Deep-Diving Rich Beyond Measure

“Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable. We cannot know at the outset how the relationship will affect us. Like a chemical mixture, if one of us is changed, both of us will be. Will we grow in self-actualization, or will it destroy us? The one thing we can be certain of is that if we let ourselves fully into the relationship for good or evil, we will not come out unaffected.” ~ Rollo May

“Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.” ~ Patricia A. McKillip

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It’s so easy to let a morning drift by. The lap cat doesn’t help; although I must say she is being quite tolerant of me typing over her at the moment. Fuzzy-eyed I am. But the coffee tastes good and the mind seems to be pretty clear, all things considered. I am well aware that I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks. I could blame it on the cat, of course. They take blame right in stride because they generally don’t give a fig. A large part of of not writing lately is that I have been reading the news in more depth. This stuff these days is rich beyond measure. And it takes time to do a little deep-diving in this wealth of historical activity. All explanations aside, I actually feel good today. Go figure, right? Yeh buddy. It’s a workday, but 6 hours rather than the accustomed eight. I’m down with that. Work has been fun lately, with changes galore happening all around me. Of course my personal transformation continues. I’m becoming annoyed with the remaining MRSA wound. It’s going on four months, but they told me that it takes a lot of time. There is no pain, as such. Occasional burning. A twinge here and there. And some day are simply copious itching. Yeh, it’s getting better. I just needed to whine a tad. This writing feels good! I should do it more often. Yup; maybe I just needed a break. Oh, BTW . . . look up Senator Corey Booker’s speech on behalf of Judge Jackson, in the Supreme Court hearings. CSPAN should have it. The dude was epic! Click here, k? I’d best meander on to work. Onward.

Peace out, y’all. Goof gloriously.

The Art of Naming

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“I wonder whether there will ever be enough tranquility under modern circumstances to allow our contemporary Wordsworth to recollect anything. I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness that characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.” ~ Saul Bellow

“Stories, no matter how simple, can be vehicles of truth; can be, in fact, icons. It’s no coincidence that Jesus taught almost entirely by telling stories, simple stories dealing with the stuff of life familiar to the Jews of his day. Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.” ~ Madeliene L’Engel

“Chaos is part of our home ground. Instead of looking for something higher or purer, work with it just as it is.” ~ Pema Chödrön

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A couple of days ago I had a fun little chat with the young provider at the dispensary, on my way home from work. At one point I told him that I had the weekend off from work and I needed to replenish my stash, for a guaranteed wake and bake. He smiled slyly and said, “I like your style”. Geez, kid was young enough to be my grandson. It was a sweet encounter in a business I had once never expected to see: a cannabis dispensary. I use mine for legit medical purposes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it. I have PTSD, and I told him so. He smiled and said, “Kind of makes for no worries”. Indeed.

Moving along now . . . I don’t know what today holds in store, but its grip is soft and considerate, willing to let loose at a moment’s notice. Rosie and I are going to do some laps, which has nothing to do with running. Au contraire, mon ami. Laps consist of me sitting down in front of some tasty morsel on Netflix. Once the cat is settled atop the lap covered with a bohemian lap throw the man becomes as still as possible, so as not to rouse anger in the beast. Cats are good at Zen. Best selling guru/ author Eckhart Tolle said the they are actually Zen masters. I don’t know that I would go that far, dude. I mean, really, dude? A cat can’t be bothered with such silly proclamations, nor needless nomenclature. Alas, I riff and ramble here. Best meander along into the day. Onward, me hearties.

Peace out, y’all. Goof gloriously.

The Silence of Snow Predominating

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“Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.” ~ Steven Wright

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“But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.” ~ Margaret Atwood

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“I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory.” ~ Julian Barnes

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Snow: not too light, not too heavy. Just right. Sunday: wake and bake, with the silence of snow predominating. Boy howdy it sure would be nice to have a Jamaican coffee right now! It’s the kind of day that reminds me of the immortal word from Tom Robbins: “Of course, the world situation is grim, as usual”. Sigh. I have to cop to a vibrating fear, deep and mysterious, and it comes from cogitation on the prospect of nuclear catastrophe, war, whatever. I shall simply have to stop cogitating for the day. That will likely happen when I go out and greet the snowy highway, when I endeavor to fetch me a coupla pints and a shot for the afternoon. That there is Luke Skywalker territory, my friend. I’ve been there many times. Call it Dreamtime, the Force, the Zone. It matters not what nomenclature floats your boat. Imaginal Reality is what I like to call it. And Quantum Surfing, of course. In the moment it is straight up 11 AM. There is a break in the snowfall and the radar suggests that the next peak snowfall will be just after straight up noon. Then another window comes. That’s when I will venture out for beer. I look forward to it, and after returning I can relax with HULU or Netflix – cat on the lap blanket on my lap. The silence of snow predominating. Of course. Onward.

Peace out, y’all. Goof gloriously.

A Puzzle of a Phrase

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“Fate is what you make of it … You can make the best of it, or you can let it make the best of you.” ~ Alice Hoffman

“I’ve often noticed that once coincidences start happening they go on happening in the most extraordinary way.” ~ Agatha Christie

“Psychological theories of illness are a powerful means of placing the blame on the ill. Patients who are instructed that they have, unwittingly, caused their disease are also being made to feel that they have deserved it.” ~ Susan Sontag

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Heat wave this morning. At least for me. 22º. Shirtsleeve weather. But I’d rather stay inside – for what it’s worth, right? Three workdays ahead. Reality. Whatever. I’ve really not much to write about, being overwhelmed, as I am, by the war, the plague, and whatever else is laying down shadows left and right, fore and aft. Good thing I was already depressed, because I would be anyway. Yeh, I like that, so I’ll just leave you with that little puzzle of a phrase. Sigh. Onward.

Peace out, y’all.Goof gloriously.