self inquiry 101, motorcycle accidents and whatnot

There’s been a motorcycle accident in Pardo. A man is lying uncounscious with a helmet still on, his back on the ground and a woman is bleeding on the forehead. My mom freaked out but i feel nothing, Not that my reaction matters or that i am expected to respond the same way. I know nothing of them in the first place. But the thing is, they could be anyone i know, care about and love. A little sympathy ain’t that big a thing not to be given but there’s just nothing here. Am i becoming numb or indifferent each passing day? I hope not.

Then while still inside the jeepney and alraedy in Lipata, Minglanilla, there was an ambulance accelerating in the other side of the highway, siren buzzing and echoing through the hollow of the night. There must have been another accident, and it wasn't even long minutes passed when we saw it. Two motorcycle lie engine-dead on the ground on opposing directions horizontal the centerline.

Accidents.

People and injuries.

Possibly death.

And I didn't care..

Possible Solution to my Blog2Blog Migration Problem

I am still stuck on the blog migration problem. And while I was googleing, I found this, quite complicated but I will still try, and see what I can accomplish after. I will be blogging the result of my experimentation later on.

These are what I need:

1. Download the script wptoblogger.py.


2. Ensure you have Python 2.5, BeautifulSoup and Google's GData Python Client.


3. Create your target Blogger blog and note its ID.


4. Export your Wordpress blog to an XML file (I think this is only available in version 2 and above of Wordpress).


5. Run wptoblogger:python wptoblogger.py -u your_blogger_username -b your_blog_id -a author_for_posts wordpress_xml_file

Like what I have blogged previously, there is a limitation to every blog to blog transfer, and among them which I quoted from codesimple are:

1. It doesn't support multiple blog authors - all posts will be marked with the author_for_posts.


2. A limitation with the Blogger API means that comment authors can't be set (they always appear as the blog author). As a workaround, I prefix each comment with a "Comment from..." line (see the existing comments on this blog).


3. Blogger impose a limit on the number of posts you can create via the API in a certain time period. So if you have a lot of posts to transfer you may need to modify the script to post them in batches over a number of days.

Problem Unsolved

Previously I have been blogging about my blog import problems and I have been trying to condition my self to be patient and find a way somehow. After having proclaimed how Blog2Blog migration turned me down on many occasions, it also worked on one instant which made me really ecstatic! However, it only imported 50 items out of 113 entries I have in this wp blog. Since I still considered it a unsuccessful import, I deleted all my blogger imported entries, and tried again. Unfortunately, I was back to the same blog import problem, and it was disappointing and frustrating at the same time.

And earlier I googled further on Wordpress to Blogger migration and found this but offered no hope for me. However, I already tried these steps many times in the past, regardless of my awareness that Non-Blogger to Blogger platform import will not work or will not result in a successful blog import.

Blogger doesn't yet give you the opportunity to Import other Blogs from NON-BLOGGER platforms. It only gives you the ability to Import other Blogger Blogs! It's another fine example of Blogger not being ready to launch a 'full-scale' option. It's in 'Beta', if you will. It's testing.

I am not blaming Google because I understand how they support only their own platforms. On the other hand, I want to rant at them about this problem, which they should have taken into consideration with due respect to those who are on the same situation as I am.

Brainsick

After having been bombarded with questions about when would I be getting a job, now I have been bombarded yet again with another squeezing question like when am I gonna start answering my one thousand five hundred twenty five item Foundation of Education final examination. And that's just one subject among my six subjects in my Diploma in Professional Education fast track graduate curriculum.

Truth is, I have no plans yet in answering them, and definitely not now that I am reviewing for my Civil Service Commission licensure examination on July, which is already a few days from now.

I'm actually waiting for my friend to lend me his review booklet as he promised for the said licensure examination. As of now, I'm using my available references, and some other internet sources since I have an internet access.

But honetly, I'm just brainsick with all these examinations I have to take, and they're all for profession purposes, and because the law says so. blah..

My Motivations

After having been asked as to my purpose of wanting to become a teacher, I never had an answer. It is more like a lifelong search as to my resolve. When I was little I never have thought, not even once in my life that I would become a teacher or that I wanna become a teacher.

Perhaps I was influenced by my teachers in the Psychology department and how I am so fond of them, especially Miss D,  GGG, Sir Gerry, Dr. Boholst and Dr. Mordeno.

Then we were talking about motivation yesterday in class. I realized that my motivations are internal rather than external. Every time I ask my self what it is that keeps me on going to my classes and I couldn't find of anything because I was thinking of external motivation which I probably do not have or that I am not aware of.

While listening to GGG's Golden Friendship, I am fantasizing about my psychology years, my friends, and teachers.

Spirituality and Psychology

Earlier I wrote a blog about a certain former seminarian classmate of mine who asked me why do I desire to be a teacher.

And during the next class we were like sharing our ideas in the middle of out Guidance and Counseling class discussion about psychology and how psychology is different from religion, and that spirituality is at all different from psychology. Another classmate who is 20 years older than I am and is an engineer also said the same about psychology. And so did my teacher who graduated bachelor in psychology about probably 20 years ago.

My engineer classmate says that psychology is only focused on the mind and does not tackle about spirituality. My commentaries are first of all, psychology deals not only with mental processes but also behavior. Secondly, psychology, just like education, takes into consideration the Psychomotor, Affective, and Cognitive aspects of an individual and of learning. Thirdly, spirituality is a form of a higher frequency of consciousness. And consciousness is just a part of the broader field of psychology. Somehow I can say that spirituality is related with psychology or that it is studied in the science of psychology. Laslty, there is a branch in psychology called Transpersonal psychology that studies self-transcendence and spiritual aspects of the human experiences.

The essence of spirituality is the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness. This quest has been the foundation of all the great spiritual teachings, and the goal of all the great mystics. (more)

• Abraham Maslow identifies peak experiences wherein people often have spiritual experiences. He calls this self-transcendence, which is beyond self-actualization or self-realization.


• Carl Gustav Jung calls this  process a person undergoes to wholiness the process of individuation.


• Eastern religions call this "Great Awakening" and/or "Enlightenment"


• In Carl Gustav Jung's Psyche and Symbol, he emphasized that the spirit is "the sum total of all phenomena of rational thought, or of the intellect, including the will, memory, imagination, creative power, and aspirations motivated by ideals."

While I was looking for research journals to find answers to the question initially raised, I stumbled upon this informative  interdiciplinary conversation (pdf) in a certain college wherein participants shared their own point of view about the connections and intersection between psychology and spirituality .

As a learner, I do want to stick with the linear thinking, rather do otherwise and try to find the answers through my own inquiry or read as much as possible until the mind's query is sufficed.

Today Matters

Earlier in class, one of my classmates who happens to be a former seminarian, and who is now a counselor, and an active church leader, asked me of my reason for wanting to become a teacher. Then I was kind of "uhhh" "uhmm" Then I realized I really did not know why, nor did I ever thought about it.

First and foremost I wanted to have masters degree in Psychology, probably on Counseling or Clinical Psychology. However, I couldn't afford yet the tuition fees so I have to find a job and save money for my future. That was my original plan.

Few days after, instead of finding a job, I found my self sleeping, eating, doing nothing at home. I was basically bumming around, annoying people (parents) and did all kinds of weird stuffs.  Then I lost my motivation. My mom bombarded me with questions like when am I gonna stop bumming around and start looking for a job. She's basically giving me the pressure. Consequently, I started looking for a job online. I passed my application and my cv online to various companies some I know, others I have not the slightest idea as to what their company is about.

Then a few days after, a recruiter from Convergys called me on my land line phone and asked me if I was interested in applying for customer service representative in the company. They got my number from my Alma matter's database. Then I said,"Okay, I'll try." So I was scheduled for an interview the next day. When I arrived on the venue, I saw a close friend who happened to have just passed the final interview and was there for the training. Since I was very early, I sat with him and we chatted. There I also found out that his boyfriend was also in the other call center company where my friend previously worked. He was also applying  for the costumer service position.

Few minutes later, I saw my other friend who also my school mate in USC. He was also applying in Convergys. And I saw his baby and his girlfriend who was also a school mate of mine.

What conspired the whole day was all good. I passed the processes, and was scheduled for the final interview the next day. But then I didn't pass the final interview. It wasn't all that bad. My realization on that following day was that I can never get things that I never wanted, and that I can only strive for what I want. Or maybe I am just trying to justify my actions. But really I'm so lazy to get a job right now.

Then came May, my cousin who was working with CTTE in CSCST, where I am currently having my DPE course, said his "simply inspiring" words that did inspire me to enroll. So here I am now, hopeful to be a teacher's board passer and become a teacher.

I'm back again with the same question, why do I want to become a teacher. All I know is that I have no answers as of the moment. But soon enough I will definitely have my answers.

I just told my classmate that as of now, I'm taking the opportunity that the world has given me that's why I am here. I don't know my direction. I'm just merely taking a step to this road I am not fully aware of. And trying to explore if this is really where I belong. What matters is that I am enjoying what I have today, I am making friends. I am loving my subjects.

Sometimes if you are so preoccupied of the future, you will end up losing God's gift, which is today. The reason why today is called present because It's a blessing and it matters.

Do I look bruised to you? Check my left eye.

I took this photograph on the evening of May 28, 2009. I was so bored I had no Internet. There wasn’t anything to do. I was unwilling to watch TV, though I was kind of revived from my frustration on that day, It still wasn’t enough. I tried to read one of my favorite books from Salman Rushdie entitled “The Satanic Verses” but I stopped. I just couldn’t stick with the lines, or I just wasn’t engrossed with the reading as I was before the first time I read it.  Maybe It’s really different when you’ve read a book the first time and you read it again the second time. [Undecided] On second thought, maybe not because I read the Sword of Truth series the second time around and I was totally into the books as I was the first time I read them. Maybe it’s my mood that’s affecting me. That’s probably it

So, like I said I took the picture last night. It’s supposed to be an emotive portrait of me. If you notice there are black smudge on my left eye. It’s actually make up. I intentionally smeared my make up to make it look like someone punched me on the left eye and gave me that “black-eye.” I was compelled to do it for no reason at all.

So, can anyone tell me if you are convinced or not, cause I am not.My face is just blank.

While I was doing this, my thoughts were on the song  from U2 entitled “Stay (Faraway, So Close).” I really love that song because it talks about women who are abused by their partners, and anyone who is in love but the other person doesn't feel the same. I like the lines that say, “Three o’clock in the morning. It’s quiet and there’s no one around. Just the bang and the clatter as an angel runs to the ground. Just the bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground.”

Boredom's Doldrums

Now, this is what I call boredom’s doldrums. I’m really bored because I have no Internet at the moment. Now I am here in an Internet café—paying. I guess the server in my place is down. And this is something that really pisses me off. Oh well, let me just use this solitary moment to share what ever is on my mind at the moment since I am not doing anything beneficial or worthwhile lately.

It has been quite a while since I quit reading mythology, new age and the occult, which are my fascination. I started my fascination with the occult when my cousin who is I guess 20 years older than I am, showed the occult threshold to me. I mean not literally. Well she must have been one of the first people who influenced me with occult studies.  I was only in elementary, probably when I was ten or eleven, when she got married with her second husband. It was also the same time when she brought an antique occult book from elsewhere. I could still remember the big brown old book with a very striking title on the hardbound cover page. DEMONOLOGY. And there I was intrigue. Harry Potter books were quite her fascination, and my cousins too. But Harry didn’t catch me the way the big brown old book did.

Too bad it was the first and the last time I saw it.

Her parents didn’t know of the book’s existence. Her sisters and brothers didn’t, but I did. She could have known that I like the occult and weird things too, or she wouldn’t share it with me. We are not really close, probably due to our age gap, nor am I close with any of her siblings. But it was the very first time that I actually felt that I belong to something, a world greater than my own.

Few years’ back, I started reading witchcraft. It’s not that I want to be a witch or something. I just want to be educated with it. And then I read about astral projections, OBE (out-of-body expreinces), dreaming, psychic development, and ESP (extra-sensory perceptions). In fact I have quite good books in my library.

In my attempt and intent to find justification to these occult phenomenons, I bumped into a field where I am now, Psychology. There I started reading about Carl Guztav Jung, who is my first favorite and is still my favorite psychologist, because his ideas were the only ones that could possibly enlighten me with the occult.

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss. His father was a pastor in a Swiss Reformed Church. But he was more of a skeptic though religion was one of his work’s themes. Jung had wide range of interests he was convinced not to limit his learnings with just one field. He studied archaeology, anthropology, literature, and others. One thing that I really like about him is that he stands for his beliefs though others continually criticize him for being heretic and being a weirdo. But he wasn’t heretic. Anyone who is an avid reader of his works can testify to that. And about the weirdo thingy, I do really want to comment on that, though he was kind of an introvert as a child.

Progressively over the years, all my learnings have deteriorated just like that. I feel like I don’t know anything anymore. I feel really frustrated with my self now. I want to know things I do not know, and with each documentary I watch over National Geographic or Discovery Channel or article I read from book or from the internet, it feels like its never enough and am so impulsively wanting to get more. And now It’s so unfortunate because I have no internet access, and I know am obviously trying to forget about the internet and focus on something worthwhile.

So, this is just part one of my story about this world greater than my own.

Mood: Relaxed

Listening: Dido – Thank You

Personal growth over the years

A mandala is a form of Sanskrit and means a magic circle. Sometimes they can be of circular, square or triangular in shapes. In Eastern religions, floor plans in temples were actually based on mandalas. And in the center circle of a mandala is usually a God, or a Goddess. Mandalas are symbol of the self, of health and of being one with nature and with the Gods.

In psychology, a mandala is a symbol of individuation or the process of being whole. In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, individuals must satisfy certain needs, and first level needs must be first met before proceeding to the next level needs. The highest need an individual could reach is the need to actualize. Actualization per se means realization, and individuation, or becoming whole.

A mandala is just a philosophical symbol of the actualization process, and just like the eastern religions who have created mandalas to guide them to wholeness, I have my own too. Influenced by philosophy, religion, new age, and Jungian psychology, I have chosen the pentacle, which is a Wiccan symbol.

My mandala shows that I am on the process of wholeness in association with Mother Nature, which is represented by the circle around the star, and with the help of the elements in the pentacle like fire, water, air, earth, and spirit.

At the center of the pentacle is David’s Star, or the sign of King Solomon. On one side is a name of my child’s alter ego “meichiu,” and on the other side is meow5209. The numbers are significant to me, but the letters m-e-o-w aren’t anymore important to me because these letter were a child’s play. Below are words “Jesu Christe,” which is Latin for Jesus Christ because I was raised as a Catholic.

My mandala was created a very long time ago. As a child I had so much in me, people think I’m weird but I am not. I had an introvert personality as a child. I call it creative difference between you and me. Besides, everything that I have learned from my solitary studies with new age, religion, philosophy, psychology, and the occult played an important role in my growth as a person.

Progressively over the years, my past learnings were suppressed or kind of placed aside, and I became focused on my field, which is Psychology. With psychology, I was opened to a broader horizon I call reality. The Humanistic approach says that an individual reacts to a certain phenomenal field called “reality.” I became an advocate of human potential from then on. Aside from my learning, my experiences and interactions also helped me in my growth as a person that I am today. From being an introvert, I am now extrovert.

You see, I have seen my development from a child with so many thoughts on mind to an individual who has grown, and is still growing toward self-actualization. I do not use this mandala anymore in the present time but it has been my coping mechanism as a child, so it is still a part of me, a part of my past—a past that I should be leaving behind from now on.

Thanks for the tweets:

@MonsterHP @RobbDrury @RossArntson @innerarchitects @dougnoll @BeingForItself

Internet rant

Okay, yesterday I called globe to help me with my problem on my Internet. I did exactly what the technical service/support representative told me to do, but unfortunately the problem is not with my Internet connection, possibly it’s with globe’s facilities here in our area.

I’m not sure though if I’m the only one with this problem, since I cannot ask my neighbors about their Internet. It’s just that I don’t have friends here. Well. I do but only a few people, just a few. The rest are strangers to me, although I see them everyday, memorize the details of their faces and everything like that. We just don’t converse in a deep level, only in superficial level or what we call the cliché conversation like “Hi” or “Hello.”

So what I have to do is just wait within 24-48 hours. Oh God

The Internet has been a part of my homeostasis for long time now. Every time I wake up I open my pc right away and google my way to blogs and news for the day, update my social networks like Facebook and Twitter. And just as before I go to sleep in the evening I am still googling. And now it’s just different because there is no Internet. It’s just not the same without it.

Change

Today is a very boring day. At the moment I'm supposed to watch BNTM but I'm gonna pass. I don't want to watch television today, and give my self some piece of solitude to reflect about me and things or people around me.

People are oftentimes highly resistant to change because we generally attend to information on the bases of our schemas, especially on our self schemas. In the process of our becoming whole, we tend to resist change. What and how we see our self may be a culprit to this resistance.

I am just reminded of the usual statement my friends from Kinse and other facilitators from the circle I am in. "I am I, you are you." The speaker's personal schema is on the bases of the "this is who I am, and that's who your are" is oftentimes abused by most people. This type of thinking may only do two things, helps the person to maturity or to the process of individuation or hinders the person. It hinders because it is either not understood well, or abused.

The statement is a very powerful statement, and I see and feel how beautiful it is. But a speaker and a believer as I am needs to remember and bear in mind all the time that I am responsible of my self and aware of the consequences of my actions. Other than that, if my goal is to reach full individuation or actualization as  Abraham Maslow termed it, responsibility is not enough.

Sometimes in order to be better, there are things I should change for the better and not for the worse. My mentor and friend, who is like a father to me, told me one time that I don't need to change. He spoke very powerful and strong words to me, and it made me cry and makes me cry even more when I remember it. I cried not because I hate what he said, but because I feel appreciated for who I am. And I will always remember that.

I don't need to change because others are telling me to. I don't need to change for others. If there would be something to change about me, it would be for my own benefits and not for others.

Change is existent. People change, the environment changes, matter changes, and almost anything in the world changes.

The Fourth Principle

I've been wondering why I'm sad

For no reason, I'm not glad

The days I've spent so dark, so hollow

It's not that I can't dare to swallow

Mesmerizing are the stars above me

Captivating are the diamonds I cannot see

I've been wondering for so long

Hoping to know what's right or wrong

I hope to see one day the l;ight

For which will help me in my fight

Cause I know I can never win the battle

Without it, there's no dazzle

Honestly, life is kinda tough

The road's kinda rough

Sometimes I expect too much

I base my decisions on a hunch

Life's really not that easy

Sometimes people are good, oftentimes unruly

But hey, look at the bright side

There are many things I need not hide

This time there's no stopping

As the fourth principle is stating

Pursuing one's happiness is everybody's right

So lets all stand up and start our fight

(written on January 24, 2007)

Journal Writing

"We read so that we shall remember the atmosphere and the reality we have known. In times to come, we shall consider the multiple messages that were given to us."

---Ira Pragoff
The Well and the Cathedral

Just a thought. I really find journal writing interesting, Why? These are why!

Journal writing is an activity for self-revelation. Writing about my feelings, thoughts, reactions, comments, criticisms, judgments, dreams, wishes and behaviors can open my eyes to see who I really am. It provides opportunity for me to see myself from the past, the present and the future. It allows me to evaluate how I've been doing for the past days. Through it , I am able to identify how fleeting my emotions are and how transient my impressions were.

Also, journal writing is fun, that's why I always bring a journal with me in school and anywhere I go. It's fun to seek what I do not know about my self. It's fun to see me unfold. It is my personal journey for truth and awareness.

Couch of the Unfathomable

situated at the corner of the darkened room

is the couch of the unfathomable, where the angel sat

she looked at the darkness that is miserly black

the dim light from the sooty sky illuminated her

while the bottomless pit of the abyss made her sober

the nightingales of the night sang their discant songs

and her sluggish, melancholy spirit devoured them all

her lifeless black torn wings is all that she has

never had she realized that she's one beautiful lass

she felt her heart beating for something

through the absence of awareness she knew there was one thing

but that one thing was left unsaid, dormant and forgotten

the words of the angel kept in silence deep within

the violence of the darkness of the earth she loathed

that made her fall on the ground, and she lost it

her life on earth was wasted, she thought

not realizing that she flew into the sky, where she could

to fly as beautiful as she could in the human world

and help others in their search for the Word

as he angel sat on the couch of the unfathomable

her lifeles black torn wings is healing

until she could finally soar up high into the sky

and sing her melodious and harmonious songs

so that the world will hear again

the sweet air of the angel that once have fallen

on the earth's vicious and violent ground

© 2007 | jeelchristine poems

This poem offers hope after pain. I remembered  Daniella and I decided on writing something positive on a papyrus, and this poem was written, as a summary confrontation for all our heartbreaks and painful experiences. It's a time to let go and finally step on the next path our lives.

Divergence

There is more to me than what you see.

Scarred with the pain that inflicts me

Devouring my wandering soul,

Underneath the shadows I call my own.

Despite all I've been through, I never quit

I have fought hard enough for me to sit

I suddenly see my self standing in the new world

I doubt if I belong.

I've wondered if I have a place here

A place I can call my own.

I've searched hard enough to find my home

But for now, I don't know where I belong

Do I belong?

Most of you don't really understand

What I'm going trough now is tough

Perhaps you know nothing of me at all

I've still yet to find what I'm capable of

My sense of purpose is confusing me

What am I destined for tomorrow?

Clueless, is this my direction?

Quite a diverged road I'm walking into now.

This divergence will take me there,

Hopefully to the place I shall call my home

© 2007 | jeelchristine poems

Caught Off Guard

[Copied from my  Multiply, posted Aug 18, '08 9:59 PM for everyone]

Bo Sanchez caught me off guard again!!!

Well, boredom sparked me off to find Bo Sanchez in my room.
(Not that he is in my room in person! LOL)

I found bunch of forgotten Kerygma magazines, issues from 2001 to 2006, pilling on my shelf. Bo Sanchez was once my favorite and still my favorite now. I never actually bought his books. Never! But I've pretty much read all of his books. Yeah, I spend time scanning and reading his books inside National Bookstore. So like I read them there! Yep, I don't give a damn about standing for hours reading, as long as I'm not alone in the endeavor. Yeah others are with me doing the same thing.

So I thought I never had his books until now. Gosh! I had one. Man how glad I am! It was given to me by a friend on my birthday. I must have forgotten. Yeah! Too bad I can't remember when was that or what year. Oh well, as boredom struck me, I read it and I could just remember how I actually reacted on the book.

Smitten! With a heavy blow on the face from my very own bare knuckle!

I'm inlove again with Bo's work like I have always been.

So here's my favorite part from the book. Love to share it with you guys.

From: How To Stop Blame And Find Your Personal Power

When I was in Indonesia, I rode an Elephant for the first time.

What an experience to be on top of that beautiful animal.
But here's what amazed me more: How could a 6-ton beast be held
captive by a flimsy rope tied to his foot? All he had to do was sneeze hard
enough and the rope would snap. But like a tiny puppy, the elephant would
just stay there.

Later, I found out why.

When the elephant was a tiny baby, that rope was strong enough to
hold him captive.

At the beginning, little jumbo pulled and pulled against the rope-but
all in vain. Finally, the baby elephant concluded that all effort was useless.
So even when he grew in size and power-and can now actually cut that
rope with a careless jerk of its foot-it won't. Why? Because the rope isn't tied
to its body.

The rope is tied to its mind.

This phenomenon is called "Learned Helplessness" and it doesn't only
happen to elephants. It also happens to human beings. After many failed
attempts, we give up. And we blame the rope for our misery.

Friend, what are the ropes in your life?

Remember: It's not tied to your body. It's tied to your mind. So you
can't untie it in reality without untying it in your mind first.
You can do that only through the opposite of Learned Helplessness...

LEARNED POWER!

I'm just reminded of the time when I thought that I could never face my fear, which was my trauma for almost 11 years.
I wasn't tied to any rope at all but tied to my mind.

I'm just glad there was one person who had helped me on realizing what learned power is. I owe him a lot. He is my teacher, my second father, my friend, and my idol!
Woooo..enough praises.
He's just ordinary man but with extraordinary heart.
A very holistic peron. That's what he is.

Thanks a lot.
You know who you are!

Friends Vs. Leeches

photo taken from Angelspit

Sometimes, you cannot trust people around you. So make sure who your real friends are and cut all the leeches out.

I was still on my first year in the Psychology program where I experienced being betrayed by a friend, not just any friend but a close friend. It was then that I learned my lesson, that I cant trust anyone.  I have lots of friends, but I know too well who my real friends are.

"Bring not every man into thine house: for the deceitful man hath many trains. Like as a partridge taken [and kept] in a cage, so is the heart of the proud; and like as a spy, watcheth he for thy fall: For he lieth in wait, and turneth good into evil, and in things worthy praise will lay blame upon thee. Of a spark of fire a heap of coals is kindled: and a sinful man layeth wait for blood. Take heed of a mischievous man, for he worketh wickedness; lest he bring upon thee a perpetual blot. Receive a stranger into thine house, and he will disturb thee, and turn thee out of thine own."

(Apocrypha: Sirach 11:29-34: Careful In choosing Friends.)