A Joyful Practice

A Quick Note & Excerpts RE: The Cornerstones of Friendship, Liberty, & Justice August 5, 2025

Many blessings to everyone and especially to anyone cultivating friendship, peace, freedom, and wisdom — especially when it gets hot (inside and outside).
Stay hydrated, y’all!

“I submit it, then, to those best acquainted with the man personally, whether the following is not Nathaniel Hawthorne,–to to himself, whether something involved in it does not express the temper of this mind,–that lasting temper of all true, candid men–a seeker, not a finder yet:–

A man now entered, in neglected attire, with the aspect of a thinker, but somewhat too rough-hewn and brawny for a scholar. His face was full of sturdy vigor, with some finer and keener attribute beneath; though harsh at first, it was tempered with the glow of a large, warm heart, which had force enough to heat his powerful intellect through and through. He advanced to the Intelligencer, and looked at him with a glance of such stern sincerity, that perhaps few secrets were beyond its scope.”

— quoted from “Hawthorne and His Mosses” [a review of the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story collection, Mosses from an Old Manse] by Herman Melville, published pseudonymously by “a Virginian Spending July in Vermont” (as printed in The Literary World on August 17 and 24, 1850)

Every edifice (or physical structure) has a cornerstone. As I mentioned in one of the excerpted posts below, it is the reference point for everything that is built. In other words, it makes the building possible.

What is true about a physical structure is also true about everything else we build — including friendships, communities, and nations. The cornerstones and foundations of all of those make them possible.

A Possible Friendship

Herman Melville and Nathaniel Nathaniel Hawthorne met today in 1850.

Click on the excerpt title below for more.

A Note, Links, & Excerpt On The Cornerstones of Friendship & Liberty (a post-practice Monday post)

“Impossible” Ladies

While the foundations of some friendships are easily set, setting other cornerstone can seem impossible.

FTWMI: The Impossible Cornerstones of Liberty

The cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal was placed on a rainy Bedloe’s Island on August 5, 1884. Mrs. Gertrude E. Rush  was born in Texas today in 1880.

Click on the excerpt title above to discover why Lady Liberty and a Lady of Justice are today’s “Impossible People.”

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”

— quoted from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Please join me today (Tuesday, August 5^th) at 12:00 PM or 7:15 PM for a yoga practice on Zoom. You can use the link from the “Class Schedules” calendar if you run into any problems checking into the class. You can request an audio recording of this practice via a comment below or by emailing myra   (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

Tuesday’s playlist is available on YouTube and Spotify. [Look for “06172020 The Lady’s Power”]

NOTE: A practice video is coming soon! Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to be the first to practice with me!

“In 1919 Mrs. Gertrude Rush, a prominent black lawyer and [WC] delegate from a Baptist church in Des Moines, Iowa, posited that the vote would enable women to fight for better working conditions, higher wages, and greater opportunities in business. Through suffrage, Rush maintained, women could better regulate moral and sanitary conditions, end discrimination and lynch law, obtain better educational opportunities, and secure greater legal justice.”

— quoted from “Religion, Politics, and Gender: The Leadership of Nannie Helen Burroughs” by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Chapter 8 of This Far By Faith: Readings in African-American Women’s Religious Biography, edited by Judith Weisenfeld & Richard Newman)

Extreme heat can not only make people lethargic and unmotivated, it can also lead to extreme agitation and anxiety-based fear. We may find it hard to think, hard to feel (or process our feelings), and/or hard to control our impulses. If you are struggling in the US, help is available just by dialing 988.

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

In the spirit of generosity (“dana”), the Zoom classes, recordings, and blog posts are freely given and freely received. If you are able to support these teachings, please do so as your heart moves you. (NOTE: You can donate even if you are “attending” a practice that is not designated as a “Common Ground Meditation Center” practice, or you can purchase class(es).

Donations are tax deductible; class purchases are not necessarily deductible.

Check out the “Class Schedules” calendar for upcoming classes.

### MAKE PEACE YOUR CORNERSTONE  ###