This has been an incredibly difficult and challenging lesson to learn for me over the years. I needed to accept, forgive, and love myself. Loving myself responsibly makes me a better gift for others. I had the opportunity to hear Marianne Williamson present and it was truly inspirational.
Monthly Archives: July 2013
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
We are headed out in the next few minutes and will spend time in nature. Just looking at the pictures Kathy took on her way down here, I am sure that it will be spectacular and reconnecting as we drive into and across Glacier. Nature is such a great place to just be and find one’s self.
Those Images
Kathy went shopping and bought a book. It sounds mundane, but, when she opened the book, she found a small piece of paper with this Yeats‘ poem written on it. We are headed home tomorrow. We will take a few days, travel into Montana, across Glacier National Park, and head north. We will see some of the wild on that trip. I doubt lions will appear but a mountain lion might show up and maybe an eagle on the wing. Certainly, we find better exercise in sunlight and wind.
On the back or it might be the front of the slip, someone wrote the Gandhi quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world and PEACE”.
What if I bade you leave
The cavern of the mind?
There’s better exercise
In the sunlight and wind.
I never bade you go
To Moscow or Rome.
Renounce that drudgery,
Call the Muses home.
Seek those images
That constitute the wild.
The lion and the virgin,
The harlot and the child.
Find in middle air
An eagle on the wing.
Recognize the five
That make the Muses sing.
வாழ்க்கை
This is an incredible image. The sun looks like it is both in the sky and in the water forming two suns.
அந்தி வேளையில்
குருதியில் தோய்த்த
அகண்ட ஆகாயத்தில்
ஒய்வு தேடி நான்
மேற்கு நோக்கி
பலாயனம் செய்கிறேன்
வழியெங்கும் விண்மீன்கள்
கைகொட்டி சிரிக்கின்றன
என் மறைவில் மட்டுமே
அவை ஜொலித்து பழகிவிட்டன
விடிவானில்
வெள்ளிக்கீற்றுகள்
மவுனமாய் விழுந்து உடைவதை
அவை அறிவதில்லை
தாலி அறுந்த
விதவை நட்சத்திரங்களின்
ஒப்பாரி என்னை தினமும்
துயில் எழுப்புகிறது
கிழக்கில் மீண்டும்
உதித்து எழுகிறேன்
இன்னொரு
பயணத்துக்காக…
– விஜில் குமார்
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” ― Albert Einstein
I get to begin the day with a quote from my figurative dad, Einstein and the wise voice of Rabindranath Tagore. How close to the inner child can I remain? That is where imagination flourishes and the beauty of life is most easily revealed.
The Niagra River
Gary sent me to this poem after I posted Test by Kay Ryan. I seek meaning in my life for those things around me. Other times I don’t pay enough attention, take things for granted, and do not realize the substance of what is there. Even something as large as the Niagara River can go unnoticed and blur into the background. When I pull it forward, its meaning is there, not explainable, but there. I am reminded that meaning exists even when I cannot explain it.
For those who have not visited Gary, you will enjoy his poetry. I do.
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As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversation.
As it moves along,
we notice—as
calmly as though
dining room paintings
were being replaced—
the changing scenes
along the shore. We
do know, we do
know this is the
Niagara River, but
it is hard to remember
what that means.
Let’s Dance
Elisa is a wonderful photography. It must take incredible patience to find a shot like this and then find the word words to further explain it. It brings to life the dance we call life. What words can describe my life?
I am I am I
This beautiful poem requires little explanation. Whatever I live through. I end up back at I.
We think these words were found in a Mennonite Church in Canada. This layout is by Janet Brewin – thanks to her “calligraphy” (my description) or her “neat handwriting” (her self-effacing description). They were words my mother treasured and which were used at her funeral.
Test
Kay Ryan wrote this deeply spiritual and moving poem. It has a Zen, mystical quality. I am sure there is Something or Someone holding everything together. When something disrupts the ocean of universal consciousness and it goes a little off course or yaws, we feel only the slightest pull. A larger energy field absorbs the drops and warps. The adjustments occur in ways so we are not tested beyond our limits and find a path to walk.
Imagine a surface
so still and vast
that it could test
exactly what
it set in motion
when a single stone
is cast into its ocean.
Possessed of a calm
so far superior
to people’s, it alone
could be assessed
ideally irascible.
In such a case,
if ripples yawed
or circles wobbled
in their orbits
like spun plates
it would be the law
and not so personal
that what drops warps
what warps dissipates.
How Amazing You Can Be
My day is reversed. I was working on dissertation things this morning, watched some basketball this afternoon, and Kathy and I went for lunch. A former student is down here for a basketball camp and I have watched him twice. It is always interesting to make connections with the students after a couple of years and see what has changed.
I loved the bear cartoon too much to pass up today. What we will do for friends?
Sources:
Bears Cartoon: Chuckle’s photo
“Anyone…”: Home Is Where The Heart Is photo
“If you are always trying to be normal you’ll never know how amazing you can be.” –Maya Angelou (Source: Let’s Be Positive Together)
If you’ve ever wondered how I met My Beloved, please check out my most recent post at “Clyde and Friends” titled “I Met My Wife While Playing Hide and Seek in the Dark” at http:/clydeandfriends.com
Russ
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 