Halcyon Inspired

28th June marks the anniversary of the funeral services of someone very dear in my own life, and in the lives of many others.

As people tried to terms with the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II and on the 21st anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I was reminded of this earlier post on legacy...especially the words in bold.

In the last months of his life, a physically weakened Christopher Hitchens travelled to the Texas Freethought Convention and while there, an eight-year-old girl asked Hitchens what books she should consider reading. Intrigued, Hitchens spent 15 minutes chatting with the youngster and sketching out a reading list (below). His last words to her? "Lots of love...remember the love bit..."

A wrong decision isn't forever; it can be reversed. The losses from a delayed decision are forever; they can never be retrieved - JK Galbraith

Across the globe, people are formally and informally building alliances and partnerships to affect social change. The number of NGOs in the world has exploded by 40% in the last few years.  People with a passion for social and environmental good are finding each other, and are coming together in global and local network organisations that signal an important evolution in the way people work - Anon

Across the globe, people are uniting in a common struggle: to participate freely in the events and processes that shape their lives - Mahbub ul Haq,  Human Development Report 2013

Accepting does not necessarily mean 'liking,' 'enjoying,' or 'condoning.' I can accept what is - and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck - Nathaniel Branden

All life is no more than a match struck in the dark and blown out again - Jeff Buckley  

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788-1860) 

As I grow to understand life less and less I grow to love it more and more - Jules Renard 

As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other - Pythagoras

Animal rights will end up with votes for oysters - Bertrand Russell

As we talked of freedom and justice one day for all, we sat down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out - Alice Walker

I am conscious that meat eating is not in accordance with the finer feelings, and I abstain from it whenever I can - Dr. Albert Schweitzer -1952 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

I don't eat anything with a face - Linda McCartney

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals - Henry David Thoreau

Award-winning social psychologist Dacher Keltner believes he’s found the answer to happiness: finding awe. In his book, Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder, he shows how this elusive, but powerful, emotion can have physical and psychological effects, impacting our bodies and brains.

In a fascinating talk with the RSA in January 2023, Keltner identified opportunities such as introducing "awe design" into hospitals, in order to turn clinical, tiled, bright but sterile environments into contemplative spaces where people can peacefully live...and die.

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