I was going through my books and I encountered Jim Paredes' book entitled "Between Blinks". I had the honor and the pleasure of meeting him and actually talking to him in one of the PEx Book Club meetings. He actually invited the club to his house for a discussion, and he even served some snacks. We met his wife, and even one of his daughters. Lovely family.
We didn't just talk about his book, we talked about everything under the sun. Everything from Jesus to Zen to Ateneo to APO to heaven, and even April Boy! Jim Paredes is a wise man, and I am very thankful that he tries to share his wisdom with a lot of people. We need more people like him, to make the world a better place. Though I do not agree with all of his entries in "Between Blinks", I appreciate all the wisdom it imparts. We live our lives everyday, and go through the motions. And there are times when we stop - stop to ponder, to appreciate the beauty of the world, and the people around us. Pay attention to them. In one blink of your eyes, you may miss seeing.
According to Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, "Here are the world's great truths, in the language of the soul. Uplifting wisdom such as this is a treasure. Here is where God resides--Between Blinks. The words here are a gift for the heart. Thank you, Jim. In so many ways you continue to bring joy to the world."
Here are some of my favorite entries:
- "To the skilled diver, all depths are the same."
"The dark night of the soul is the point when God in us is about to awake from Her deepest sleep."
"The highest expression of love is when we eliminate the "other" until all that is left is the ONE."
"To one who seeks, it is always a question of what, where, when and how God will manifest Herself. To one who has found, it is the endless fascination with God unraveling as everything, everywhere and every time."
"We all want to change the world because of our unhappiness with it. But can we really change anything without first becoming what it is that we want to change? Jesus walked among us first in order to change us. I'm not suggesting we have to becom prostitutes before eradicating prostitution, or addicts before we eradicate addiction. It would help to stop condemning what we want to change and instead be one with them through compassion and understanding.
Then we can really transform the world."
"Pitifully deprived is the young person who, by the time he finishes school has not had at least one teacher he will remember with gratitude for the rest of his life."
"Do you sometimes get the feeling that God breaks us open just to make us see what's inside us?"
"Hope is the bridge that connects us to where we want to go. Faith assumes that hte bridge will hold."
"People have always speculated about God - whether we are ruled by a random universe, a crazy divine entity who enjoys watching us suffer, or perhaps some mysterious deity whose actions are simply unfathomable, or what-have-you. I am more inclined to believe in an Artist-God, an honest-to-goodness Creator who simultaneously uses different media. And the work area of this multimedia masterpiece is the whole of life and the universe.
Think of a pointillist God, and our seemingly tiny, insignificant lives and actions begin to count as meaningful dots in Her big canvas.
Think of a musician God, and all the moments and feelings that come and go become great movements expressing expansive themes in His orchestral scores - every sigh, tear, smile is a graceful note.
Think of a terpsichorean God and all actions on earth become a divine choreography as everything moves with power and grace upon some great, majestic stage.
And when all these dimensions play themselves out - the suffering, joys, ups and downs, highs and lows and all other moments in between - a gigantic master plan is revealed.
And the more we have a sense of this master plan, the more delightfully we can engage our daily living as eager artists apprenticing and co-creating in awe with the Greatest Master-Artist of All."
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