Daily Archives: June 22, 2012

A Time to Listen – Visually and Poetry

Kathy and I travel. We spend time during the summer touring Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and adjoining American states. This summer we are revisiting Waterton Lakes National Park as part of my rehab. We travel through this area regularly and it brings back great memories.

On one trip, we stopped at a provincial park just above Lundbreck Falls. Recently, I went through pictures of the Crowsnest River downstream and it reminded of what I notice and don’t notice in life. Wendell Berry wrote a beautiful piece: The Impeded Stream is the One that Sings. I realized I  heard the river before I saw it. I recalled the life around the river: cottonwood fluff flying, flowering wild rose, insects pollinating, and a musky smell perhaps of a bear recently by. The river is a living instrument sharing a song to others forming a web of life.

I read Wendell Berry’s words while reliving the picture and was inspired to write a Haiku.

Observe life’s current

Pausing, listening, caring

Present with my self.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson

A medical practitioner I visit once a week to try resolve some issues with chronic, physical pain was the source of this wonderful, insightful poem. Whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual, I fall into habits and absolve my self of responsibility f or my actions.
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down another street.
 
~ Portia Nelson ~

This post provides excellent advice in a short and understandable manner. Great wisdom takes few words.

compassioninpolitics's avatarCompassion in Politics: Christian Social Entrepreneurship, Education Innovation, & Base of the Pyramid/BOP Solutions

Determinists take an outward appearance of reality & based on a reductionist understanding of how the world works. However, this misses a larger picture. Here are 3 commonly agreed aspects of reality which they warp or fundamentally misunderstand–which are at the basis of their argument.

1) Life is a learning experience
2) Life is additive–with one activity building on the next
3) Life has ripple effects. Life has consequences

They take a dynamic and vibrant process, which has some laws and principles guiding it–but a) overlook the above b) overdetermine the role in which the aspects they describe underlie reality or its appearances.

Do you have other ideas about the shortcomings or assumptions of determinism?

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