The Final Definition of Fix

Greetings on the day of the April 2024 Full Moon.

"Isn't the point of beautiful art...a person...a life... that

it is unfixable and unfixing? And that it unmoors us,

calls into question what we thought we knew 

and  who we thought we were?"

I never thought of beautiful art in these terms.

These words cause shivers inside my bones.

"art asks more that we could ever answer"

Long ago I was introduced to the phrase,

"learning to live with the questions".

It is attributed to Rilke although it came

to me via a spiritual director in one of my former lives.

I've carried it with me ever since.

Now, Ross Gay has thrown it wide open 

by connecting it to the process of making art,

by learning about myself by living my life.

It empties me out....turns me into nothing...

the nothing that is everything.

Namaste'

 

Art As Something You Wonder About

I'm "delighted" by so much of what 

Ross Gay has to say in this book.

For someone rather set in her ways,

his words open doors and windows

I didn't realize existed.

I feel myself being beckoned

into unknown territory while

being reassured that I've been

heading there all along...

That those stuck places

aren't really stuck...

those apparent dead ends still breathe;

they're in the process

of growing and ripening 

and dare I say 

aging.

What they need is

belief in their value and tender attention.

Namaste'

 

Each Word Is A Portable Cathedral

"in the roots of words, we find a portal to the mycelial web 

of invisible connections undergirding our emotional lives."

Her ability to craft and weave together sentences is

a wonderment to me.  It intrigues me to consider word origins

as a doorway to a "mycelial web of invisible connections".

May they also be a guidepost to new and better ways

to use words in the service of 

decency, honesty, integrity, goodness, and real justice.

Namaste'

 

Because We Know Their Power

"We ask of words to hold what we cannot hold."

How many times do words fail us against the ineffable reality

we are experiencing in any given moment?

We certainly give it a valiant effort, yet its destiny is to fall short.

This happened just yesterday in trying to convey 

caring and compassion and concern for a friend.

I often wonder if it's best to simply send invisible, silent 

waves of love and not attempt any words at all.

Especially when you're in a situation 

where you can't be there in person.

And they're engaged in one of those 

too-big-for-words complications.

However words are what we have, 

regardless of how incomplete and incompetent.

They are part of the intricate, amazing profusion of energies

we call life...sit for a moment and ponder the miraculous,

enchanting, astonishing, breathtaking and breath making

wonder that four letter word points toward!

Namaste'

 

Words Are Events

In a scene from Franklin, where his printing press 

has been destroyed, and he's picking up the letter tiles

from the floor, he fervently implores his grandson, "do you know what these are?"

"They are power!" 

I've been harboring it when I came across today's quote. 

"They feed energy, understanding and emotion back and forth and amplify it."

We are witnessing this is stark terms these days, are we not?

False words feeding and amplifying power, or so it appears on the surface, right?

Here are my questions.

What words of dignity, fairness, and equality 

do we use to counter and squelch false yet power-filled words?

Are true words feeding 

energy, understanding and emotion 

AND AMPLIFYING THEM in equal or greater measure?

Is a heartfelt and holy silence a counter revolution

that could invalidate the false words and formally put an end to them?

Am I longing for a fantasy world that isn't likely in a landscape including humans?

Isn't it ironic that the fear of being ruled by a mob is creating a mob?

Isn't it ironic that the behavior leading to this belief, ie: rioting, looting, street violence;

which is born from centuries of "put-down" ...something those perpetrating the Big Lie

are now getting a taste of ... are responding to in an identical manner, ie: rioting, looting

and street violence, ie: January 6?

May TRUE words triumph over falsehoods.

Namaste'

 

Never Quit Sounds Great

Here's something comical...

I shared a post by Michell Clark

earlier in the year...

"Be the person who still tries. After failure, after frustration, 

after disappointment, after exhaustion, after heartache,

 be the person who musters up the courage to believe 

that a new attempt can manifest a new outcome. 

Be the person who still tries.”

Isn't this rich?  Pretty much the polar opposite advice!

I love the irony of it.  

There are times when keeping at it fits

and times when quitting is the best option.

The choice is ours. 

May we choose wisely in the present moment;

open ourselves to a full range of possibilities;

and allow ourselves the permission to change course

if the situation warrants it.

Namaste'

 

Science Has Taught Me

To "derive happiness from discovery".

Perhaps in addition to noting delights,

noting discoveries would be an intriguing exercise.

It's a counter balance to the repeating pattern of the familiar.

Some added spice to the old family recipe. 

"Carefully writing everything down"?

While I know this would be grand,

success doing so has eluded me.

I wonder if writing it on my heart

and etching it into my memory 

would suffice?

It just now occurred to me that 

if memory fails, 

 what did manage to get written down

would be a discovery to add to the delights.

Reading old journals would become both discovery and delight.

Namaste'