' A BLOG OASIS '

I was a lousy father. Probably I still am. But I didn’t want my daughter ever to mistake my ineptitude for my not loving her. I realised when she was fourteen that in four years’ time she would be coming of age. (Yeah, I’m really bright in that way!) I spent much of those intervening years compiling the quotes and thoughts which together form what I have now called ‘A Blog Oasis’ (and her eighteenth birthday present!).
I have been persuaded that ‘A Blog Oasis’ can serve a wider audience than just my daughter.
Shortly, therefore, we are going to start publishing these on this blog-site. Weekly, to begin with.
The quotes weren’t, and aren’t, designed to form a ‘philosophy’, nor are my words that accompany those quotes – nothing that grand. The intention of both was, and is, merely to provide, yes, an oasis: a place within the increasing freneticism of today’s world at which you can sit to get in touch with that most precious of the world’s treasures – you. A ‘spiritual' oasis, if you like.
‘When I use the word “spiritual” I mean basic human good qualities. These are: human affection, a sense of involvement, honesty, discipline and human intelligence properly guided by good motivation. We have all these qualities from birth; they do not come to us later ...’ The words belong to the Dalai Lama, from his ‘Book of Wisdom’. I use the word ‘spiritual’ in exactly the same way.
‘A Blog Oasis’ is not designed to be instructive. I lack the arrogance to be a teacher. I seek to be an educator’s assistant: someone who helps the actual educator, who is you, to ‘draw out’ (the literal meaning of education) from within you the potential there is there and that is busting a gut (sometimes not metaphorically) scrabbling to get out.
The thoughts and quotations in ‘A Blog Oasis’ are meant to be aids to your own cogitation and/or meditation. I chose them because they have all, in their own ways, helped me in my consideration of whether I am making the most of myself, whether I am living the life I would like to live. No-one, I suspect, in the history of man has ever been able to do that entirely. But, just maybe, some of these words may help you in your quest to do so a little better.
I am indebted to Lyubov, whose birthday present this was. It requires a special person to allow others a rummage through her private correspondence. But that is only one of the very many ways in which Lyubov’s specialness manifests itself.

The first part of 'A Blog Oasis' will be posted on 21st June