What I want, I need; What I need, I want.
Only 2 hours deep, yet I’m hungry for more.
No appropriate path to pick, but pile catalyst atop catalyst-
Impulse upon Compulsion and onto Addiction.
My juxtaposition is fleeting-
the pros outweigh every con.
Prick each finger with a thorn just to watch them bleed;
Collect the dust of Chance, and scatter it like seeds.
Crawl amidst the anger, the deceit and the fear.
Then push it deep into the Earth.
I watch as it grows- taller, fuller better than before.
The shift might be slight, but it’s tough to ignore.
You say I may have peaked; I can’t be so sure.
Without tomorrow…
latent symptoms remain undercover;
And NO! I don’t think it’s a joke,
nor am I trying to be clever.
Dependence comes cloaked heavily,
shrouded with shadow.
But He dances with me- side-by-side.
Imaginary foe or not- with me, He’s rarely snide.
Rather I’m soothed by his antics, however odd or inane.
Crazy for the Hysteria, madder than I’ve even been-
I’ll give you up someday; I just can’t think of when.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Move me, Please.
Dewitt Jones, an avid photographer, writer and photojournalist, is a true inspiration. When I read the article below, my life shifted a bit- I was altered, never to be the same. Powerful and heartfelt, his words moved me to aspire to greatness- even when its path is secluded and treacherous. I can only hope my words bring to someone, what he has brought to me-
And the Meadow Said...
by Dewitt Jones
Every four years, our country descends into the craziness of a presidential campaign. Perhaps I’m just getting old and cynical, but it seems that each time another one rolls around, we as a people disintegrate further into the politics of polarization and anger.
Enough! I’m heading to the mountains! There’s nothing like the clarity of a high Sierra meadow to put the world back in perspective....
I put my cameras down for a moment and just look. The crystalline air brings a sharpness to each ridge and pine needle that literally makes my eyes ache. The sweet purity of the air overwhelms my olfactories. I revel in the contrast between the strength and massiveness of the rock and the delicate sweetness of the meadow wildflowers. It’s astoundingly lovely. I find myself murmuring an ancient Navajo poem:
“Beauty is before me, beauty is behind me, beauty is below me, beauty is above me. I walk in beauty.”
What is this resonance that makes me feel/see something as beautiful? I don’t know, but I can’t turn my head here in this meadow without feeling it.
I sit some more, hardly thinking, just looking, just...feeling...till from somewhere very deep, in the words of Shakespeare, I begin to find “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
Through the meadow nature is speaking, as it has spoken to countless others who have come to learn its lessons.
“Abiding orderliness,” he writes,
“Unfathomable complexity;
Endless time and space;
Astronomical extravagance and magnitude;
Mysterious light and matter;
Awesome power;
Endless variety;
Abundant joy;
Overwhelming beauty.”
Is this hyperbole? No. The more I listen, the more the meadow, in a soft, insistent, joyous voice, tells me the same things. And even though I’m here alone, I feel, at a deep level, perfectly safe, part of cycles that had gone on since the dawn of time.
Albert Einstein was once asked to name the most important question science could study. His reply? “Is the Universe friendly?” He said it was the basic question for both science and humanity. So much rides on how we answer it.
Consider:
The Universe is unfriendly—it must be confronted, outwitted, controlled. Nature is a hostile environment, separate from human beings. Therefore, it’s ours to use and, if necessary, exploit. The purpose of human society is to provide orderliness, protection and predictability for its members. To do this requires structure, property rights, laws, enforcement agencies and a central hierarchy of authority.
The Universe is friendly—it’s there to be accepted, experienced and celebrated. Nature is an evolving ecosystem of which we’re a part. Therefore, by enhancing nature we enhance ourselves. The purpose of human society is to increase the service of its members to other human beings and to themselves. To do this requires an environment that supports and encourages self-responsibility.
What I’m seeing in this meadow is decidedly friendly. It isn’t a battlefield, it all works together. I don’t see “the law of the jungle” (though I was raised with this idea since I was a child). No, I see, not competition, but incredible cooperation. Perhaps not conscious cooperation, but cooperation nonetheless.
There’s no “empire building” going on here in the meadow, at least from my point of view. The largest pine tree doesn’t seem to harbor desires to rule the lesser trees around it. The reeds in the lake don’t seem to be massing to launch attacks on the meadow grasses. I was raised with the view that a meadow like this was a deadly struggle, but that’s not what nature seemed to be saying. I guess you could look at it that way, but where does that lead except to fear and a resulting need for power?
I look out at the cycles of life and death, decay and growth. I don’t see “eat or be eaten;” I see “eat and be eaten.” And it’s all as it should be; all part of the balance. I once gave a talk to a research division of Hewlett-Packard. They had been working on their vision statement. For years it had been, “To be the best research division in the world!” After much deliberation, they decided to change only one word. It would now be: “To be the best research division FOR the world!” That one change, changed everything.
This was exactly what I was seeing in the meadow. Each tree, leaf, bird and flower not trying to be the best in the meadow, but rather the best FOR the meadow. It was this that gave the meadow its peace and its abiding beauty—and put me back in perspective.
By the time you read this column, our presidential election will be history and we’ll have new leadership in the White House. Whoever that is, I would hope that they, too, might understand the lesson of the meadow and strive to make our nation not the best in the world, but the best FOR the world.
And the Meadow Said...
by Dewitt Jones
Every four years, our country descends into the craziness of a presidential campaign. Perhaps I’m just getting old and cynical, but it seems that each time another one rolls around, we as a people disintegrate further into the politics of polarization and anger.
Enough! I’m heading to the mountains! There’s nothing like the clarity of a high Sierra meadow to put the world back in perspective....
I put my cameras down for a moment and just look. The crystalline air brings a sharpness to each ridge and pine needle that literally makes my eyes ache. The sweet purity of the air overwhelms my olfactories. I revel in the contrast between the strength and massiveness of the rock and the delicate sweetness of the meadow wildflowers. It’s astoundingly lovely. I find myself murmuring an ancient Navajo poem:
“Beauty is before me, beauty is behind me, beauty is below me, beauty is above me. I walk in beauty.”
What is this resonance that makes me feel/see something as beautiful? I don’t know, but I can’t turn my head here in this meadow without feeling it.
I sit some more, hardly thinking, just looking, just...feeling...till from somewhere very deep, in the words of Shakespeare, I begin to find “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
Through the meadow nature is speaking, as it has spoken to countless others who have come to learn its lessons.
“Abiding orderliness,” he writes,
“Unfathomable complexity;
Endless time and space;
Astronomical extravagance and magnitude;
Mysterious light and matter;
Awesome power;
Endless variety;
Abundant joy;
Overwhelming beauty.”
Is this hyperbole? No. The more I listen, the more the meadow, in a soft, insistent, joyous voice, tells me the same things. And even though I’m here alone, I feel, at a deep level, perfectly safe, part of cycles that had gone on since the dawn of time.
Albert Einstein was once asked to name the most important question science could study. His reply? “Is the Universe friendly?” He said it was the basic question for both science and humanity. So much rides on how we answer it.
Consider:
The Universe is unfriendly—it must be confronted, outwitted, controlled. Nature is a hostile environment, separate from human beings. Therefore, it’s ours to use and, if necessary, exploit. The purpose of human society is to provide orderliness, protection and predictability for its members. To do this requires structure, property rights, laws, enforcement agencies and a central hierarchy of authority.
The Universe is friendly—it’s there to be accepted, experienced and celebrated. Nature is an evolving ecosystem of which we’re a part. Therefore, by enhancing nature we enhance ourselves. The purpose of human society is to increase the service of its members to other human beings and to themselves. To do this requires an environment that supports and encourages self-responsibility.
What I’m seeing in this meadow is decidedly friendly. It isn’t a battlefield, it all works together. I don’t see “the law of the jungle” (though I was raised with this idea since I was a child). No, I see, not competition, but incredible cooperation. Perhaps not conscious cooperation, but cooperation nonetheless.
There’s no “empire building” going on here in the meadow, at least from my point of view. The largest pine tree doesn’t seem to harbor desires to rule the lesser trees around it. The reeds in the lake don’t seem to be massing to launch attacks on the meadow grasses. I was raised with the view that a meadow like this was a deadly struggle, but that’s not what nature seemed to be saying. I guess you could look at it that way, but where does that lead except to fear and a resulting need for power?
I look out at the cycles of life and death, decay and growth. I don’t see “eat or be eaten;” I see “eat and be eaten.” And it’s all as it should be; all part of the balance. I once gave a talk to a research division of Hewlett-Packard. They had been working on their vision statement. For years it had been, “To be the best research division in the world!” After much deliberation, they decided to change only one word. It would now be: “To be the best research division FOR the world!” That one change, changed everything.
This was exactly what I was seeing in the meadow. Each tree, leaf, bird and flower not trying to be the best in the meadow, but rather the best FOR the meadow. It was this that gave the meadow its peace and its abiding beauty—and put me back in perspective.
By the time you read this column, our presidential election will be history and we’ll have new leadership in the White House. Whoever that is, I would hope that they, too, might understand the lesson of the meadow and strive to make our nation not the best in the world, but the best FOR the world.
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