A Thought About Second Thoughts

We live in a paradoxical cosmos. Sometimes the contradictions are transparent, but on other occasions they lied buried in the mud of all that gets discarded in daily garbage mills. Yet garbage is just as life giving as sterile blood. What it produces can either be recycled or used to fertilize new growth.
A case in point, the recent rush to find self-realization through Oprah's Book Club or Big Gives, or a hybrid vehicle, or essential Omega 3 Oils, or solar panels, or political hope, or LA weight loss, or the Final Four, or Income tax rebates, or being an American Idol, or Meeting the Press, or America's Next Top Model, or Viva Viagra, or Making the Playoffs, or Rollover minutes, or Air Miles, or great tasting, less filling, Constitution loving, Star Spangled, truth-telling, yes I can dance consciousness.
But seriously folks, why do my landing gear retreat when the way to Nirvana is again on the New York Times best-seller list. Could it be *The Myth of the Eternal Return, like Godzilla or the Bride of Frankenstein waiting to take you away, and your money, and your mind?
How many versions of Cinderella are there?
How many parallels to a virgin birth?
How many roads must we walk down?
Before we realize the Existential Dilemma doesn't care what you are wearing.
Before we learn from our own experience that being in the now is something we
resist naturally until the paradox kicks in with assistance from our very own feet.

And in the end...
It's all Bueno;
I don't care how you get there, just go.

*M. Eliade

Comments

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...

The Quality of Optimism

I've returned to The Book of Qualities, by J Ruth Gentler once again to meet the needs of one of the senior students in my little Writing From Memory class I'm currently teaching in my local community center. This little volume personifies various concepts and personality traits. The particular student "in need" seems to be fixated on writing about her past relationships. Apparently, there were many. I'm OK with that. I only hope that she picks a few qualities that are as revealing about herself as those that might describe her Ex's. There is much to be learned by writing about a quality. The aforementioned book seems to have survived well over the years. I first encountered it and its author way back in the late 1970s. I took a journal writing workshop from her. Then, a few years later, her book came out and I introduced these writing exercises to my students. 11th grade Juniors seemed to do the best with it. ...

Non-Reader

"The man hasn't read a book in years." I keep hearing that about the current occupant of the White House. Maybe that's as it should be because recent studies say that claim goes for over half the population of this country. Scary but true. It's obvious that the President doesn't know the history of this country. Examples abound. Even for those who can forgive him for inventing the African country of Nambia (he referred to that the other day) the fact that he knows very little about American History doesn't seem sway his followers. Either they know nothing too or they simply don't care. Probably both. Yet, the notion of ignoring history and repeating mistakes looms large all the while. A former colleague of mine, who taught Language Arts for a lifetime used to have a large banner in her classroom. When kids came into this learning environment they saw a sign which read, "Unless We Read, We Live But One Tiny Life." I'd love to hea...

Daily Blues & Views

Search This Blog