[sunbug]

Norland, I agree too that the Mesoamerican Religious Symbolism of “dawning” is a wonderful example of “inter-being.” Especially through the farming. If ones hands are in the soil planting seeds, it becomes a sacred ritual and there is an awareness of “inter connectivity” as you say. Love that. I have more thoughts perhaps for later, but wanted to share this passage from Thicht Nahn Hahn’s book “Peace is Every Step” since heard of his passing.

The chapter on “inter-being”

 

From Peace is Every Step
Thicht Nahn Hahn:

“Interbeing”

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say the cloud and the paper inter-are. “Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-“ with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be.
 If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. Without sunshine, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow without sunshine. And so we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine are inter-are. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. When we look this way, we see that without all these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.
  Looking even more deeply, we can see ourselves in this sheet of paper too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, it is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. We cannot point out one thing that is not here time, space, earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything co-exists within this sheet of paper…….

As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.”  -Thicht Nahn Hahn

[sunbug]

Norland, something “dawns” on me in that long quote you provided.

This was exactly the sense I had in the Parzival myth with the Grail king. Not going to stray too far.
Something was “dawning” on Parzival on his quest but the first time round he ignored it and “refused the call.” Then after given a 2nd chance, the “dawning” finally “came home,” to Parzival. And the rest was myth-history…the land was healed.

You point out in the long quote you gave, that this does not come by manipulation, push, pull or violence.
But instead, one is overwhelmed and moved by consciousness.
To me, this seems a return to Campbell’s emphasis of the experience of myth… something that lit a spark in so many readers.
Maybe it pulls one to the edge (or an abyss) The trick is to find one’s balance but sometimes one might fall first in order to learn balance (for the appreciators of Jean Erdman and of dance—-grin) or martial arts for those who appreciate that.

And then there is the  integration…

Even a sunset can be overwhelming…when one is fully aware of it…

I was reading Thicht Nahn Hahn and was fascinated by a word he had coined “inter being.”
It seemed like a metaphor for a connection of everything. He used a page of one of his books for example and said that everything was in it from sun to the rain…that helped the tree to grow… and the logger was in it and the wheat he ate…
And that both  he (Thicht Nahn Hahn) and the reader were in it, because of the words on the page being shared. 

It made me pause when I read it…

Even though things and people are far apart, there is still connection and it cannot be helped…it just is. That’s what it seemed to say to me.
And that’s why the “dawning” and “coming home,” and being “overwhelmed by consciousness,” are such wonderful thoughts!
In the Parzival grail myth, I always had the impression of “spontaneity,” the 2nd time around. And that is exactly what those words of “dawning and coming home” conjure in my mind.
I know that story isn’t the only example of that past or present and maybe not even the strongest example.   But there is something really beautiful about “spontaneous compassion.”

After I read your quote on “Being,” Thicht Hahn’s word “inter-being” came to mind.

Here is your quote below:

For Being means being with and for one another, not a being in the atomized individuality of a self-centered conscious

So I was curious what you thought of that coined term: “inter-being?”

In the midst of working out those conflicts and tensions, might “inter-being” provide an awareness of a different perspective? A perspective, which “brings home” an awareness of that connection and “Being” we all share? Something which might inspire us both spontaneously and compassionately?

And speaking of being “struck,” something else struck me. The creation myth of the Popul Vuh. The creation by “lightning,” instead of “light.”
And now we have that metaphor of being “struck by something.”
Well lightning definitely “comes home,” too. And maybe the sense of being struck could also relate to being overwhelmed by consciousness.
It’s almost like the lightning metaphor is the current for being awake to being.
  Went off track again but the Popul Vuh is very cool.

 

 

 

 

[sunbug]

On the point of misunderstanding what one sees where images and archetypes are concerned…

I love the idea of “the myth being the hero.” (As mentioned in this essay.)

Joseph Campbell was definitely a call of adventure to the mind and something deeper.

After I had read Campbell, the idea of myths or “hero” stories simply being about the good guy defeating the bad guy was a peculiar concept.
The word, myth now conjured much more than that.
Words, which came to mind were: Journey, experience, learning, transcendence, Awareness, Surprise, the Unexpected, shadow, trials, integration, healing, universal consciousness.

So it always baffles me when I read other interpretations today of myths that reduce the context to the good guy vs the bad guy.

For me I thought it was about The Journey and figures who represent the  potential within all of us.
The goal of the myths in my mind was never about someone becoming a hero.
It was about the journey to me. And we all face journeys every day.
To me the becoming a hero was a “side effect” of the journeys. People could do heroic deeds or find their courage but even small deeds can be heroic.
And maybe I wonder if the whole integration process of the myths was more about becoming fully human and universally aware than just waiting to be titled a “hero?”

Yes, I like the idea of myth as the hero very much.

 

[sunbug]

Perspectives and perceptions change over time. As one grows Will Rogers makes a fine point about seeing from another person’s moccasins.
“Hero” is no longer clearly defined.
I don’t want to risk too simple a cliche, but I remember reading a Joe Campbell passage where he said: one person’s demons were once another person’s gods…that’s a bit broad and relates to different subject in philosophy. Just noting how different perspectives change views.
I was thinking about the Harry Potter series…and how the protagonist fell into all those “hero” traps as well as moodiness…but what impressed me more was the “tragic anti-hero” Snape, the one hated through most of the series by the protagonist…and yet felt braver than them all…

Harry’s Dad was a “white hat” to Harry obviously because of his loss…(father quest?)  and James was championed by others: his bravery and skill. But James also  had a mean streak as a teenager and well not all was as it seemed.
Perhaps one trap of the hero is the blinding blinkers of “righteousness.” And judgment by “appearance?”

So there is much more nuance at play now with journeyers in heroic adventure/experience/struggle…more dimensions. And as said above dealing with that shadow side…facing it/struggling with that/finding balance in all facets/alchemically transforming or integrating the shadow side? or completely  choosing the “ring” or “falling to darkness/shadow?

Needed a redo/re-edit wound out on a tangent without leaving a cup empty for a question (hehheh.) I would be a very poor journeyer indeed if I attempted to tell the veil of mystery everything I thought was behind it! Alas! Needed a rewind. Or patient guide/s (haha!)

Without defining: sometimes to me it feels as though there are myths where the hero/es have to relate to a social order.

And other myths where something universal is at play and the hero/es have to deal with that.

Would that make any difference where a “hero” or journeyer is concerned?
Or anti-hero…or turned hero?

Or perhaps that is Maya/illusion and I’m forgetting that beyond pairs of opposites both social and universal are born from one place?

Regardless…I love the idea Brad said at the end of his essay:

Perhaps the anti-hero, having vanquished the conventional, classical hero, has done us the favor of forcing us to discover we don’t need heroes “out there” in the world. We need to find heroism within ourselves, we need to discover that we already are the heroes for which we’ve been hoping. That is the truly heroic turn: to attempt to consciously reach beyond the archetype in an effort to become unflinchingly empathetic, mercifully humane and entirely human human beings.

So To find our own courage is quite heroic in just being human and kind!

And maybe just maybe that’s where those beautiful innate compassionate qualities come back into play!

 

[sunbug]

Thank you for your lovely  response Stephen!

As for B&B it was an introduction to poetry…my Mother introduced me to Robert Frost (his poetry) so she was the first call to be fair…and Shakespeare

But the treasures I found in the subterranean world of Vincent were:

Not only more Frost and Shakespeare, but Dylan Thomas, William Wordsworth, Oscar Wilde, Tennyson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Renoir Marie Rilke.
So I went on my own quests into libraries and bookstores to “find” these wordsmiths and their poems. And in the process found more poets and poems. (Gerard Manly Hopkins for one.) In some way it was the sound of words and how they were woven together  that called me even more than the writers!

You are the 2nd person in two days, who has mentioned “Don’t look up.” So think I might watch that soon.

 

It is interesting how early on in some stories, the idea of hero definitely has that “this vs that” Good guy vs Bad Guy.
And it’s quite understandable how that can make an impression for everyone at very young ages. For sure!

What I loved and love about Joe Campbell’s perspective is how the “Story” is brought back into play. The journey-the lessons on the journey-the new views or perspectives.

As you have said, not all the journeyers who become heroes in others’ eyes later, even have that in mind when first called to adventure!
And those journeyers seemed to me to represent a potential within all of us…

If one looked deeper, one might see that deeds do not have to be Big to be great.

George Reeves?
That is heart breaking Stephen…very painful 😥 especially for a child to find out! That fragility of life…

Christopher Reeves was not invulnerable either 🙁

But he used what time he had to make a difference…

The way I see “heroes” and journeys and stories has continued to grow over time.

I’ve begun to see “hero/s” or journeyer/s as something which represent/s a universal point/or points of “awareness,” or even shift in consciousness…

Something which is a reflection of a potential within all…which may only be sleeping.

I know Brad’s essay left me with other thoughts and questions but am hoping others will jump into this discussion as well!

Thank you Stephen! 🙂

 

 

[sunbug]

Another interesting essay!

Will jump into childhood for a moment.
When it came to books and stories,I think it was the adventure/subject matter that drew me more.

And the experience of “becoming lost” in a very good story. As well as a love of words and language.

As for “heroes,” I was more influenced by living people in my life. My Mom and Dad and Grandmother, all educators. But also dreamers and artists each in his/her own way.
My Mother was my call to adventure in the natural world, the planet. The first time she showed me a leaf or pointed out constellations.

Or I think of the time she showed the stars to a 24 year old man with Leukemia 😢🥲

And I cannot build a fire without thinking of my Dad. Or read passages from Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and hear his voice reciting those poems.

He would try to save injured animals too (from frogs to woodpeckers—or try to take them to the vet-the frogs) Dad found the dazed woodpecker on the side of the interstate and brought it home. It stayed  on a stump. Then hours later it finally flew away.

Or the echo memory of Grandmother playing piano jauntily in the house.
Or her patience teaching me math.
Or her idea that dancing might be a fun thing to try and it became everything!

Or my tap Mentor Beale Fletcher (former vaudevillian) what a call to adventure!

But there was someone not in my family or a book who had a huge influence on me as a tiny child: John Denver…

It is probably as close as I ever came to looking towards a “hero,” except that word came much later in life through Joe Campbell!
I think John Denver felt like a “friend” to me every time I heard his music.
When I was about 3 or 4 my parents took me to a John Denver concert…loved it.
Also know I’ve retained a strong love of the earth and of trees, animals…

And then at 11 for me there was another character “Vincent” Beauty and the Beast (but I had great appreciation for the actor Ron Perlman)

Love of words and poetry.

I think what Brad said near the end was right on—-about those simpler acts of kindness being heroic.

It seems like Gandalf says that (movie version hobbit) Saruman believes only acts of great power make a difference but Gandalf believes in the ordinary acts of everyday kindness done by everyday folk. (Sorry for poor transliteration)

Makes sense to me!

Yes Children can be very brave!

God knows some children experience ordeals at very early ages-it’s hard to even imagine some of that—war—-cancer—but if they pull through my God! And aren’t there stories about one sibling saving another siblings life or a friend’s life or trying to rescue animals?

It shows bravery and heroism can come in very small packages.
Maybe it’s the difference in “trying to be a hero” and simply doing something, which will be considered heroic by others. (Because one is compelled within to do good)
Again why Samwise Gamgee universally.
Have other Thoughts but will stop here tonight. Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

[sunbug]

 

With many apologies to “Jimmy the Joyous,” for this awkwardly rhymed and shaped “borrow!” And with all intended respect to “Wry Mouth.”

“Penning Around Like Waking Up Finn”

“Wry Mouth,” writ, wrote, rit to treescend wordsback time storied forthward mono-mythightily and Jestory-storily…

co-elective ( ladders not with Overstanding railing against the rung walls) in the wide world of bell leafs  jour-knees befall to all individuall-elates. the blissfull bite and kiss fallowed with the berried sea-ds of rapturity and a ware of the land ness, with its greet mask of tomes  which are watched by mr and mrs hE-ro, who face them 1000 times daily, and de-vine their in-fine-i-tude,

meter-folklorically, speak-easing.

but bewoof, beweave, be wary of mr con crete, who jest will never get it. or make syn critic the cretic. lady go dess wants her say. in the realm, ream, rhyme of play.

and so we uni-ver-sail-lee sail as one as the sy key-gulls cry in joyce over the wakes we have awoken in their deeper waters. we all have our parcivals to play.

and for my parcival (th) i am grailful!

 

 

[sunbug]

“Wry mouth” and “Foolhardy.”

But will only post one take of the first and ask apologies for inspiration in following post.

[sunbug]

Norland,

Thank you so much for sharing this!

Lovely! I am sure many here will enjoy seeing this “blueprint” (blue print only because it’s currently unpublished) of your work!
I certainly have!
More poetry for certain and color!
The idea and vision of Plumed serpents has always been fascinating.

Though originally, I only had knowledge of Quetzalcoatl.
And (he) seemed such a literally “color-full” character.
Or maybe having a beautiful little South American buddy, a bright green Quaker parrot named Jeremy (born stateside)

Also marked the bird part of the image in my mind. 🙂
Jeremy lived to be 24, a few months shy of his 25th birthday. (2018)
And he was the most adaptable little guy. It was amazing! Even in previous years, when he went traveling with me.
Cheerful too.  Felt like i could  learn a lot from that bird! He also had quite the vocabulary!

The primordial waters of the void leave this wonderful paradoxical mystery in the mind: how they simultaneously “exist,” yet are empty.
Have sound? (But are silent?)

Give birth but are Void?

And “where all is in suspense,”

somehow physics comes to mind too…

The top of the pendulum (potential energy-contained-waiting)

And then the kinetic realization or act of Creation/s, which follow. Watched over by colorful plumed beings.

with the “womb of sky,” it’s hard not to imagine a metaphor of a primordial “goddess,” or “sleeping goddess,” (since this story begins in the mysterious “realm of the void.” A realm, which appears to contain “the opposites within it?” (Simultaneously being and “not being.”) But maybe because the void represents a “potential,” of/for creation and potential “energy,” that it “stands alone,” or remains “beyond?” the characterization of the Creators (male and female?)

That the womb is a symbolic metaphor? In the same way “ideas” can have “birth?”
More akin to Athena born from the head?
But different by being a place of “potential energy,” which both is and is not?
And that place waits for The Creators and Formers to make the vision real.

It is funny because just occurred that potential energy is (both still and yet still contains energy) similar to the void.

Well thank you again!

 

 

[sunbug]

This is fascinating Norland!
I’ve only heard and read about the Popul Vuh in passing references and this is wonderful to learn more about it!

Thank you!

The aspect of lightning brings a shocking clarity to this Creation Myth(Popul Vuh.)

Okay could not resist. But it is highly intriguing, especially when one considers the other “let there be light…beginnings…”

Now some of those beginnings seem passive in comparison.

When I think of lightning, energy comes to mind. Intense energy.
And it is poetic too:

master lightning, (Caculha Huracan)

lightning splendor (love that one) chipi calcuhla

trace of lightning. (raxa caculha)

There is almost a Hiawatha rhythm in the translation.

The heart of heaven (huracan) evokes another image with the sound of that word: “hurricane.”
Of course thanks to your proper translation and knowledge of the Popul Vuh, the definition is made clear.
But it’s funny that the word evokes the sound of another kind of storm.
Storms and lightning seem to go together. Sometimes.

When you speak of the Void and the words of creation can feel how the “word/words” are emphasized.

Yet I have also wondered about creation tales, which invoke “song?”

The word of creation as “the song of creation?”

It is interesting in this passage you quote how the Void ripples and murmurs and hums, before the One, Two, Three are born and play their part in creation.

This is the account; here it is: Now it still ripples, now it still murmurs, ripples, it still sighs, still hums, and it is empty under the sky. (Tedlock)

But song or word, it is still vibration.

And lightning energy.

So the Mayan concept of Creation is multilayered more than might meet the eye in a casual glance.

Then this passage brings other thoughts:

Then while they meditated, it became clear to them that when dawn would break, man must appear. Then they planned the creation, and the growth of the trees and the thickets and the birth of life and the creation of man. Thus it was arranged in the darkness and in the night by the Heart of Heaven who is called Huracán.

 

Tepeu and Gucamatz seem to be meditating and it “becomes clear to them, when dawn breaks man must appear.” And then they start planning.
This kind of conjures an image of creating not just based on decisions, but insight. Meditation? Clarity? Then action. They (think or meditate) even before they plan and act. And then their plan sounds like a blue print.
And Huracan puts that blue print into action in the night. It shows there is an “inspiration,” to be found first and an awareness of that inspiration comes next (what it is-Creation and when Man must arrive: dawn)

Then they make plans as the vehicle for realization of that inspiration.

And as night arrives, so comes the Heart Of Heaven in three bolts of lightning to bring the vision to life?

Not sure, but isn’t there some modern metaphor about inspiration coming like a “bolt of lightning?”

Yes, the “light bulb” over the head drawing might be more common for “ideas.”

But then that might depend if one is an Edison or a Tesla fan!

All that aside, this was a very enjoyable and fascinating read!

Thank you!
 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunbug]

I think the Ulysses excerpt was provided by Robert. But Thank you Robert for that as well! I enjoyed it very much too!

So one other question?

Would “Hink Pinks” and their ilk be considered as “semi-riddles?”

Hinky Pinky: What does one call a philosophers “walk?”

“A Campbell Amble.”

(of course a talk might be a ramble, but in all due respect I love those “rambles.” This is just in good fun. As I have great respect for Joe Campbell.)

 

Hink Pink: What does one call an “Irish Novelist and Poet’s fancy car?

“A Joyce Royce”

 

Hinky Pinky: What does one call a puzzling violin?

“A Riddle Fiddle”

 

Hinkity Pinky: What does one call a peculiar “Hobbit?”

“A Baffling Halfling”

 

 

[sunbug]

Thank you for the link to the podcast Stephen! I thoroughly enjoyed that!
It was lovely to hear Joseph Campbell read that excerpt. And I’m still smiling!
Was laughing too!

 

Thank you!

[sunbug]

Appreciate your kind words James.
Tricksters are fun for sure! Isn’t there a cross over into “holy fool?” Seems like Joseph Campbell mentioned that once or perhaps I gleaned it from somewhere else.
“In Praise of Folly,” very interesting!
And I’m familiar with jester figures (have danced a few!)

As for Tolkien ah yes! Not all who wander are lost! And I have delved deeper into some of that background before: Lays of Beleriand and have slipped into a few pages of the Silmarillion, which fascinates me with its Song Creation Tale. Music and Myth interwoven.
Also fascinating is Tolkien’s claim in one article (wish I could remember) that he felt part of those stories were written through him. That’s psyche deep for sure! Tolkien insisted not allegory, but more of an “imagined,” history. So back to imagination again.
You ask about the desire to play James…sometimes I wonder if it is a searching for re-connection with something lost? Or a larger part of the human spirit? Maybe the difference between “play,” being a “trivial pursuit,” or a “joyous one.”
The latter, I feel might open more doors?

 

And there are many realms of “play.”John mentions “comic con,” and there are “Ren Faires,” too.

Since you mentioned Shakespeare: to play, a play, players on the stage?

Some of the perceptions on the theme of this month, also mention a balance and how riddles and word play keep one from taking themselves too seriously.
Of course if you are in a dangerous riddle game with high stakes, you might disagree!
Or maybe it’s that old epitaph of when you loose something, sometimes you find it when you stop looking for it!
Though I’m not sure that is a proper riddle at all! (heh heh.)
But maybe, some part in the mind and psyche knows play is necessary for clarity as much as concentration.

Concentration is fine as long as it does not generate stress. Or maybe play means making space for the mind to imagine, so it can return to “this world” refreshed and renewed.

Einstein: “imagination encompasses the whole world.”
It occurs, that some great discoveries in the world have happened  by concentration. Yet other great discoveries have happened  spontaneously! (Sometimes almost by accident! Or synchronicity!)

And thank God, those discoverers had open, willing and ready minds to process these new discoveries!

Maybe play is just a reminder to keep ourselves open to wonder with eyes to the Horizon as we all sail together on spaceship earth.

But if you want a “rabbit hole,” then there is John Lennon: “Nothing is Real.” 🎶

Because after all music can be “played” too!

[sunbug]

I am enjoying the themes of riddles and wordplay, these past two weeks!
What fun! I visited forward other words and now return to these words!

Riddles are something, which I remember as a young child.

When I was little, my Dad a high school math teacher and retired certified VW mechanic,  would present riddles to my Mother and me.

These were the infamous riddles from The Hobbit, between Bilbo and Gollum.

Both my parents had read the book. But the riddles somehow were always fresh.

Dad was fascinated by them.
And it was fun to guess.
In fact, I have taken to heart that both my parents had the perfect balance, at least to me of the practical (as educators) but also the wonder (and the imaginal.)

Dad promised if one of his high school math class did their work during the week and were well behaved on Friday, he would read the Hobbit to them. And so he did!
And those grown students with children of their own never forgot that!

I love your response quote, John about “bringing back the mystery.” At times it feels vital and necessary. It evokes that numinous place of wonder, that seems to be a hidden soul in so many myths!

There was another quote from your essay, which resonated in my mind. But alas will have to copy and paste…lest I loose this train of thought!

Sometimes, I think that sense of mystery is what balances out the intellect…along with intuition, gut instinct, inner nature and common sense or grounding.
I’m not sure the mythic journeys completely do away with the intellect, but rather that the intellect is integrated into something more than itself alone? (Collected Unconscious? Universal Consciousness?)

That overall awareness or that something, which is unafraid to point to mystery or say “I don’t know?”

Or as you and others have  said “what one thought they knew, they did not know.” Sort of that humble  effect of the journey or perhaps the riddle too on the traveler.
And of course I’m not surprised that Campbell would leave Finnegans wake open without a complete solving…!

That leaves a “point beyond itself,” awareness…

Even, if as you said the riddles of old had higher stakes…and even the riddles of Gollum’s cave…the stake of not being eaten!

And it’s funny too, because Bilbo presents an ‘unfair’ question as well…something Gollum at first cannot possibly know until: Dot dot dot

Bilbo manages to override the riddle game…sort of. The trickster element?

But he’s at his wits end.

And I had another tangent since you mention Star Wars (yes may the Force be with All!)

But Capt Kirk and the simulated game, which never can be won…

So yes Star Trek (switching gears.)
But Kirk in the new Star Trek (with nods to Wrath of Khan etc) again overrides a game (speaking of games and riddles) but this game was never intended to be solved because it was a test of human psyche set up by Spock.

But wow how Kirk becomes the trickster! (As well as infamous prime directive breaker.) So he overrides the game. Very curious to quote Spock. Though Spock was not pleased.

It is all fascinating!

Okay, so there is a trick with Bilbo’s egg riddle. Yes, that’s the answer an egg.

“A box without hinges or lid inside a golden treasure is hid.”

If approached with wonder and imagination, this is understood.

If approached with intellect alone, the “fallacies” or “details” become more important than the rest: 1. An egg is not a box…it’s round an oval to be precise.
2.not everyone likes eggs (but that’s subjective as far as “golden treasure.)

3. The yolk is really yellow or orange.

But alas! That becomes the realm of “concrete,” perception.

So the mystery of the riddle and the play of the game is set aside for the details.

A box in this case simply means “container,” or that “which is contained.” Besides, who is to say there are not round boxes or “egg boxes”?

The Russian dolls? And Chinese eggs within eggs?

So this is why it seems the intellect needs a little balance from the imagination before it becomes so sure of itself, it misses the experience and mystery entirely! Or even the resolution if there is one needed.

The wonder to me and the challenge of the riddle leaves another door open to the possible.

And maybe another re-connection with the transcendent.

Thanks John for this wonderful muse upon riddles or this riddling muse upon wonder!

 

 

 

 

[sunbug]

Ah yes illusions…pardon my slip back into “pepper land”: “Nothing is Real,” 

“It’s all in the mind y’know.”

But yes, yes, yea to wonder!

The door or window, which opens to the infinite. (Point beyond/transcend?)

Brings one back home, but with “different eyes.” Moon to Earth and all.

I think that is the message and memory my Mother left most with me in relation to study of the stars. (Wonder!)

She was an Astronomer and artist and some of her paintings reflect the wonder of the experience of beholding the stars.
For her even more important than the lectures was sharing the human experience of seeing those nebulas through a telescope or other objects with the naked eye.
As for Levity (love the Hegel pun!)

She told me stories of her call to adventure in the astronomical realm. And the professor who brought inspiration to it…and there were definitely stories of Levity and Laughter there! *chuckle* But perhaps it kept the wonder and clarity alive.

With the “puncture-ality of pain” “fretfullness” of “fear” and the “right-suchness” cer-taint-ty of rage.

Oh dear! That is off the page!!

And Oh! the gratuitous, gravitation of it through-all!

One longs for Levity indeed! A way around to wonder and the possible once more! Unfettered and unbound by the certitude of shadows.

A litany of laughter lightens the load, to walk the road.
Yet with compassion in tow…for must confess, the drum of Duress is difficult to impress, wounded by its sorrowed  heaviness and is approached best with gentleness.

But must agree that to Re-Joyce brings a wonder of healing levity! (And clarity)

Laughter takes the tenseness away.

Reminds of the mess, left in the wake of tension and stress.

So here is to the wonder of the infinite possible! And here is to Re-joyce!

Thank you Mark! 🙏

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Author]

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