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Posted 9/12/2009 @ 7:38:50 am by ahealthymentality.com
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My dear friend’s funeral was this last Thursday, September 10, 2009. Family and friends gathered at 10 am to honor Dr. Evelyn Fagan. The funeral, under the direction of Bunch – Singleton, was held in their lovely chapel. It couldn’t have been more beautiful.
We all enjoyed the magnificent voice of Reverend Oscar Wilkie as he began the service with the 23rd Psalm. Oscar, a wonderful old friend of mine, has that rare ability to reach out with his words and lift the hearts of everyone present. He exudes the calm peacefulness of one like Dr. Fagan, who has lived well in the eyes of GOD.
I felt I was riding on Oscar’s energy as I sang ‘In the Garden’. The final words to the 23rd Psalm ‘yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever’, rang in my mind as my song echoed from my heart - ‘I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the son of God discloses – And HE walks with me and HE talks with me and HE tells me I am HIS own’. In those long moments I felt, as I know others did, that I was very much a part of the ECSTACY of GOD’S LOVE that now showers the being we knew as Evelyn Fagan.
More wonderful words and small portions of the amazing life we had been privileged to share, were given by David Wade, Evelyn’s grand nephew, son of Nelda. Recently ordained, David rose to the occasion and made his family very proud.
‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound’ then, just before closing, everyone, including Oscar and David and our pianist, Debbie Daniels, sang ‘When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be… We’ll sing and shout the victory’. WOW! What ‘JOY we share(d) as we tarry(ied) there’ only the FAITH-ful can know.
Thank you Vian, David and staff for ‘an occasion to remember’.
My Mentor, My Friend (reprint)
Dr. Evelyn Fagan of Broken Bow, Ok, died today in her home. She is survived by a loving family, many friends and me.
I don’t know what I’ll do without her. She was always there, in her favorite chair, to listen and give me confidence no matter what life had thrown my way. She suffered from cancer and congestive heart failure, living longer than any Dr. could have predicted, but she never let her pain take over her brilliant mind, nor did she ever feel sorry for herself. Her faith and trust in GOD never faltered, never failed. Her Bible always close at hand, she knew her scriptures well and was always ready to share her understanding with a smile on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes.
Dr. Fagan was not a doctor of medicine but she knew well the healing power of encouraging words. A distinguished Professor Emeritus, she held degrees in Business, Psychology and Reading. She taught Business classes at Battiest High School in Battiest, Ok, and was a counselor and reading teacher for Idabel and Broken Bow public schools. She also taught at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Ok. She was married many years to Mutt Fagan, a favorite barber in Broken Bow. They were never blessed with children of their own but they blessed every child and adult who was privileged to know them.
As a child in school I knew her as the counselor, in college she was simply one of my teachers until the day I graduated. Still in caps and gowns, she asked me if I was going on for a Master’s. I mumbled something about being too stupid and she instructed me to come to her office where I received the first of many encouraging talks. Two years later I went back for that higher degree and at the cafeteria I joined her for lunch. Soon her table became a popular place for interesting discussions with students who longed to just sit down with a caring professor. When she retired I visited her at home in Broken Bow and we discovered a similar joy in deep biblical research. So, Saturday after Saturday we met for years and studied together until I moved to Tulsa, then I called her each weekend to continue to share ideas and insights. I was picking up the phone to call her today when it rang in my hand and her niece told me she had just passed away. Isn’t it strange how I was thinking of her at that exact time?
I will miss my dear departed friend who, for some time, has been #5 on my phone. I know that, come next weekend, I’ll think of something I want to share and I’ll push that button only to realize the phone is ringing in an empty house. Then it will hit me that she has gone to dwell with our Father in Heaven, the true light and love of her wonderful life.
Since Dr. Fagan’s death I have told several people that when I get to heaven she’s the first one I want to see because she’ll be teaching the advanced classes in Godly patience, longsuffering and love. Until then, I have much yet to learn and do in hope that my white robe will gleam as brightly as hers.
"Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities and verities of existence. The bliss of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power.
And yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision.
But today - well lived - makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day.
~ Sanskrit proverb ~
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If you're ever in Tulsa -
Be sure and stop by
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Quotable Quotes:
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"To find joy in work is to discover
the fountain of youth."
Pearl S. Buck
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"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."
Sam Keen
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"The most precious posession
that ever comes to a man is
this world is a woman's heart"
Josiah G. Holland
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"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams."
John Barrymore
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"Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it."
Thomas Fuller
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"One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams."
E.V. Lucas
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"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."
Auguste Rodin
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"A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew."
Herb Caen
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"Each moment of a happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life"
Aphra Behn
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"Take your dreams off your wish list and put them on your 'to do' list"
Unknown
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"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies"
Aristotle
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"Don't count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count."
Anonymous
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"When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or in the life of another."
–Helen Keller
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"All truth goes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed.
Then it is violently opposed.
Finally it is accepted as self evident." -
Schopenhauer
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"Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them."
- Bob Dylan
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"Music should be a part of each soul's development."
Edgar Cayce
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"You only fail if you quit trying. The trying is oft counted for righteousness. Remember as He has given, "I do not condemn thee." Go be patient, be kind, and the Lord be with thee!"
Edgar Cayce
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"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."
~H.U. Westermayer
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"If you count all your assets, you always show a profit."
~Robert Quillen
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"Thanksgiving is America's national chow-down feast, the one occasion each year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty."
~Michael Dresser
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"Don't give up on the brink of a miracle...remember, you're NOT alone!"
Popular Hymn
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"Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake."
Robert Half
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"Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."
Arthur Somers Roche
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"God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny."
Garrison Keillor
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"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
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"Easy is an adjective used to describe a woman who has the sexual morals of a man."
Nancy Linn-Desmond
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"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it"
Author Unknown
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"If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
Ronald Reagan
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"Man, the inventor, is the invention of an inventive mind like his, but infinitely greater still."
Arnie Gotfryd - 'Do Robots Have Rights?' - CHABAD.ORG
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"The higher the hill, the stronger the wind: so the loftier the life, the stronger the enemy's temptations."
John Wycliffe
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"I have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a good deal about their acts."
Og Mandino
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"This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people"
John Wycliffe
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"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson
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"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."
Abraham Lincoln
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"The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years."
Deepak Chopra
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"A doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn't pay his bill, so he gave him another six months."
Henny Youngman
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"A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running."
Groucho Marx
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"First need in the reform of hospital management? That's easy! The death of all dietitians, and the resurrection of a French chef."
Martin H. Fischer
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"It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm."
Florence Nightingale
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"Today is a Good Day to have a Great Day"
Bill Fowler
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"Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see."
Helen Keller
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"Die, v.: To stop sinning suddenly."
Elbert Hubbard
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"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."
Mark Twain
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"Until you walk a mile in another man's moccasins you can't imagine the smell."
Robert Byrne
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"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."
Steven Wright (1955 - )
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"Walking is man's best medicine."
Hippocrates (460 BC - 377 BC)
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"Walking is also an ambulation of mind."
Gretel Ehrlich
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"It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy."
Dr. Howard Murphy
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"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings."
-William Blake
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"We are told never to cross a bridge until we come to it, but this world is owned by men who have 'crossed bridges' in their imagination far ahead of the crowd."
-Anon.
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"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
-William Faulkner
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"This music is forever for me. It's the stage thing, that rush moment that you live for. It never lasts, but that's what you live for."
Bruce Springsteen
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"At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am on stage."
Bob Dylan
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"Wave after wave of love flooded the stage and washed over me, the beginning of the one great durable romance of my life."
Bette Davis
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"Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women."
Elsa Schiaparelli
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"A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view."
Sophia Loren
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"An Edwardian lady in full dress was a wonder to behold, and her preparations for viewing were awesome."
William Manchester
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"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."
Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)
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"The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."
Thich Nhat Hanh
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"A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers."
Chinese Proverb
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"You're alive. Do something. Look. Listen. Choose. Act."
Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000
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"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."
Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
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"The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values."
Norman Thomas (1884 - 1968)
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"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), in Plato, Dialogues, Apology
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“To get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.” Brian Tracy
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“Success is tons of discipline.” Al Tomsik
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“Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” Thomas Huxley
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“Smile, it increases your face value!” Steel Magnolias (movie)
“I’d rather have 3 minutes of wonderful than a life time of nothing special.” Steel Magnolias
“I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a very bad mood for… years.” Steel Magnolias
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"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
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So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
Christopher Reeve
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"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams."
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine
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"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."
Harry S Truman (1884 - 1972)
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"D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always been poor, but it's been worth it, ay, worth it a hundred times I say when I look round at my children."
W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), 'Of Human Bondage', 1915
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"Outings are so much more fun when we can savor them through the children's eyes."
Lawana Blackwell, The Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter, 1998
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"Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded."
Jess Lair
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"I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself."
Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992)
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"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963
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"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."
W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)
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"Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke."
Lynda Barry
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"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."
Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)
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"We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another."
Luciano de Crescenzo
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"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
Hebrews 13:2
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"What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories."
George Eliot (1819 - 1880)
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"Your world is made of your memories, and your memories are given to you by your world. The whispering voice of happenstance is always in our ears (saying), 'This is the world. This is the way things are. Look. Pay attention. Remember.'"
Real Live Preacher, Real Live Preacher weblog, 05-25-06
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"The only cure for grief is action."
George Henry Lewes
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"While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it."
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)
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"Waste not fresh tears over old griefs."
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)
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"A mother understands what a child does not say."
Jewish Proverb
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"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain!"
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"A mother is not a person to lean on
but a person to make leaning unnecessary."
Dorothy C. Fisher
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"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children."
Elain Heffner, O Magazine, May 2003
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"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
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"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."
John Muir (1838 - 1914)
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"Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present."
Roger Babson
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"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."
Carl Sandburg
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"For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
Anonymous
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"You can lead a man to wisdom, but you can't make him think!"
Unknown
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"The conquering of self is truly greater than were one to
conquer many worlds."
Edgar Cayce
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