Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for February 22, 2016

This man is a genius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1February 14th, 1990…. it took the Solar System portrait including the ‘pale blue dot’. Also on the gold record, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_RecordIf you want the contents of our Time Capsule To The StarsNasa uploaded the audio to SoundCloud.Carl Sagan chaired the committee that decided what went on the recording and laid out the cover ‘art’.

Inspiring. Thank you.

I’ve been trying to put names on all the faces in the group near the top. There are a few I don’t recognize. Anyone like to propose a list?

+1I love this strip. It makes you think.Whether you want to or not…

Spiritualists encourage us to love ourselves and each other. Religionists put rules on that love.

The next step is being inspired enough to read Sagan’s books.

Beautiful art work and thought provoking words. Thank you Gavan Aung Than and Carl Sagan!

You would be surprised how many of us have known this way before Sagan.Just no one was listening, no one seemed to care.I remember golfing back in 1970. I was teamed with a unique group. A Soviet negotiator, his interpreter, and the American counterpart. They were discussing Strategic Arms Limitation. SALT discussions.I was a 17 year old high school student. Seen the Apollo landings and all. They discussed the atomic bomb and who wants this and who wants that.The Soviet guy turned to me and asked….“What do you think young American?”I lined up my putt, reading the green, listening to the wind, feeling the world around me.“I see it this way” I began “This is the only place around we have to live on. There is no where else to go if we destroy it. We all lose. No winners.” I stroked the putt right into the cup hearing the ball rattle around. “You are up sir, I for one will miss this game of golf.”SALT I was signed in May 1972. We stepped away from that precipice.

How easy is it to forget that not only Hitler waged a war of conquest, but Stalin and Mao Zedong did too, yet the two Communist tyrants were successful where the Nazi tyrant was vanquished. Compared to Stalin and Mao, Hitler comes in third in the mass murder hall of shame.

Though I cherish this ‘pale blue dot’ as my earthly home, I’m only journeying through life to a heavenly home. A home beyond time’s boundary and the limitations of physical life, where there is no evil, no wearisome toiling after things that one can’t keep forever, and complete rest.

I’m not.

4th row man I couldn’t name: Socrates.Question marks mean I’m not sure — confirm or correct, please.

As the Dalai Lama has said many times when asked about faith and practice to construct a good life, forgive and be kind to one another—do what seems right.—that’s enough. St. Ellen says that, too.

As for Zen and the universe:: “If I have my tea….ahhhhh! If I don’t have my tea…….ahhhhh!” Beautiful artwork, Gavin, based on a brilliant man’s words.

Bravo, Carl Sagan, and Bravo, Gavin! Very moving; good sustenance for the heart as well as the mind. I also appreciated your roster of saints and sinners – very cool to see Ben Franklin, Ghandhi, Bruce Lee, the Beetles, Mark Twain, & so many others on the same page. Makes Sagan’s words more -- epic, I suppose is the word. You really bring a level of awareness to my comics page that is refreshing! Kudos 2 U, and have a wonderful day!

Has anyone sent this to Trump? Oh, well, he wouldn’t be satisfied with taking over one planet anyway.

Absolutely, breathtakingly AWESOME.

Thank you, Gavin Aung Than, for this reminder.

Charlie Chaplin giving Napoleon the stink eye.

So we’re just missing 1 man. I’d swear he’s familiar, but I can’t put a name to him.Top row: Lawrence of Arabia, Martin L. King, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Chris Columbus, Oscar Wilde.

Second row: Genghis Kahn, Vladimir Lenin, Abe Lincoln, Anne Frank, Bob Marley, John Kennedy, Muhammad Ali

3rd row: Caesar, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Aung San Suu Kyi, Elvis

4th row: Ringo, Paul, Lady Di, Charles Darwin, Emily Dickinson, Michael Jackson

5th row: John, George, van Gogh, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Gandi

6th row: Joah of Ark, Dalai Lama, Mao, Joseph Stalin, (?), Bruce Lee

7th row: Hitler, Michael Jordon, Marilyn, Leonardo da Vinci, Amelia Earhart

Front row: Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt, Jesus, Buddha, Napoleon, Charlie Chaplin

Seems to me that the only thing that could prevent mankind from self immolation would be development of a method to remove unprovoked aggression out of the DNA of homo sapiens and that in itself would be unprovoked aggression.

There will always be madmen seeking power and obeisant’s to take up arms on their behalf. As we destroy ourselves don’t worry about this third rock it will keep on spinning for another 4.5 billion years until our Sun gives her up.

@bfrg1513If you ever come back to this page, I’m pretty sure your missing person is Isaac Newton. The woman in the 2nd row I’m not convinced is Anne Frank. The first person I thought of when seeing her is Anne Bradstreet, relatively obscure compared to the others, but the Colonial style collar is what suggested it to me. That one I won’t swear to.

Now that I look again, you’ve identified Steve Jobs (see the iPhone?) as the Dalai Lama while the Dalai Lama is between Stalin and Newton.