its shadow, which belongs to Light. What is made belongs to Light and to Desire.

I likened the emergence of Light to a manifestation of two brothers, knowing quite well that there are not two brothers, nor even one. But I saw that one is the embodiment of the desire to be, to express, and one (not saying "the other") is to be, to be. The latter is nonluminous, and the former, prevailing, is luminous. This prevailing luminous source can be visualized as becoming a wild dance of flame that settles and spends itself into material. Material, I believe, is spent Light.

Silence and Light. Silence is not very, very quiet. It is something that you may say is lightless, darkless. There are all invented words. Darkless--there is no such word. But why not? Lightless; darkless. Desire to be, to express. Some can say this is the ambient soul--if you go back beyond and think of something in which Light and Silence were together, and may be still together, and separate only for the convenience of argument.

by Louis Kahn

Bad Taste

A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika.

We all need a splash of bad taste - it's hearty, it's healthy, it's physical.

I think we could use more of it.

NO taste is what I'm against.

Diana Vreeland

Material

Realization is Realization in Form, which means a nature. You realize that something has a certain nature. A school has a certain nature, and in making a school the consultation and approval of nature are absolutely necessary. In such a consultation you can discover the Order of water, the Order of wind, the Order of light, the Order of certain materials. If you think of brick, and you're consulting the Orders, you consider the nature of brick. You say to brick, "What do you want, brick?" Brick says to you, "I like an arch." If you say to brick, "Arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete linter over an opening. What do you think of that, brick?" Brick says, "I like an arch."

It is important that you honor the material you use. You don't bandy it about as though to say, "Well, we have a lot of material, we can do it one way, we can do it another way." It's not true. You must honor and glorify the brick instead of shortchanging it and giving it an inferior job to do in which it loses its character, as, for example, when you use it as infill material, which I have done and you have done. Using brick so makes it feel as though it is a servant, and brick is a beautiful material. It has done beautiful work in many places and still does. Brick is completely live material in areas that occupy three quarters of the world, where it is the only logical material to use. Concrete is a highly sophisticated material, not so available as you think.

You can have the same conversation with concrete, with paper or papier-mache, or with plastic, or marble, or any material. The beauty of what you create comes if you honor the material for what it really is. Never use it in a subsidiary way so as to make the material wait for the next person to come along and honor its character.

by Louis Kahn

Cooking and Poetry

Cooking is like writing poetry,

be careful in the choice of your ingredients

and respectful of how they work together.

That’s true of all the efforts in life.

Maya Angelou