Lyricalworks: Stories for Inspiration and Discernment

<body leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" background="/home/images/swirlgrey.gif" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="6" width="440" height="153" align="center"> <tr> <td width="16" height="15"></td> <td height="15" width="388"> <p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399"><strong><em><font size="6">Stories</font></em></strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399"><strong><em><font size="4"> </font></em><font size="4">for inspiration<br> </font></strong></font><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399"><strong><font size="4">and discernment<br> </font></strong></font></p> <p align="right"> <p align="right"><a href="/stories/amaterasu/amaterasu.htm" target="_top"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#408080" size="2"><strong>READ THE FIRST STORY</strong></font></a> <p align="right"> </td> <td height="15" width="12"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="16" height="1180"></td> <td height="1180" width="388"> <p align="left"><font size="5"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399" size="4"><b>Although experience may be the great teacher,</b></font><b><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></b><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">it never hurts to broaden our minds in preparation for understanding it when we finally get it! </font><font size="5"><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">People have always used stories to pass on their collected wisdom--whether told around the campfire, drawn on a cave wall, sung by a traveling bard, or transmitted in flickering light and shadow on a large white movie screen. Telling stories will always be a vital way we identify our values, celebrate our loves and passions, and explore our strengths and weaknesses.</font></font></font></p> <p align="left"> </p> <p align="left"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, serif, Times" size="4" color="#333399"><b>Finding your way <br> through the labyrinth</b></font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">The Information Age is accentuating an important challenge for our global community: each of us will need great discernment to deal with the huge amounts of information pouring in. Can you distinguish the truth from a lie or a half-truth? Do you understand the differences between reality and fantasy, fact-based and factual, truth and Truth? Do you recognize bias when you see it, even in the service of a worthy cause? Can you determine someone's motive in communicating? What's the author or speaker's purpose and intent? Recently, you may have noticed a growing number of public figures, best-selling writers, and even journalists and scientists who have lied for various reasons. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4"> </font><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">Becoming sophisticated readers and tellers of stories can help us develop our ability to identify underlying messages. In reading stories, we learn to think more symbolically, to interpret, and to be less linear in our thinking. Learning to understand an author's intention or a narrator's viewpoint prepares us for the many messages we will receive as global citizens. And stories, whether we read them or tell them, have much to teach us not only about ourselves but also about the differences between information, knowledge, and wisdom. </font></p> <p align="center"> </p> </td> <td height="1180" width="12">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="16" height="20"></td> <td height="20" width="388"> <p align="left"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4" color="#333399"><b>On the Lyricalworks site,</b></font><b><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4"> </font></b><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">we'll focus on offering stories with psychological, spiritual, and symbolic content. This includes myths, folktales, fables, and the best children's stories. What can we learn from these stories about human nature and human relations? What do they say about human consciousness and our capacity to grow and understand? </font></p> <p align="left"><font size="5"><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">We'll offer multicultural stories so that we can draw upon the combined wisdom and viewpoints of our many societies.You may have been fortunate enough to be born in a family or country whose values you totally agree with, but if you were not so fortunate, allow your acquaintance with stories in their many forms to show you that you are not alone. There is so much to learn.</font></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="5"><font size="4" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399"><b>Many have walked <br> the roads you travel <br> and many are the tales to be told. </b> </font></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="4">   </font></p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, serif, Times" color="#333399"><strong><font size="3"><font size="3" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#006666"><b>This page uses frames, but if you are reading this, your browser doesn't support them. You can view some of the site's pages individually via <a href="/sitemap/sitemap.htm">our Sitemap.</a></b></font></font></strong></font></p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"> </p>  <p align="center"> </p> </td> <td height="20" width="12"></td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"></div> <p> </p> <p align="center"> </p> <blockquote> <blockquote> <blockquote> <blockquote> <blockquote> <p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, serif, Times" color="#333399"><strong><font size="3"><br> </font></strong></font><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#333399"><strong><font size="3" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, serif, Times"> </font></strong></font></p> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote> <p> </p><div align="center"><center> </center></div> </body>