WE COME TO IT

 

The truly deep wisdom of life is ever present, always available. 

But it doesn’t come to us. 

It is the still small voice that appears from out of nowhere because it is everywhere. And it is everywhere because it is the invisible essence and energy of all that exists. We unlock its experience at ever deepening levels by opening ourselves to its presence around us and within us. And we do so through intentional humility, vulnerability and awareness.

Like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) who “came to his senses” and it changed his life forever. . . we come to it. Thankfully, it cannot be forced, cajoled, seduced or manipulated. This is not to say we can’t request it. Rather, once we do, we must consciously open ourselves to whatever it seeks to teach  us--which is often not the answer we expect or desire--or it’s the one that may have been right in front of us all the time. 

Like the wind, we cannot see it, only its effect. 

But once we become aware of it, we see and experience its life-transformative power wherever we are, whomever we are with, and whatever we’re doing. To put it in traditionally Judeo-Christian terms. . . 

. . . wisdom is the kingdom of God at hand.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK ABOUT WISDOM.

LIFE

“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.” Beautiful words from the late Ansel Adams, the world-renowned American landscape photographer and environmentalist. No wonder his photographs are so profoundly captivating and universally cherished!

BAND OF BROTHERS

I’ve written these words this past week while on my annual “band of brothers” (siblings/sons/grandsons) Canadian fishing trip--which took a three-year hiatus due to Covid-19. We have a great time reconnecting with each other, especially after so long!

Love and joy raise the corners of our eyes

as we look into each other’s aging faces.

It’s been so “Too long!” since our last rendezvous.

But in these few days and nights 

our parts to play in The One Great Story

web us together ever so tightly once again.

We bask beneath each other’s sun 

while the knowing takes fresh hold.

Filaments thin but strong wrap round us, 

and for this trickle of time our lives like stars align. 

Too soon it will be over. Again. Till when? If then. 

Even now, one of us is gone. And though stilled,

yet we feel his bands pull at our hearts. 

While life’s larks seek to undo our sweet weavings

these three things we carry always. 

One, at the end of each day 

the tales of its making will, like the universe, 

grow beyond the size of its catch. 

Two, that in these trophy times together

death is being eclipsed by life yet again.

And three, the bands, the bonds 

that gather us as eternity’s brothers 

cross all our chasms, all our divisions,

drawing us deftly into one another’s orbit 

under the guise of this, humanity’s ancient affair 

with the waters, their wares, their wiles. 

THE CHICKEN IN THE EGG

I recently had a dream in which I was standing on the shore of a swift-flowing river just where it opened to the ocean. While I watched, an empty unattended panel truck parked nearby rolled backwards down a small embankment and into the water. It sank instantly, though I'd expected it to do so slowly since it was basically an air bubble encased in a thin skin of metal. 

Fortunately, at least, there was no one in it.

A moment later a huge, heavily armored tank came clattering over a hill and into view. Without hesitation, it drove out onto the river and to my astonishment, remained afloat as if on solid ground. Once there, it turned 90 degrees and followed the river’s flow out onto the open ocean and off to a distant shore!

We’d spent the day at the ocean, I’d watched the evening news, and before going to sleep I’d been ruminating on a question:“What is the relationship between my thoughts and the world I experience every day? 

In other words, which is the chicken in the egg and which is the egg in the chicken?” 

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD & OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S THINK ABOUT WHERE OUR THOUGHTS COME FROM.

ALREADY

To say that today may turn out to be a fantastic, extraordinarily monumental, once-in-a-lifetime sort of transformative day is to miss its point. It already is.

PLAY ON!

We have this vast outfield within, 

and a diamond upon which our minds 

play pick up ball all day. 

And we are the ones, the only ones, 

who can populate this green,

the only ones allowed to play this field.

If some thought throws us a curveball, 

we can wait for the next one pitched. 

Don’t like that one either?

Well, we’re up. We get to choose.

Once a passing thought gets purchase

it’s like the hitter making first base.

Think it again, we’re at second.

Will it make it all the way home?

Does every thought become an action?

Most don’t. Oh, but when they do!

So play on!

Moral of the Metaphor: A thought, a worthy one, and especially a grand one, usually has to rise through several iterations of the imagination in order to reach the level of a full fledged action. Oh, but when it does!