ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

Thought For the Day: He Who Has Struggled Constantly With His Ills Becomes Hardened Through Suffering and Yields To No Misfortune

Posted on May 23, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Bodies grown fat through sloth are weak, and not only labour, but even movement and their very weight cause them to break down. Unimpaired prosperity cannot withstand a single blow; but he who has struggled constantly with his ills becomes hardened through suffering; and yields to no misfortune; nay, even if he falls, he still fights upon his knees.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65)

The flags have been ordered to be flown at half mast across our nation in honor and memorializing those who have followed to COVID-19. May each reader here, please take a moment to pray or in quiet thought, whichever your conscience allows to in silence remember and honor those who have been lost to this horrid virus. May the peace of God be on each of you during these trying times.

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Blow, Bodies, Breakdown, Constant, Falls, Fat, Fights, Harden, Ills, Knees, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Misfortune, Prosperity, Sloth, Struggle, Suffering, Thought For the Day, Unimpaired, Weak, Withstand, Yields | Leave a comment

First Principles: It Is Necessary To Have the Principles of Virtue Early Inculcated On the Minds of Children and Morality Kept Alive

Posted on May 23, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” – Samuel Adams, Letter to James Warren (November 4, 1775)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Alie, Children, Connected, Diffuse, Encourage, First Principles, Government, Inculcated, Knowledge, Liberties, Minds, Moral Sense, People, Preserve, Principles, Private, Public, Samuel Adams, Surrender, Vices, Virtues, Wise Institutions | Leave a comment

First Principles: I Have Sworn On the Alter of God Eternal Hostility Against Every Form of Tyranny Over the Mind of Man

Posted on May 22, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Thomas Jefferson, in Letter To Benjamin Rush (September 23, 1800)

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Alter, Eternal Hostility, Every Form, First Principles, God, I, Mankind, Mind, Sworn, Thomas Jefferson, Tyranny | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: It Is A Capital Mistake To Theorize Before One Has Data

Posted on May 22, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (22 May 1859-1930)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Capital, Data, Fact, Mistake, Theorize, Theory, Thought For the Day, Twist | Leave a comment

A Haiku of Math and Music

Posted on May 21, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Precisely that times three in a tiny peek into the curious relationship between music and math. Yes, don’t remind me. I have often tried to deny this as not so very much so….

A Haiku of Math and Music
by Michael Doyle

Scaled to tone finds voice
Fundamental to our choice
In this is found key

Bootstrapping by notes
To form the basis of song
In a string of notes

Math is soul's music
Music is formed around math
And just a bit more

(c) May 21, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Bootstapping, Choice, Form, Fundamental, Haiku, Key, Math, More, Music, Notes, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Relationship, Scale, Song, Soul, String, Tone, Voice | Leave a comment

In A Place of Longing

Posted on May 21, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Based in part on Augustine’s Enchiridion:

In A Place of Longing
by Michael Doyle

I suppose there's no sense in prolonging
Stating that the gist of life is belonging
The rumor has it that its in what we love
And if our eyes are transfixed on the above

Shaping our lives around our truest desire
In this we find the things that spark our fire
This matters most in determining how we live
And how we learn to love and in this to forgive

As we first are the forgiven by our Father
And as any of us parents do for our son or daughter
So much of what surrounds us hopes for a mood
A subtle intervention that quietly intrudes

The ad men in Madison know this setting illusion
Meant to evoke in us the grandest confusion
Bringing badness into meaning in double vision
Creating false longing that truth would see with derision

It's there in the subconscious only a bit deeper
In a place in our souls in which the climb is steeper
Christ promises the best of life given abundantly
While the lesser things call to us selfishly

Our longings call out unstructured and dangling
Calling in an immediacy of wants soul entangling
We tell ourselves that we don't lack the dedication
It's just that we really crave a permanent vacation

Such a desire - not so bad - pulls toward the self
Putting God's word, dusty as it is, on a shelf
Fighting as it is against knowing God more deeply
We lose our way in our battle for our integrity

I suppose I run on in my rut of propelled verbosity
Though I want deeper relationships of generosity 
Weary and heavy, I find myself needing to rest
Hoping in my prayer to somehow pass this test

My precious Lord tells me his yoke is light
At times, I am certain that I am blind in sight
Stumbling too often while I seek to do the right
But suffering with my fumbles taken in slight

Human desires it seems are also God's desires 
Calling to us to light our vanity's bonfires
When truly listening I find the merest Christianity
Might just lead me further into awe of His Divinity

I feel His will when I find my earthly pleasure
Is but a weak echo of Heaven's greater treasure
But remain ever thankful for His gift of you
And am reminded of my gratitude in all you do

All of this given is to sense my satisfaction
None of this is meant to be my distraction
But tools to teach me of joy and fulfillment
Knowing as I do that all is truly Heaven sent

Yet, I know as I enjoy this show in my earthly days
That I am best led when lived in God's good ways
This living body of mine is too often that of death
When I forget that God gives me my every breath

Storm chased in selfish focus on things of self
I reach for that dusty Bible from it's old shelf
Oft bittersweet in tasting and knowing God is good
Laughing at myself least I never be fully understood

Taken it all with a grain of salt in my attitude
Living each moment with a heart filled with gratitude
God's promises are chewed slowly in mindful reflection
It is there that I begin to find my truest connection

I suppose there's no sense in prolonging
Stating that the gist of life is in belonging
What defines us as good is what we love
A righteous man sets his heart on God above

(c) May 21, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Above, Abudance, Ad Men, Attitude, Awe, Bad, Battle, Belong, Bible, Bittersweet, Blind, Bonfire, Breath, Christ, Cliimb, Confusion, Connection, Crave, Dangle, Daughter, Days, Death, Dedication, Deep, Deeper Relationship, Derision, Desire, Determine, Distraction, Divinity, Do, Do Right, Double Vision, Dust, Earth, Echo, Enchiridion, Entangle, Eyes, False, Father, Feel, Fight, Fire, Forgive, Fulfillment, Fumbles, Generosity, Gift, Gist, God, God's Word, Good, Grain of Salt, Gratitude, Heart, Heaven, Heavy, His Will, Hope, Illusion, Immediacy, Integrity, Intervention, Intrude, Joy, Know, Laugh, Learn, Lesser Things, Life, Light, Listen, Live, Lives, Longing, Lose Our Way, Love, Madison, Meaning, Meant, Mere Christianity, Mindful, Mood, Parents, Permanent Vacation, Photograph, Place, Pleasure, Poem, Poetry, Prayer, Precious, Prolong, Promise, Promises, Reflection, Rest, Rumor, Rut, Satisfaction, Self, Self Focus, Selfish, Sense, Shape, Shelf, Sight, Slight, Son, Soul, Spark, St Augustine, Storm Chase, Stumble, Subconcious, Suffer, Surround, Taste, Teach, Test, Tools, Transfix, Treasure, Truth, Understood, Vanity, Verbosity, Ways, Weary, Yoke, You | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: The Production of Wealth Is the Result of Agreement and Its Distribution …Will Follow the Law of Its Creation

Posted on May 21, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“The production of wealth is the result of agreement between labor and capital, between employer and employed. Its distribution, therefore, will follow the law of its creation, or great injustice will be done.” – Leland Stanford (1824-1893)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Agreement, Capital, Creation, Distribution, Done, Employed, Employer, Injustice, Labor, Law, Leland Stanford, Production, Result, Thought For the Day, Wealth | Leave a comment

First Principles: Let Each Citizen Remember At the Moment They Are Offering Their Vote … They Are Executing One of the Most Solemn Trusts In Human Society For Which They are Accountable to God and Country

Posted on May 21, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.” – Samuel Adams (1781)

The choice has become clearer each passing the day. The choices coming are more destructive socialism that holds no thought toward the promotion of our nation’s economy and the People or to vote for the reelection of President Trump. I want to thank the Democratic Party for making the choice so obvious as to where it stands on freedom and liberty.

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Accountable, Citizen, Country, Execute, First Principles, God, Human Society, Individual, Moment, Present, Samuel Adams, Solemn Trust, Vote | Leave a comment

Sounds For Troubled Times

Posted on May 20, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

One thing I’ve had some time to do lately is to explore what tuneage tends to lift my spirits in these sunken times.

Sounds For Troubled Times
by Michael Doyle

Susceptible to a classic boogie fever
As though there be a musical lever
Moving past the Killer Bs of composition
So many tunes are sweeping in the imposition

In tune to a need to get up and dance
This music knows it's place in romance
And with Beethoven's 250th birthday
It will despite pandemic be celebrated any way

Joy experienced from a deaf man's ear
Teaches us to hang in there and persevere 
From dark to brilliance in its aspiration
There is a catharsis in its soulful inspiration

Danced into a Rhapsody in an off blue
Dim is the hope for harmony in Gershwin's view
Black jazz energizes a song of song interludes
It sets the tone cool as it defines our moods

In unique charm of a master's composition
Humor has its ways in its improvisation
The sorts of ways that lend their kick
Into writing on heart strings that truly stick

Bent pitches lend their brilliance
In giving voice to our hope and resilience
Everything has its place on our playlist
And anything of happiness not on it will be missed

Forgetting who we are; forgetting where we are
Holding onto that pocketful of moonbeams and stars
There is no need to build a sonic dividing wall
When every tune to your soul might risk its call

Morals of love and loss sign to the universe
Whether it is instrumental or defined in verse
The whole of our songs is much greater than its parts
Each of these a masterpiece adding happiness to our hearts

(c) May 20, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged 250th Birthday, Anything, Aspiration, Beethoven, Bent Pitches, Black Jazz, Blue, Boogie Fever, Brilliance, Call, Catharsis, Celebrate, Charm, Classic, Composition, Cool, Dance, Dark, Deaf Man, Define, Dim, Divide, Ear, Energy, Everything, Forget, Gershwin, Get Up, Greater Than, Hang In There, Happiness, Harmony, Heart Strings, Hearts, Hope, Humor, Imposition, Improvisation, Inspiration, Instrumental, Interlude, Joy, Kick, Lever, Loss, Love, Masterpiece, Missed, Mood, Moonbeam, Morals, Music, Musical, Need, Pandemic, Parts, Persevere, Photograph, Place, Playlist, Pocket, Poem, Poetry, Resilience, Rhapsody, Romance, Sign, Songs, Sonic, Soul, Sounds, Spirit, Star, Stick, Sweep, Teach, Tone, Troubled Times, Tunes, Universe, Verse, Voice, Wall, Way, We, Where, Who, Whole, Write | Leave a comment

Dragged Into the Streets

Posted on May 20, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Thinking a lot on education and civilization and why and how there seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to how each is allegedly to work out. Fairly serious stuff and yet how can a person not find it a bit humorous at little civility there really is to this thing we call civilization?

Dragged Into the Streets
by Michael Doyle

'I'd rather be taught by monkeys", he said
Catching another of a series of raps on his head
At times, it felt just a bit reverent
To be called out as just a bit different

Tutored on the backside toward civility
The goodness of God taught to best ability
He supposed he might be a bit unteachable
Or, at least there's some doubt he's capable

Running away from problems we've not sought
Might be desirable but is not what we ought
Sitting as miserable as the darkness set in
In a flag of convenience for which there is no pretend

Drinking like a fish in a bowl of gin
It's hard to avoid the feeling of sinking again
Into the pit of solemnly received bad advice
While mentally setting sail for something nice

This is it, the trappings of our civilization
Which thus far amount to cruelty and alienation
Is it really any wonder so many choose to drink
It's at least more convenient than taking time to think

Setting out on a new life without much luck
Wishes upon wishes as a deal is quietly struck
Finding interest in things for which there is none
Is the basic workings of a day fairly well done

In the days of then as in the days of now
We mere mortals manage to get through somehow
Chasing the curious up that ancient tree
The sun catches us feeling happy and lazy

Life is a lot more different than we thought
Turning in puzzles we never wanted or sought
If only we had the moral courage to go wrong
I wince as you tell me you don't belong

(c) May 20, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Ability, Alienation, Ancient, Avoid, Backside, Bad Advice, Belong, Bowl, Capable, Chase, Civility, Civilization, Confusion, Convenience, Convenient, Cruelty, Curious, Darkness, Days, Deal, Desire, Different, Done, Doubt, Drag, Drink, Education, Fish, Flag, Gin, God, Good, Happy, Head, Humor, Interest, Lazy, Life, Luck, Manage, Mentally, Miserable, Monkeys, Moral Courage, Mortals, New Life, None, Now, Ought, Photograph, Pit, Poem, Poetry, Pretend, Problems, Puzzles, Raps, Reverent, Run Away, Sail, Set Out, Sink, Sit, Solemn, Somehow, Sought, Street, Struck, Sun, Taught, Tell Me, Then, Think, Thought, Time, Trappings, Tree, Turn, Tutor, Unteachable, Want, Wince, Wish, Wonder, Workings, Wrong, You | Leave a comment

ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

Thought For the Day: He Who Has Struggled Constantly With His Ills Becomes Hardened Through Suffering and Yields To No Misfortune

First Principles: It Is Necessary To Have the Principles of Virtue Early Inculcated On the Minds of Children and Morality Kept Alive

First Principles: I Have Sworn On the Alter of God Eternal Hostility Against Every Form of Tyranny Over the Mind of Man

Thought For the Day: It Is A Capital Mistake To Theorize Before One Has Data

A Haiku of Math and Music

In A Place of Longing

Thought For the Day: The Production of Wealth Is the Result of Agreement and Its Distribution …Will Follow the Law of Its Creation

First Principles: Let Each Citizen Remember At the Moment They Are Offering Their Vote … They Are Executing One of the Most Solemn Trusts In Human Society For Which They are Accountable to God and Country

Sounds For Troubled Times

Dragged Into the Streets

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