The Adventures of Roland McCray & Other Writings

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“When thy mind leaves behind its dark forest of delusion, thou shall go
beyond scriptures of times past and still to come.”
Bhagavad Gita

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“Reality is merely an illusion,
albeit a very persistent one.”
Albert Einstein

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“To believe and to understand are not diverse things,
but the same things in different periods of growth.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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“When you halt in the desert make an arrow from pebbles, so,
if suddenly woken up, you’ll grasp which way to go.”
Joseph Brodsky

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“Thought is only a flash between two long nights,
but this flash is everything.”
Jules Henri Poincare

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“Technical skill is mastery of complexity while creativity
is mastery of simplicity.”
E. C. Zeeman

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“It is a mathematical fact that the casting of this pebble
from my hand alters the centre of gravity of the universe.”
Thomas Carlyle

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“We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links
in a chain, and we could not by any means be what
we are without those who went before us and showed us the way.”
Thomas Mann

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When asked outside of Independence Hall if we have a republic
or a monarchy, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic,
if you can keep it.”

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“If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.”

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“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped
in a flag and carrying a cross.”
Sinclair Lewis, 1935

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Hope… Sometimes that’s all you have when you have
nothing else. If you have it, you have everything.

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“The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture.
The object of power is power.
Now do you begin to understand me?”
Orwell, “1984”

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 “Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your
characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
Ray Bradbury

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“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.”
~Ray Bradbury

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“God enters by a private door in every individual.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“No matter what accomplishments you make,
somebody helped you. ”
Althea Gibson

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“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.”
Unknown

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“Women who strive to be equal to men lack ambition.”
Anonymous

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“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while
we’re here we should dance.”
Anonymous

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“Old age is like a plane flying through a storm.
Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.”
Golda Meir

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Mae West

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“Each person you meet is Jesus in disguise.”
Mother Teresa

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“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
Mother Teresa

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“Every soul is to be cherished, that every flower is to bloom.”
Alice Walker

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“He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it.”
Erica Jong

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“Tell the truth and run.”
Yugoslav proverb

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“If you tell the truth, you’ll eventually be found out.”
Mark Twain

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I was told this many years ago by a young Saudi man who said
it is an updated old Arab proverb.

There came heavy rains one season and the river was going to
flood the village so everyone was evacuating. One old man, though,
refused to leave his home when a neighbor warned him of the
rising waters already approaching his home.

“I have faith, my God will save me,” he replied and shut the door.
Then a truck carrying fleeing villagers stopped at his home.

“You must come with us,” he was told. “Or you will drown
in the river.”

“I have faith, my God will save me,” he replied again.
The waters continued to rise and flowed into his house so the man
went up to the second floor. Then a boat came to his house and
told the old man to come with them, lest he be drowned.

“I have faith, my God will save me,” the man said. As the water
continued to rise the man climbed onto the roof of his home.
A rescue helicopter came by.

“Come with us or you will be drowned,” the man was told.

“I have faith, my God will save me,” he replied yet again.
The river continued to rise and the old man drowned.
When he got to Heaven he spoke to God.

“My Lord, I had faith in you to save me.
Why did you not hear my prayer and instead let me drown?”

“I did hear your prayers,” God replied.
“I sent you a truck, a boat, and an airplane!”

The point of this parable is clear: God does hear your prayers
and answers them. Just not always in the way you expect so
you have to be vigilant in watching for God’s answer so that you
recognize it when you see it. And this applies to everything in
life.
Whether you use the word God, Allah, El, Yahweh, Elohim,
El Shaddai, Lord, Creator, Light, the Universe, the All,
or simply that which IS, the message is the same:
your prayers are answered, but you have
to be open to a different answer than what you expected.
It does not mean that your prayers go unheard.