2021 (#132)

Teachers also begin to use storytelling as a teaching and learning device.
Once I understood this, many situations in preschool and kindergarten
classrooms became clear. “Pretend
we’re lining up like penguins tiptoeing
on ice.” “Pretend we’re like giraffes
with long, straight necks.” “Like
baby ducks following their mother.
Pretend.” Let’s say before a math
activity, “Pretend we’re so tiny we
don’t even know how to count on our
fingers yet. And then we learn how..

(Vivian Paley)

¹² I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

(John 8:12)

The environment you construct around you and the
children also reflects this image you have about the
child. There’s a difference between the environment
that you are able to build based on a preconceived
image of the child and the environment that you can
build that is based on the child you see in front of you
— the relationship you build with the child, the
games you play. An environment that grows out of
your relationship with the child is unique and fluid.

(Malaguzzi)

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

(Mathew 5:14-16)

It inspires in man an infallible trust. He has not the conviction, but the sight, that the best is true, and may in that thought easily dismiss all particular uncertainties and fears, and adjourn to the sure revelation of time the solution of his private riddles. He is sure that his welfare is dear to the heart of being.

(Emerson)

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[a] your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

(Mathew 6:22-23)

The wrong ‘I’ is the obstruction. It has to be removed in order that the true ‘I’ may not be hidden.

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again.

(John 10:17)

The ‘I’-thought disappears and there is an infinitely expanded ‘I’-consciousness.

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

(John 12:46)

Finally, all of you, be one in mind and feeling; love as brothers; and be compassionate and humble-minded,

(1 Peter 3:8)

We can never think of the child in the abstract. When
we think about a child, when we pull out a child to
look at, that child is already tightly connected and
linked to a certain reality of the world — she has
relationships and experiences. We cannot separate
this child from a particular reality. She brings these
experiences, feelings, and relationships into school
with her.

(Malaguzzi)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#131)

This system of observing children
carries you into many different feelings and thoughts,
into a kind of teaching full of uncertainty and doubt,
and it takes wisdom and a great deal of knowledge
on the part of the teachers to be able to work within
this situation of uncertainty..

(Malaguzzi)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,

(Jeremiah 1:5)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.

Mark 3:35)

The first help might be the readying of this readiness. It is not through man that the world can be what it is and how it is — but also not without man. 

(Heidegger)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

(John 16:13-15)

Clarifying the meaning of our
presence and our being with children is something
that is vital for the child.

(Malaguzzi)

The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end. The extent to which this generation of circles, wheel without wheel, will go, depends on the force or truth of the individual soul. 

(Emerson)

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 

(Bereshit/Genesis 17:17)

We’ll discover that our presence, which has to be visible
and warm, makes it possible for us to try to get inside
the child and what that child is doing. And this may
seem to be passive, but it is really a very strong
activity on our part.

(Malaguzzi)

“God is with you in everything you do.”

(Bereshit/Genesis 21:22)

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

(1 Corinthians 2:13)

We teachers must see ourselves as researchers, able to
think, and to produce a true curriculum, a curriculum
produced from all of the children.

(Malaguzzi)

It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

(Mathew 4:4)

From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things

(Mashal/Proverbs)

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

(John 17:24)

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

(Matthew 19:14)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#130)

We have to understand that they are moving
and working with many ideas, but their most important task is to build relationships with friends. They
are trying to understand what friendship is. Children
grow in many directions together, but a child is
always in search of relationships.

(Malaguzzi)

Just as art imitates life in Aristotle’s sense, so, in Oscar Wilde’s, life imitates art. Narrative imitates life, life imitates narrative. “Life” in this sense is the same kind of construction of the human imagination as “a narrative” is. It is constructed by human beings through active ratiocination, by the same kind of ratiocination through which we construct narratives.

(Jerome Bruner)

¹⁹ Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
    who daily bears our burdens.
²⁰ Our God is a God who saves;

(Tehillim/Psalms 68:19-20)

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world.”

(Mathew 5:14)

Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never voluntarily opened. Character teaches over our head.

(Emerson)

It is evident that if the child meets with obstacles, his creative
work becomes less perfect. We do not any longer help
the child because he is a small and weak being. No ! We
have realised that the child is endowed with great creative
powers, that these great powers are delicate in their
nature and can be thwarted if obstacles are placed in
their path. It is these powers we wish to help, not the
small child, not his weakness.

(Montessori)

Spare no effort to devote yourself to this task, follow the subsequent transformations of the spontaneous fantasy attentively and carefully.
(Jung)

⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[a]

(John 3:8)

The Lilly of the valley, breathing in the humble grass
(William Blake)

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

(Mathew 5:5)

There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile. Permanence is but a word of degrees. Our globe seen by God is a transparent law, not a mass of facts. The law dissolves the fact and holds it fluid. 

(Emerson)

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

(Bereshit/Genesis 15:17)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

(2 Corinthians 3:17)

“I have now seen^[c] the One who sees me.”

(Bereshit 16:13)

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Matthew 19:14

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#129)

Each one of us needs to be able to play with the
things that are coming out of the world of children.

(Malaguzzi)

¹ Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
²     Sing the glory of his name;
    make his praise glorious.

(Tehillim /Psalms 66:1-2)

⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[a]

(John 3:8)

Each one of us needs to have curiosity, and we need
to be able to try something new based on the ideas
that we collect from the children as they go along.

(Malaguzzi)

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

(Mathew 5:8-9)

As life flows with the
thoughts of the children, we need to be open, we
need to change our ideas; we need to be comfortable
with the restless nature of life.

(Malaguzzi)

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.

(Emerson)

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

(John 17:24)

The peace, freedom and blessedness of all souls consist in their abiding in God’s will. Towards this union with God for which it is created the soul strives perpetually. (Meister Eckhart)

Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. (John 13:20)

Increase and widen your desires till nothing but God can fulfill them. It is not desire that is wrong, but its narrowness and smallness. Desire is devotion. 

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

(Mathew 4:4)

From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things

(Mashal/Proverbs)

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

(Luke 6:37)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Mathew 6:19-21)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#128)

Sometimes a problem that’s obvious to the children can be handled
in another way. The teacher can say,
“You know, here’s something that
needs a longer discussion. Let’s put it
on our list of discussions we need to
have.” Or getting back to the storytelling: “This is an interesting problem,interesting story. Maybe someone
would like to help me write it down
so we can act it out? Put your name
on the story list, and perhaps you
can think of something in the story.”

(Vivien Paley)

We need to define the role of the adult, not as a
transmitter but as a creator of relationships —
relationships not only between people but also
between things, between thoughts, with the environment.

(Malaguzzi)

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”¹ And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ^r‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

(Exodus 3:14)

26 ^yFor as the Father has life in himself, ^zso he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.26 ^yFor as the Father has life in himself, ^zso he has granted the Son also to have life in himself..

(John 5:26)

With experience a teacher learns how
to use this basic format, to tease out
ideas and help the drama go better.
Because that’s the common goal.
Not to see how smart someone is,
not to see how quickly someone can
respond, but the play’s the thing. The
children understand and want to help
improve the play once they realize
that it is all a matter of how their story
is constructed.

(Vivian Paley)

The new now is not a being, it is not a produced object; and every
language fails to describe this pure movement other than by
metaphor, that is, by borrowing its concepts from the order of
the objects of experience, an order this temporalization makes
possible.

(Derrida)

This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

(Jeremiah 33:2-3)

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) As with events, so is it with thoughts. When I watch that flowing river, which, out of regions I see not, pours for a season its streams into me, I see that I am a pensioner; not a cause, but a surprised spectator of this ethereal water; that I desire and look up, and put myself in the attitude of reception, (Emerson)

Following the logic and necessity of these distinctions, we
might be tempted to maintain not only that meaning does not
imply the intuition of the object but that it essentially excludes
it.

(Derrida)

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

(Philippians 1:21)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

(Colossians 2:9-10)

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

(Mathew 5:8-9)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#127)

Above all, I think, the continued
observation of children at play demonstrates the importance of make-believe
as the thinking tool children use. The
reality is that most social, linguistic, logical interactions are usually better
explained and understood in terms
of these imaginary themes.

(Vivian Paley)

¹⁰ A river went out of ‘Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four streams.

(Bereshit/Genesis 2)

‘Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], ³⁰ and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.’^[d]

³¹ The second is this:

‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’^[e]

There is no other mitzvah greater than these.”

(Mark 29:12-9)

Give thanks to Adonai; for he is good,
for his grace continues forever.

(Tehillim/Psalms 118:1)

There is a difference between one and another hour of life, in their authority and
subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in
those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other
experiences.

(Emerson)

He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it

(Job 9:5)

 First find the immutable centre where all movement takes birth. Just like a wheel turns round an axle, so must you be always at the axle in the centre and not whirling at the periphery.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#126)

: In fantasy play, children learn to envision new roles for themselves and for
other people. They learn to change and redirect the outcome of an imaginary
plot and to include the ideas of others in their plans. When the common
story becomes more important than one’s habitual stance, the individual
mind expands in the search for more common ground. Experience teaches us
that we and our narratives become more interesting when we add maximum
variety in people and ideas. It is a tall order, but the more we play out the
problem involved, the more likely we are to find the right balance between
the individual and the group.

(Vivian Paley)

Thus says God, Adonai,
who created the heavens and spread them out,
who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it.

(Isaiah 42:5)

When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

(1 Corinthians 15:28)

There is no duality. Your present knowledge is due to the ego and is only relative. Relative knowledge requires a subject and an object, whereas the awareness of God is absolute and requires no object.

(Ramana Maharshi)

’ll give you an example, from Mollie Is Three, of two three-year-olds
learning to view their classroom roles in a more objective, open-minded
way, thanks to the imaginative intervention of a four-year-old.
Frederick, new to the ways of school, seems locked into the notion that
when he sees something he wants, he can take it even if another child has
it first. The toy he wants is a cash register, and Mollie is definitely playing
with it. When Frederick pulls it away, the usual scenario takes place: Molly
cries, the teacher intervenes, and Frederick retreats, sullen and resentful.
However, when the aggressive act is repeated a few moments later,
Libby steps in. “Don’t let him come to your birthday, Mollie. He’s just a
robber.”
Molly stops crying, and Frederick pauses to consider. “Yeah, I am a
robber,” he says.

“Well, too bad for you,” Libby continues, “because robbers can’t come
into the doll corner!”
The children have begun a robber-in-the-doll-corner plot, and there
are well-established rules to cover its exigencies. “She’s right, Frederick,”
the teacher says. “If you want to play in the doll corner, you’ll have to be
something else, not a robber.”
“He can be the father,” Samantha says. “Put on this vest, Father. And
Mollie is the baby. Get in the crib, sweet child.”
Suddenly, Mollie and Frederick are part of a drama that has its own
conventions and evolving set of rules. There is nothing in my curriculum
that can match the doll corner in its potential for examining behavior and
ideas in an open-ended process. The moment Frederick, the bad boy, becomes Frederick, the robber, the problem of the purloined cash register
can be addressed according to the rules of the stage, where characters can
easily change their personas on demand to suit the ongoing story.

(Vivian Paley)

I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.

(Emerson)

7 “But ask the animals — they will teach you —
and the birds in the air — they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth — it will teach you —
and the fish in the sea will inform you:
9 every one of them knows
that the hand of Adonai has done this!

(Job 12:7-9)

When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

(1 Corinthians 15:28)

There is no duality. Your present knowledge is due to the ego and is only relative. Relative knowledge requires a subject and an object, whereas the awareness of God is absolute and requires no object.

(Ramana Maharshi)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

a wind from God sweeping over the water —

(Genesis/Bereshit)

To attain a height and bird’s eye view, so one grasps how
everything actually happens as it ought to happen; how every
kind of “imperfection” and the suffering to which it gives rise
are part of the highest desirability.

(Nietzsche)

In all conversation between two persons, tacit reference is made, as to
a third party, to a common nature. That third party or common nature is not social; it is
impersonal; is God. And so in groups where debate is earnest, and especially on high
questions, the company become aware that the thought rises to an equal level in all
bosoms, that all have a spiritual property in what was said, as well as the sayer. They all
become wiser than they were. It arches over them like a temple, this unity of thought, in
which every heart beats with nobler sense of power and duty, and thinks and acts with
unusual solemnity. All are conscious of attaining to a higher self-possession. It shines for all.

(Emerson)

¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 5:19-20)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.

(John 10:28)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:9-10)

2021 (#125)

Think dramatically. Get in the
habit of thinking of yourself and the
children as partners in an acting
company. Once we learn to imagine
ourselves as characters in a story, a
particular set of events expands in all
directions. We find ourselves being
kinder and more respectful to one
another because our options have
grown in intimacy, humor, and literary
flavor..

(Vivian Paley)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

• (Mark 10:14)

The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

(Tehillim/Psalms 126:3)

 I would never go into
a parent-teacher conference without
a page of at least five brief stories
highlighting the creative play and conversation of the child. I’d share these
before discussing anything else. 

(Vivien Paley)

He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it

(Job 9:5)

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

(Psalms/Tehillim)

“We teach a subject not to produce little libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student to think … for himself, to consider matters as a historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge–getting. Knowing is a process, not a product. (Jerome Bruner)

the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.

(John 14:26)

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

• (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:20-21)

My giving it various names and pointing it out in many ways will not help you much, unless you have the capacity to see. 

(Sri Nisargadatta)

A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.

(John 3:27)

a river watering the garden flowed from Eden

(Genesis)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

(Ephesians 1:3)

You can start only from where you are. You are here and now, you cannot get out of here and now.

You can be aware of your being — here and now.

That is all. There is nothing more to it.

You were aware of thinking, feeling, doing. You were not aware of your being.

(Sri Nisargadatta)

Anxiety weighs down the heart,
but a kind word cheers it up.

(Proverbs)

Persons are supplementary to the primary teaching of the soul.

(Emerson)

ask the tender

cloud

(William Blake)

Biologically we need very little, our problems are of a different order. Problems created by desires
and fears and wrong ideas can be solved only on the level of the mind. You must conquer your own mind and for this you must go beyond it.

(Nisargadatta)

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

(Jeremiah 31:3)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

(Ephesians 1:11-12)

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.

(Proverbs)

 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[a]

(John 3:8)

The first help might be the readying of this readiness. It is not through man that the world can be what it is and how it is — but also not without man. In my view, this goes together with the fact that what I call “Being” (that long traditional, highly ambiguous, now worn-out word) has need of man in order that its revelation, its appearance as truth, and its [various] forms may come to pass. The essence of technicity I see in what I call “pos-ure” (Ge-Sull), an often ridiculed and perhaps awkward expression.28 To say that pos-ure holds sway means that man is posed, enjoined and challenged by a power that becomes manifest in the essence of technicity — a power that man himself does not control.

(Heidegger)

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

(John 3:5-6)

Persons themselves acquaint us
with the impersonal. In all conversation between two persons, tacit reference is made, as to
a third party, to a common nature. That third party or common nature is not social; it is
impersonal; is God.

(Emerson)

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

(Luke 6:37)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#124)

We do more than tell our stories; we also act them out. The formal storytelling
and acting that often arise out of and run parallel to the children’s fantasy play
have become a central feature of our day. The children’s stories fonn the perfect
middle ground between the chiidren and me, for they enable us to speak to one
another in the same language. Much to my surprise, when I moved from the kindergarten to the nursery school, I found that the storytelling and acting were accepted with equal enthusiaarn as the natural order, for nearly everything there
taka on more recognizable shape in fantasy.

(Vivien Paley)

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

(Luke 17:20-21)

eternity is in the split moment of the now. We miss it because the mind is ever shuttling between the past and the future. It will not stop to focus the now. It can be done with comparative ease, if interest is aroused… By keeping your mind clear and clean, by living your life in full awareness of every moment as it happens, by examining and dissolving one’s desires and fears as soon as they arise… Once you are well-established in the now, you have nowhere else to go what you are timelessly, you express eternally.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

All of this is a great forest. Inside the forest is the child. The forest is beautiful, fascinating, green, and full of hopes; there are no paths. Although it isn’t easy, we have to make our own paths, as teachers and children and families, in the forest. Sometimes we find ourselves together within the forest, sometimes we may get lost from each other, sometimes we’ll greet each other from far away across the forest; but it’s living together in this forest that is important. And this living together is not easy.

(Malaguzzi)

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

(Genesis 1:27)

We have to find each other in the forest and begin to discuss what the education of the child actually means. The important aspect is not just to promote the education of the child but the health and happiness of the child as well.

(Malaguzzi)

A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
(Proverbs)

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

(John 14:18)

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

(1 John 5:12)

Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

(John 14:19)

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

(Psalm 16:8)

We are often made to feel that there is another youth and age than that which is measured from the year of our natural birth. Some thoughts always find us young, and keep us so.

(Emerson)

And I will ask God, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

(John 14:16)

The Father and the Son have one Will, and that Will is the Holy Spirit, Who gives Himself to the soul so that the Divine Nature permeates the powers of the soul so that it can only do God-like works.

(Meister Eckhart)

the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 

(John 14:17)

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

(Isaiah 48:17)

The Divine One is a negation of negations and a desire of desires.

(Meister Eckhart)

Those who are capable of humility, of justice, of love, of aspiration, stand already on a platform that commands the sciences and arts, speech and poetry, action and grace. For whoso dwells in this moral beatitude already anticipates those special powers which men
prize so highly.

(Emerson)

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

(Romans 15:7)

On that day you will realize that I am in God, and you are in me, and I am in you.

(John 14:20)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35)

For whoever does the ratzon Hashem, this one is my brother and my sister and mother.

(Markos 3:35)

All this I have spoken while still with you.But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.–

(John 14:25-26)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

(John 3:8)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.–

(John , 14:27)

Trust in Adonai with all your heart;
do not rely on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him;
then he will level your paths.

(Proverbs)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:10)

2021 (#123)

Children learn through play, but their capacity for learning is limited by their
social situation, their emotional condition, and their physical and intellectual
development. Yet we best ensure a child’s healthy growth, whatever these conditions, by supporting and encouraging the child’s own self-initiated learning
activities.

(David Elkind)

Believe me when I say that I am in God and God is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to God.

(John 14:11-12)

The aim of man is beyond the temporal — in the serene region of the everlasting Present.

(Meister Eckhart)

Care itself consists of four elements – caring about, taking care of, care giving
and care receiving. An ethic of care has a further four elements – responsibility,
competence, integrity, and responsiveness. Echoing Levinas, responsiveness for Tronto
involves finding a relation to the Other based on responsibility and the recognition of
difference: “responsiveness suggests a different way to understand the needs of others
rather than to put ourselves into their position….[O]ne is engaged from the standpoint of
the other, but not by presuming that the other is exactly like the self”.

(Peter Moss)

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.

(Mathew 5:7)

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.

(Psalms/Tehillim 42:8)

An understanding of early childhood institutions as ‘children’s
spaces’ suggests that they can be seen as sites for many possibilities, many projects. These
projects can be of many kinds: social, economic, cultural, political, aesthetic, ethical.

(Peter Moss)

Be thoroughly dead and buried in God.

(Meister Eckhart)

Be comforted; it is not from yourself that you must expect it, but on the contrary you must expect it by expecting nothing from yourself.

(Pascal)

 I have not lost one of those you gave me.

(John 18:8)

For Him who is immersed in the bliss of God, arising from the extinction of the ego, what remains to be accomplished? He is not aware of anything (as) other than God. Who can apprehend his State?

(Sri Ramana Maharshi)

Anyone who has seen me has seen God. How can you say, ‘Show us God’? Don’t you believe that I am in God, and that God is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is God, living in me, who is doing his work.

(John 14: 9-10)

Grace is from God, and works in the depth of the soul whose powers it employs. It is a light which issues forth to do service under the guidance of the Spirit.

(Meister Eckhart)

Don’t be sad, because the joy of Adonai is your strength.”

(Nehemiah, to comfort, 8 )

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

(Romans 8:32)

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth.

(Luke 1:14)

Let the children come to me, don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

(Mark 10:14)

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

(Psalms/Tehillim 116:)

And I will ask God, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

(John 14:16)

From the Father comes the son, and common to both is the living activity of the Holy Ghost … As he is the third term common to Father and Son, he puts an end to the duality, to the ‘doubt’ in the Son.

He is, in fact, the third element that rounds out the Three and restores the One …

the unfolding of the One reaches its climax in the Holy Spirit after polarizing itself as Father and Son.

Its descent into a human body is sufficient in itself to make it become another, to set it in opposition to itself.

Thenceforward there are two: the ‘One’ and the ‘Other,’ which results in a certain tension. (the Son is eternally being begotten by the father, and Christ’s sacrificial death is an eternally present act.)

(Carl Jung)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[a]

(John 3:8)

The Father and the Son have one Will, and that Will is the Holy Spirit, Who gives Himself to the soul so that the Divine Nature permeates the powers of the soul so that it can only do God-like works.

(Meister Eckhart)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.

(Mark 3:35)

your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

(Mathew 6:9-10)