The Way That Can

The way that can be weighed is not the actual way.

The way that can be relayed is not the real way.

The way that can be mapped is not the way you will find.

The way in the instructions is not exactly how it plays out.

Can the way be taught? Can the way be learned?

"The Tao will teach you," my teacher said.

Sofia

Sofia is hidden away where her only visitor is God. Diligent seekers can find her. She is imprisoned in the world. Her tears are our waters.

Wetlands foxes hawks coyotes the suburbs have never been more beautiful.

Corn

Composed on a hayrack ride at the Illinois Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (aka Quakers).

Corn

Corn corn corn corn
Corn corn corn corn
I'm from Illinois.
Corn corn corn corn
Corn corn corn corn

Ever read the ingredients on food?
There's corn in bread, corn in jelly,
corn in peanut butter, and corn-fed meat.
Corn--the miracle food--it's in every food group!

Corn corn corn corn
Corn corn corn corn
AND YET

The corn in the fields
Still sends down roots,
Still reaches for the sky

Corn still drinks up water,
Soaks in sunlight,
Ripples in the breeze.

Yes, even the corn is infused with spirit,
Alchemically transmuting the elements
Into life, to give us life.

Corn corn corn corn
Corn corn corn corn
Let us give thanks.
Corn corn corn corn
corn corn corn con

Amen.

May Day

And all the talk is about
politics, economy, and jobs,
the false idols of our era

How can anyone "create good jobs"?!
Your only job is to do what you are inspired to do,
the only good job is NO JOB AT ALL

Let us realize--we are entering
the POST-OCCUPATION era.
A little less politics, economy, and jobs,
a little more PAGAN REVELRY!

Wabi Sabi

The way is so plain, we don’t even see it

“Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that refers to a captivating work of art with a distinctive flaw that embodies the idiosyncratic humanity of its creator. An aqua groove in an otherwise perfectly green ceramic pot may give it wabi-sabi. A skilled blues singer who intentionally wails out of pitch for a moment may be expressing wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi is rooted in the idea that perfection is a kind of death.”

“The essence of Wabi-sabi is that true beauty, whether it comes from an object, architecture, or visual art, doesn’t reveal itself until the winds of time have had their say. Beauty is in the cracks, the worn spots, and the imperfect lines.” --Todd Dominey, quoted in Pronoia

“‘Wabi-sabi is a kind of beauty that’s imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete,’ says Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers. It differs from Western notions that beauty resides in the ‘monumental, spectacular, and enduring.’ It’s about ‘the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are almost invisible at first glance.’”

Isn’t postmodernism great? Wabi-sabi allows me to embrace that which I would ordinarily judge, condemn, and reject. My heart can open itself a teensy bit more to the blessings that are continually raining upon us.

Thoughts at the YMCA, downtown Springfield, Illinois

These are good people. They’re just folks.

They’re practically normal, and normally practical.

It’s difficult for me to relate to them—

When suddenly I see they are

Wabi-sabi

Perfectly ordinary

Ordinary and perfect:

Who can improve upon God’s work?

Appreciate it.

Thanks and praises!

O7 (*

Downtown in the desert of pavement,

Patches of melting snow reveal

Moss, vivid green,

Soaking up gloomy January daylight—

Right behind the Governor’s mansion

By Vachel’s house.

Indicator of a daoist grotto

Perfectly natural, naturally perfect

Parking lot or not,

No one can stop Creation

Thanks and praises!

From the Wake Up Call email I subscribed to at Dr. Laurie Helgoe's site.

Wake Up Call for your holidays:

Delete and Defer.

Here’s my wish for you: Write down everything you think you “have to” do right now. Ask why. Delete what doesn’t give you joy. Defer what can wait. And have a lighter, more peaceful holiday.

Blessings,

Laurie

Daydream Power!

I'm an unreformed daydreamer ...

Surprise! Daydreaming Really Works The Brain.

"Contrary to the notion that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting the mind wander can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active, a new study finds."

I wish I could send this to one teacher in particular, from 6th grade, I remember her saying "where are you now, India?!" Well, for a minute, I wasn't stuck in a room with her under fluorescent lights having to attend to something that didn't interest me and might have been developmentally inappropriate. And I MIGHT have been letting my mind work on real problems! Sure glad I unschool my kid (and myself) nowadays!

Here's to the imagination.

P.S.: this is just a quibble, perhaps, but looking over this post again I see the term "problem-solving" and I recall once seeing the phrase "to problem solve" and wondering what happened to the ability to just solve problems. I google "to problem solve" and there are a ton of hits (literally!). Language evolves despite the efforts of hypercorrect grammarians--perhaps that's an example of institutional counterproductivity. I remind myself that I'm a descriptivist, not a prescriptivist, though my stint as a proofreader in a legal office with The State impressed grammar deeply into my brain. Here's to universal relocaldiversification. Mutually intelligible dialects for all!