"I think that we suffer (not least I myself) from the disease of absolutes. Every answer has to be the right answer and, not only that, the final one. All problems have to be solved as of now. All uncertainties are intolerable. But what is life but uncertainties and a few plausible possibilities?.... Perhaps our problem here is that we prefer the security that can be gained by screwing everything down tight and keeping it that way, to the risk of letting people really discover themselves." Thomas Merton (at Justin Whitaker's site).
After a full year of the near-loss-of-everything, to the extent that I thought I had lost everything, I was shorn of my certainties not only in a lifetime's accumulation of loved objects, books, art, but of my belief systems, my sense of surity, of certainty. In some way I understand this too well...
"[W]hat is life but uncertainties and a few plausible possibilities? ...."
Brenda, I really appreciate this, this morning. I spent years trying to find either/or before realizing that it's much more like to be both/and but I have never been sure and perhaps (!) never will be. Watched a production last night of GB Shaw's Major Barbara, an interestingly crafted play... thinking about how, in my interpretation, he seems to be saying that good cannot exist without bad, but that this is not necessarily good... very circular or spiral or perhaps doubling-back-on-itself kind of thinking that seems very both/and to me, and riddled with uncertainties and plausible possibilities... on top of which the play floats its boat serenely. Would I could do the same. But we humans are creatures seemingly intent on seeking patterns and predictability, which are a form of beauty sometimes, and so we stumble and trip on the unexpected, skinning our knees and souls as we go down suddenly on one of our self-paved walks.
Hi there. Not sure if I can figure out how to work meditation into my incredibly shrunken personal time (not that I haven't still found lots of time-wasting things to do anyway). I just signed up for a sort of mindfulness and meditation class one night a week throughout October, taking advantage of my new commute putting me near Cambridge and the Camb. Ctr. for Adult Ed's many offerings. The focus is on learning to be present and accept things as they are. Well, doesn't that just bring me back to what I keep returning to anyway. All is muddled and confused in my emotional life, yet all points on the compass still point back to now.
Leslee, great to see you here. It will be interesting to hear anything you care to report about your "sort of mindfulness class" as it progresses. I'm teasing you, hope that's okay! Sin duda no estas una twit! Claro que no. All being muddled and confused with compass points pointing back to now sounds quite familiar.
MB, drats, I don't know Major Barbara, haven't read it, seen it or heard it. But what you describe sounds fascinating, so I'll put it on the alert list for mindfully watching for.
Soul-skinning is probably a good idea sometimes. :grins:
Ya know, I don't want to be absolutist about uncertainty either. So, she says, her voice peaking in the high octaves, I'm uncertain about uncertainty too!
Leslee, my understanding is that soy would be used with a noun. Twit, being a noun, would require it, regardless of how much I might protest its applicability to you.
9 Comments:
"I think that we suffer (not least I myself) from the disease of absolutes. Every answer has to be the right answer and, not only that, the final one. All problems have to be solved as of now. All uncertainties are intolerable. But what is life but uncertainties and a few plausible possibilities?.... Perhaps our problem here is that we prefer the security that can be gained by screwing everything down tight and keeping it that way, to the risk of letting people really discover themselves." Thomas Merton (at Justin Whitaker's site).
After a full year of the near-loss-of-everything, to the extent that I thought I had lost everything, I was shorn of my certainties not only in a lifetime's accumulation of loved objects, books, art, but of my belief systems, my sense of surity, of certainty. In some way I understand this too well...
"[W]hat is life but uncertainties and a few plausible possibilities? ...."
Brenda, I really appreciate this, this morning. I spent years trying to find either/or before realizing that it's much more like to be both/and but I have never been sure and perhaps (!) never will be. Watched a production last night of GB Shaw's Major Barbara, an interestingly crafted play... thinking about how, in my interpretation, he seems to be saying that good cannot exist without bad, but that this is not necessarily good... very circular or spiral or perhaps doubling-back-on-itself kind of thinking that seems very both/and to me, and riddled with uncertainties and plausible possibilities... on top of which the play floats its boat serenely. Would I could do the same. But we humans are creatures seemingly intent on seeking patterns and predictability, which are a form of beauty sometimes, and so we stumble and trip on the unexpected, skinning our knees and souls as we go down suddenly on one of our self-paved walks.
Hi there. Not sure if I can figure out how to work meditation into my incredibly shrunken personal time (not that I haven't still found lots of time-wasting things to do anyway). I just signed up for a sort of mindfulness and meditation class one night a week throughout October, taking advantage of my new commute putting me near Cambridge and the Camb. Ctr. for Adult Ed's many offerings. The focus is on learning to be present and accept things as they are. Well, doesn't that just bring me back to what I keep returning to anyway. All is muddled and confused in my emotional life, yet all points on the compass still point back to now.
*snort* Just realized the word verification I had on that last post was: twitseye. Yah, I am a twit. Sin duda.
Leslee, great to see you here. It will be interesting to hear anything you care to report about your "sort of mindfulness class" as it progresses. I'm teasing you, hope that's okay! Sin duda no estas una twit! Claro que no. All being muddled and confused with compass points pointing back to now sounds quite familiar.
Sorry... shoulda been "no eres una twit"...
MB, drats, I don't know Major Barbara, haven't read it, seen it or heard it. But what you describe sounds fascinating, so I'll put it on the alert list for mindfully watching for.
Soul-skinning is probably a good idea sometimes. :grins:
Ya know, I don't want to be absolutist about uncertainty either. So, she says, her voice peaking in the high octaves, I'm uncertain about uncertainty too!
Twits sin na kuda, Leslee and MB, you guys!
MB: estas o eres (estoy o soy) - guess it depends on whether it's a permanent or temporary condition, no? That's open to question!
I'll find the link to the class at some point. It's run by someone who works with Jon Kabat-Zinn, so I assume its based on his work.
Leslee, my understanding is that soy would be used with a noun. Twit, being a noun, would require it, regardless of how much I might protest its applicability to you.
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