This is a great acrostic poem that starts my day thinking about what Life is. Whitehead and Dewey said Life and all its manifestations are the only necessary curricula for education.
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Life
Happiness,,,, Matthieu Ricard no less……
Mathieu Ricard who is mentioned and quoted above is a Buddhist monk who also holds a PhD in molecular genetics. I am just beginning to read his work on happiness and it is fascinating. Letting go is so important to our happiness. We cannot simply wish and want to be happy. It comes effortlessly with much work. Happiness is a form of paradox.
Tewksbury Road
There is something about walking in nature that stimulates all the senses. I come alive in those walks and feel energized. We walked the North Saskatchewan River Valley two years ago during Autumn. The leaves turned colour. Over time, I smelled rich decay as Nature continued in her life-cycle.
Nature celebrates her Sabbath. It is a time of renewal emerging from what was alive. She never wastes.
John Masefield described a pastoral scene I imagined in a multi-sensory way. There is a universality in these scenes that touches the spirit.
It is good to be out on the road, and going one knows not where,
Going through meadow and village, one knows not whither or why;
Through the grey light drift of the dust, in the keen cool rush of the air,
Under the flying white clouds, and the broad blue lift of the sky.
And to halt at the chattering brook, in a tall green fern at the brink
Where the harebell grows, and the gorse, and the foxgloves purple and white;
Where the shifty-eyed delicate deer troop down to the brook to drink
When the stars are mellow and large at the coming on of the night.
O, to feel the beat of the rain, and the homely smell of the earth,
Is a tune for the blood to jig to, and joy past power of words;
And the blessed green comely meadows are all a-ripple with mirth
At the noise of the lambs at play and the dear wild cry of the birds.
NOW
This is such a simple message with such a powerful underlying idea. What it means is largely idiosyncratic. We are unique and beginning will look so different from person-to-person.
Start.
Begin.
GO.
Do your work.
Write. RISK.
Act.
C R E A T E.
NOW.
Nature Teaches
Alfred North Whitehead advised that all the patterns necessary in living life were to be found in nature. This suggests we are not outside nature, but an integral part in full relationships with all other aspects that exist in nature. Humans are not virtual observers, but living partners in these relationships.
A Glass of Water
When we used to go to the farm, one treat was drinking the well water. It was always cool and sweet in the truck when we hayed. It was better than champagne.
If we traveled on from the farm, we sometimes took well water. It meant we had water if we stopped for lunch or needed it in the car.
May Sarton wrote about water’s beauty. The poem reminded me how I take some things for granted and overlook their extraordinary nature. When I take time and am mindful, the sweetness is revealed.
Here is a glass of water from my well.
It tastes of rock and root and earth and rain;
It is the best I have, my only spell,
And it is cold, and better than champagne.
Perhaps someone will pass this house one day
To drink, and be restored, and go his way,
Someone in dark confusion as I was
When I drank down cold water in a glass,
Drank a transparent health to keep me sane,
After the bitter mood had gone again.
Escher (Acrostic)
We used Escher’s work in the classroom as part of exploring points of view and perspective. Students would design and draw their Escher-like diagram. I found that the students enjoyed the opportunities to be creative and explore in ways that art reveals the world to us.
Entwined sketches of Time’s sighing Muse
synchronous with Destiny’s voluptuous passions
chaos ….. balanced within each sepia pic
horizons ….. bound within a singular azimuth
escaping papyrus illusions ….. defined his Life
realities generously shared ….. using but pen and paper
✩ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✰ ☆
Thanks again to ‘K’ at Kirsten Uninterrupted for introducing me to Acrostic and so many other Poetry Forms.
M.C. Escher – The Official Website is here.
April Air Stirs In~
There are some great images of flowers accompanied by hopeful and spring-like quotes. Enjoy.
April air stirs in
Willow-leaves…a butterfly
Floats and balances~
Matsuo Basho
Ranunculus (Please click to enlarge).
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year?
Mark Twain
Rock Rose
Behold, my friends, the spring is come: the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love-
Sitting Bull
Rose of Sharon
Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems~
Rainer Maria Rilke
Lions Ear
With the coming of spring I am calm again~
Gustav Mahler
Foxglove
April has Put a Spirit of Youth in Everything~
William Shakespeare
Peace Lily
In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt~
Margaret Atwood
Mexican Evening Primrose
Why not get some dirt on your hands, and everywhere else too??? Hope the joyful blooms of spring…
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Talk About Walking
When we were in Waterton Lakes National Park two summers ago, we were able to go down the big lake into Montana’s Glacier National Park and hike. As we got off the boat, we asked one of the guides where a good place to go would be. He asked where we wanted to go and I answered, “Just for a walk and see where it takes us.”
It would be difficult to get off the ‘beaten path as it is pretty rugged country. Despite this, I think some days it is nice just to wander and wonder where the day takes us. Philip Booth does a wonderful job reminding us there is so much outside these walls we think of as our life.
Where am I going? I’m going
out, out for a walk. I don’t
know where except outside.
Outside argument, out beyond
wallpapered walls, outside
wherever it is where nobody
ever imagines. Beyond where
computers circumvent emotion,
where somebody shorted specs
for rivets for airframes on
today’s flights. I’m taking off
on my own two feet. I’m going
to clear my head, to watch
mares’-tails instead of TV,
to listen to trees and silence,
to see if I can still breathe.
I’m going to be alone with
myself, to feel how it feels
to embrace what my feet
tell my head, what wind says
in my good ear. I mean to let
myself be embraced, to let go
feeling so centripetally old.
Do I know where I’m going?
I don’t. How long or far
I have no idea. No map. I
said I was going to take
a walk. When I’ll be back
I’m not going to say.
Immunization
These are behaviours and attitudes we should immunize ourselves against. Leading a thoughtful and mindful life can go a long way to helping in this work.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 