Memories of Snow

NaNoWriMo Day16: Two More Article Review {wc:2037)

‘Idál (Justice), 14 Qudrat (Power), 173 BE - Wednesday, November 15, 2016 AD about 9:24 PM Pacific Standard Time

NaNoWriMo Day 15 Update

As of NaNoWriMo Day 15 I had written 28,576 words with 21,424 words left to go. I've completed 57% of my NaNo goal. I'm happy about that. There are other things I'm not happy about, but those will work themselves out as soon as I get back to editing.

‘Idál (Justice), 14 Qudrat (Power), 173 BE - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 AD about 1:45 PM Pacific Standard Time

Writing.com Spiritual Newsletter for November 16, 2016

I did a good job yesterday with the NaNoWriMo word count. I'm not sure how I'm going to do today because I've started a bit late on the writing. This morning I went to Smith's to pick up one of my prescriptions. Then when I returned home I posted on Facebook and responded to three writing.com blog prompts. I still have two articles to read on BahaiTeachings.org1, but I think I'm going to put those off until later today or early tomorrow.

It's Wednesday, November 16, and the writing.com newsletters hit my inbox today. I usually read two or three of the newsletter the first day they are published. The newsletters I read first (in no particular order) are the spiritual, comedy, and poetry newsletters. The editor for this week's spiritual newsletter is Rev. Scotty McLennan and the title is "The Better Angels of Our Nature". In this newsletter, Rev. McLennan emphasized the importance of dialogue between those who voted for Clinton and those who voted for Trump.

We as Americans have to start listening to each other instead of dismissing the other person's opinion as invalid and prejudicial. It's still too early to tell for sure, but this Presidential Election appears to continue to rip this country apart. True the election itself was full of hate and bitterness, but people feel disenfranchised and I suspect that was the biggest reason many people voted for Trump. That could also be the reason many voted for Clinton. So fighting and spouting hate slogans isn't going to unite this country or help the new President do the best that he can.

American's need to listen to each other rather than argue, shout, or shoot at each other. Baha'u'llah has written that America has a great destiny. He (Baha'u'llah) tells us that America can lead the world spiritually. This is America's potential, but this nation can't achieve it's potential unless its citizens start listening to each others opinions and why they hold those opinion. I'm frightened for my country. I'm frightened for the world, but I can't let my fear interfere with my duty to teach the Cause or my attempt to love my fellow human beings.

As a Baha'I and an American, I have to let the better angels of my nature come to the surface. I know I haven't always did that, but I can continue to hold that as a goal and work toward it. I can't give up the battle over my lower self and let my soul fall into the hell that is waiting below the cliff of hate.

Poetic License and Mystical Wonderment2
With Comments About My Understanding

In this article Mr. Buck discusses poetic license and the poem "Only Through Waiting" by Richard P. Jones. I gleaned from this article that in order to understand poetic license the reader must forget about reading the poem literally because if he or she does then the poem won't make sense. In order to understand many poems the reader has to consider that the is impressionistic and read it from the point of view of "dream logic" otherwise there is no chance of any comprehension. If the reader approaches the poem from this point of view then the reader may have a change of entering the Valley of Wonderment.

War and the Social Commentary of Poetry3
With Comments About My Understanding

In this article, Mr. Buck shows through the use of three poems written by three different poets (one of which was him) how poetry can be social commentary. The poems are about war and express the terrified emotions of war through the use of the words. This article begins with quotes from Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha.

About 3:25 PM Pacific Standard Time

Wednesday Afternoon Thoughts

I just finished reading the four part series by Christopher Buck called "The Passing Poetry of Life". After I finished I notices several other articles that interest me. So I think I'll also schedule those to read during this NaNoWriMo session. The title of one of those series is "The Rational Soul: Scientific Method and Spiritual Search"4 by Elean Mcreary. This is a three article series and the titles of the articles are (1) "Preparing Yourself to Explore Reality"5, (2) "Investigating Reality – Systematically"6, and (3) Scientific Follow-Up to Your Spiritual Discoveries"7.

Since it's almost sunset, I probably won't get any of these three articles read or commented on today. That's alright because I still have a lot of words to write before midnight Pacific Time. I have to post a word count on writing.com before 9:00 PM because that's 12:00 midnight Eastern Time. I hope to get enough words written to add at least 1,667 to the word count which will take me over the minimum word count for the day.

I'm wondering if I worry too much about word count and not enough about the subject I'm discussing when I'm writing. It's been a long day and I did get started writing later than usual so that's probably why I'm behind on my word count today. Another problem is that my fingers sometimes hit the wrong keys so I encounter problems with typos. I also have problems with spelling. For some reason I can't sound out some of the word phonetically. If I spell the words phonetically there's a better chance of the spell check picking them up and giving me the proper spelling.

Istijlál (Majesty), 15 Qudrat (Power), 173 BE - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 AD about 4:30 PM Pacific Standard Time

I Want to Write a Poem

Ever since the election results came in last Wednesday (all right the results were in Tuesday night, but I didn't check until Wednesday morning) I've been thinking about a poem. As I've written before this election is scary. Trump, who didn't get the popular vote, won. Now he will become president and I'm frightened for the outcome to the country and the world.

I want to write a poem about the way I feel. I know I need to put this problem in God's hands. Despite the fact that I'm frightened about what's going to happen, I also think that the election results are God's will. I know that sounds strange because Trumps platform wasn't anywhere close to my belief systems. However, I think this is God's way of showing American's that they need to stop looking at a person's race or religion and start looking at the person's action and soul. Anyway as I was saying I want to write a poem about the way I feel.

I weep for America,
I weep for the world,
I pray for the salvation of the haters,
For those who hate their fellow human being
Because of color,
Gender,
Sexual orientation,
Religious affiliation
Political affiliation
Etc.

That's as far as I've gotten on that poem because I'm not sure if that's the best way to phrase the issue. I knows that it's going to be a free verse poem because (I think) free verse poetry is better suited to social commentary then any other poetry form. I could be wrong, but that's the way I feel right now. I could change my mind later on. I'll see after I finish the poem and post it on writing.com.

I think I'm Ranting Again

Actually there are several poems I want to write. I have to write. I also have to finish editing that novel, which I didn't get to yesterday and I may not get to it today. I don't think I'm pushing myself the way I should in anything that I do. Perhaps I pushing myself too hard because I can't seem to get anything done that I want done. Well that isn't completely true because I do manage to write.

I'm short of cash again this month. I want to cry because I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask my sister for money again. I don't want to do that because I fairly sure she's not going to send me anymore. I doubt that she is going to send me the money for the rent. I'm tired of having to depend on her for money because everytime I ask her I think I'm being punished for being poor. All right I wrote what I was thinking about asking my sister for money.

I think I need to write Baha'u'llah another letter about this subject. Writing letters to Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, or my Mother always seems to clear my head. It helps me accept God's will. I would love to be independent of all save God and I think that asking someone for money is not showing spiritual independence. I know it's my own fault for not looking ahead when I was working. Right now I'm in tears because I feel so helpless. I also feel afraid, which encourages my feelings of helplessness.

Worry Diverts my Energy

I just realized something. Worrying and ranting diverts my energy from my mission in life. My mission in life is to develop and reflect divine attributes to my fellow human beings. My mission in life is to teach the Cause; to tell people about the healing message of Baha'u'llah. I can't do that if I continue to rant, worry and procrastinate. I have to refocus my energies and thoughts through prayer and placing everything in God's hands.

Right now I'm sitting at my computer desk typing this entry in a word document. On the left side of my computer is a picture of 'Abdu'l-Baha and he's frowning at me. I know he's frowning because I'm letting worry and my own vain imaginings interfere with my spiritual growth and obedience to the laws revealed by Baha'u'llah. I haven't been acting as if I love my sister. I do love her so I have to figure out (with God's help) a way to pay my own bills. Doing surveys isn't doing it, but they can help.

I think I have a survey interview or something like that to do tomorrow. At least I hope it's tomorrow because if it was today then I'm missed it. Which probably wouldn't be a disaster anyway. I don't like missing appointments or anything like that. Not that it would be the first I let something important o r semi-important slip my mind.

Coffee

I'm getting a little tired of writing. I just finished the carafe of coffee that I made this morning. Yes, it took me all day to drink five cups of coffee or rather two large mugs of coffee. The coffee carafe says that it makes five cups at a time, but I've never been able to figure out what size cups it referring to because I can only get two large mugs of coffee and maybe three cups. The cups that the carafe refers to has to be extremely small. Now what coffee drinker in their right mind wants a tiny cup of coffee. The cups referred to by the measurement on the coffee make has to be tea cups or something small like that.

I'm not going to drink any more coffee this late in the day. Not that it would matter because coffee doesn't keep me awake. Sugar keeps me awake. Worrying keeps me awake. The weird noises that the neighbors make keeps me awake, but then perhaps it isn't the neighbors but their animals that are making weird noises. I think I've almost come to the end my writing today. It's after sunset so a new Baha'I day has started. I may find later that I have more to write, but if I do then I will start a new document.

Footnotes
1  http://bahaiteachings.org/
2  http://bahaiteachings.org/poetic-license-and-mystical-wonderment
3  http://bahaiteachings.org/war-and-the-social-commentary-of-poetry
4  http://bahaiteachings.org/series/the-rational-soul-scientific-method-and-spiritu...
5  http://bahaiteachings.org/steps-becoming-scientifically-spiritual
6  http://bahaiteachings.org/ways-investigate-true-reality
7  http://bahaiteachings.org/verify-interpret-apply-spiritual-knowledge