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Memorable Quotes 

11/21/2014

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“Controversy has so far outrun dialogue in contemporary philosophy that dialogue has all but disappeared except among the sects that have formed within particular philosophical traditions." – Richard P. McKeon, "Dialogue and Controversy in Philosophy." 1956

“Of all things, communication is the most wonderful.”  – John Dewey, Experience and Nature. 1938


See the fugue as a marvel of dialogical interaction. --DL. 2014


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A Durkheimian Take On Dialog

3/11/2014

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As Durkheim might have put it, there are non-dialogical foundations of dialogue that contain moral directives in themselves.   If the spirit of dialogue gets cultivated, it may serve not only to overcome the epistemological fragmentation of our discipline but its growing division along particularistic lines. Perhaps it is time for sociology to recover the robustly ecumenical outlook it evinced when the discipline was being established a century ago and to model, for the world community, a way of resolving the cultural crisis of our time.

-Donald Levine, Visions of the Sociological Tradition (1995)
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Warriorhood and Love

10/9/2013

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If you have a combative heart, it will tend to provoke combative reactions in the others. "By practicing budo [the martial Way] . . . you come to understand that not fighting is the better alternative. This understanding gives birth to the heart of love." Journey to the Heart of Aikido, p. 264. http://journeytoaikido.com/
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Great Quote by philosopher Karl Jaspers

6/4/2013

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"He who would like to live in the unclosed and unorganized and unorganizable community of authentic human beings–in what used to be called the invisible Church–does in fact live today as an individual in alliance with individuals scattered over the face of the earth, an alliance that survives every disaster, a dependability that is not fixed by any path or any specific imperative." ––Karl Jaspers, 1947
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Maureen Dowd on American culture

1/9/2013

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Commenting on the "malpractice" of Redskin Coach Mike Shanahan in keeping young quarterback Robert Griffin III in play when demonstrably injured, she writes: "At that moment, the Redskins became like the rest of Washington, and the rest of our self-centered, grasshopper attention span culture–going for short-term gain and avoiding long-term pain."  --NYT, 1.9.2013
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just be grateful?

12/18/2012

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It is common for humans to bestride the world emitting waves that scan the environment. Many, for example, are ever searching for signs of danger.  The radar of others looks for things to be angry at.   Some others look for things to be amused by. What would it be like to scan the world to sense things to be grateful for? -- DL
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Aikido: Centering through Expressing Gratitude

9/3/2012

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Picture
Take a brief moment to appreciate something or someone you truly love.
Now breath into your belly and let out a long and gentle  “ahhhh” sound. Notice any shift in your body and mood.   Practicing gratitude along with intentional breath work produces a centered state that immediately shifts our nervous system into a more relaxed state.
    
                                                                      --David Weinstock,  Liminal Somatics (see link on Aikido page below)

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Dialogue: Wha?

4/28/2012

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Perhaps you, like me, dislike the phrase 'social skills', which suggests people good at cocktail party talk or adept at selling you things you don't need. Still, there are social skills of a more serious sort. These run the gamut of listening, behaving tactfully, finding points of agreement and managing disagreement, or avoiding frustration in a difficult discussion. All these activities have a technical name: they are called 'dialogic skills'. . . . Modern society is 'de-skilling' people in practicing cooperation.--Richard Sennett, Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation
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Aikido: Gratitude

4/21/2012

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Consider the Founder's saying: "Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love." It suggests that cultivation of one virtue can engender others. Just now I am pondering the question: what does Gratitude lead to?
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Aikido: No Contests

4/12/2012

7 Comments

 
A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing. Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.
—Morihei Ueshiba, O'Sensei
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    Dialogue Quotables:

    Violence is the shadow energy of impotence. 
     — Deepak Chopra
    Do I not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend? 
    — Abraham Lincoln
    (also dialogue) noun - a discussion between two or more people or groups, esp. one directed toward exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem. 

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    The primary word I-Thou can be spoken only with the whole being. Concentration and fusion into the whole being can never take place through my agency, not can it ever take place without me. I become through my relation to the Thou; and as I become the I, I say Thou. All real living is meeting.
    —Buber, I and Thou



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