New topic split from 'concise criticism of analytic idealism' thread.

[Lou Gold]

Good Morning and Aloha, Federica,

OK to keeping the story going.

Let's shift to the thrilling example of truly great storyteller. Watching Laurie Anderson is to see the Child at Play. Beyond the beyond and in the now.

[Lou Gold]

Ahola, Federica, on a new morning along the way.

In the spirit of staying closer to personal story, please forgive me for reaching back 30+ years when I received a new name.

Here is a personal myth that I wrote/received years ago. The context was that I had given my Ancient Forest slideshow lecture on Orcas Island at the top of Puget Sound in NW Washington. On my way to a small seaplane going to bring me to another island, I stopped at a craft shop where a frame drum with a NW Indian style wolf painted on it seemed to demand that I buy it. In the short 15 minute hop to the next island I held the drum in my lap. When I deplaned, this very personal story flooded into me.

Thank you, once again, for the ways in which our dialogues pull forth stories into my awareness.

[Federica]

Ahola, Federica, on a new morning along the way.

In the spirit of staying closer to personal story, please forgive me for reaching back 30+ years when I received a new name.

Here is a personal myth that I wrote/received years ago. The context was that I had given my Ancient Forest slideshow lecture on Orcas Island at the top of Puget Sound in NW Washington. On my way to a small seaplane going to bring me to another island, I stopped at a craft shop where a frame drum with a NW Indian style wolf painted on it seemed to demand that I buy it. In the short 15 minute hop to the next island I held the drum in my lap. When I deplaned, this very personal story flooded into me.

Thank you, once again, for the ways in which our dialogues pull forth stories into my awareness.

Hi Lou,
As I was reading your story (I have not watched the lecture yet) the question came: what is the question that should come? It must be my four-squaredness (sorry, this is the word I got) that makes me not get it, and don’t get me wrong, your story is lovely, I appreciated that you shared it as something dear to you, and I don’t have anything against your new theme in itself, but whereto? My intuition got overestimated here I am afraid!

[Lou Gold]

Ahola, Federica, on a new morning along the way.

In the spirit of staying closer to personal story, please forgive me for reaching back 30+ years when I received a new name.

Here is a personal myth that I wrote/received years ago. The context was that I had given my Ancient Forest slideshow lecture on Orcas Island at the top of Puget Sound in NW Washington. On my way to a small seaplane going to bring me to another island, I stopped at a craft shop where a frame drum with a NW Indian style wolf painted on it seemed to demand that I buy it. In the short 15 minute hop to the next island I held the drum in my lap. When I deplaned, this very personal story flooded into me.

Thank you, once again, for the ways in which our dialogues pull forth stories into my awareness.

Hi Lou,
As I was reading your story (I have not watched the lecture yet) the question came: what is the question that should come? It must be my four-squaredness (sorry, this is the word I got) that makes me not get it, and don’t get me wrong, your story is lovely, I appreciated that you shared it as something dear to you, and I don’t have anything against your new theme in itself, but whereto? My intuition got overestimated here I am afraid!

I guess your question will have to arise but without question I was indulging in and sharing my joy and appreciation for the way your presence here pulls forth stories. I dunno about the hows and whys. Just feeling grateful and doing some show-and-tell.

[Federica]

Ahola, Federica, on a new morning along the way.

In the spirit of staying closer to personal story, please forgive me for reaching back 30+ years when I received a new name.

Here is a personal myth that I wrote/received years ago. The context was that I had given my Ancient Forest slideshow lecture on Orcas Island at the top of Puget Sound in NW Washington. On my way to a small seaplane going to bring me to another island, I stopped at a craft shop where a frame drum with a NW Indian style wolf painted on it seemed to demand that I buy it. In the short 15 minute hop to the next island I held the drum in my lap. When I deplaned, this very personal story flooded into me.

Thank you, once again, for the ways in which our dialogues pull forth stories into my awareness.

Hi Lou,
As I was reading your story (I have not watched the lecture yet) the question came: what is the question that should come? It must be my four-squaredness (sorry, this is the word I got) that makes me not get it, and don’t get me wrong, your story is lovely, I appreciated that you shared it as something dear to you, and I don’t have anything against your new theme in itself, but whereto? My intuition got overestimated here I am afraid!

I guess your question will have to arise but without question I was indulging in and sharing my joy and appreciation for the way your presence here pulls forth stories. I dunno about the hows and whys. Just feeling grateful and doing some show-and-tell.

Thank you, Lou! It's not my presence specifically, it's that "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" as Cleric just wrote on the other thread. I share your feeling of gratitude : )

[Lou Gold]

Thank you, Lou! It's not my presence specifically, it's that "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" as Cleric just wrote on the other thread. I share your feeling of gratitude : )

I agree, Federica. Definitely an interdependent co-arising.

[Lou Gold]

Thank you, Lou! It's not my presence specifically, it's that "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" as Cleric just wrote on the other thread. I share your feeling of gratitude : )

I agree, Federica. Definitely an interdependent co-arising.

I read your recent exchange with Cleric. It gave me an appreciative glimpse of what you are exploring through the lens of this spiritual science.

[Lou Gold]

Thank you, Lou! It's not my presence specifically, it's that "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" as Cleric just wrote on the other thread. I share your feeling of gratitude : )

I agree, Federica. Definitely an interdependent co-arising.

I read your recent exchange with Cleric. It gave me an appreciative glimpse of what you are exploring through the lens of this spiritual science.

Reflecting deeper about Cleric's lovely phrase -- "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" -- I'm moved to share with you Wendell Berry's poem about mature love In the Country of Marriage, which portrays the forest as a central metaphor. Here are a few lines:

Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.

[Federica]

I agree, Federica. Definitely an interdependent co-arising.

I read your recent exchange with Cleric. It gave me an appreciative glimpse of what you are exploring through the lens of this spiritual science.

Reflecting deeper about Cleric's lovely phrase -- "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" -- I'm moved to share with you Wendell Berry's poem about mature love In the Country of Marriage, which portrays the forest as a central metaphor. Here are a few lines:

Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.

Yes the forest is a central metaphor, I love it too. It can symbolize our life theater and the challenge we are called to live up to - like in Ashvin’s post on the ‘I was reading this’ thread - or it can become a dreamy refuge, like in this poem. Obviously there is a place and a value for these feelings and their poetic expression, but I have to ask you this, Lou, and I am sorry. Is it really worth our nature to spend our days, talents and energies rolling our esthetic and narrative curls, playing around al libitum with contemplative pieces and communion material of the most various kinds, while there’s so much vital work waiting to be tackled for our own survival? And of course everyone is free to take romantic refuge in the enchanted forests of La-la-land and wait there for the End to take charge, but for myself, I respond to a different call.

[Lou Gold]

I read your recent exchange with Cleric. It gave me an appreciative glimpse of what you are exploring through the lens of this spiritual science.

Reflecting deeper about Cleric's lovely phrase -- "we're influencing each other in the most various ways" -- I'm moved to share with you Wendell Berry's poem about mature love In the Country of Marriage, which portrays the forest as a central metaphor. Here are a few lines:

Sometimes our life reminds me
of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing
and in that opening a house,
an orchard and garden,
comfortable shades, and flowers
red and yellow in the sun, a pattern
made in the light for the light to return to.
The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep on going in.

Yes the forest is a central metaphor, I love it too. It can symbolize our life theater and the challenge we are called to live up to - like in Ashvin’s post on the ‘I was reading this’ thread - or it can become a dreamy refuge, like in this poem. Obviously there is a place and a value for these feelings and their poetic expression, but I have to ask you this, Lou, and I am sorry. Is it really worth our nature to spend our days, talents and energies rolling our esthetic and narrative curls, playing around al libitum with contemplative pieces and communion material of the most various kinds, while there’s so much vital work waiting to be tackled for our own survival? And of course everyone is free to take romantic refuge in the enchanted forests of La-la-land and wait there for the End to take charge, but for myself, I respond to a different call.

Oh Federica, I totally agree about NOT retreating into a romantic refuge, which is precisely why Wendell Berry has been an exemplar of deep spiritual-and-practical work for many. In his long life he has managed to reject many of the trappings of modernity and remain incredibly engaged including never using a computer, farming ancestral land for years behind a horse-driven plow, raising with his wife Tanya three very involved -in-the-world children, advocating for regenerative agriculture, as well as engaging in social and environmental activism, while writing 52 books of fiction, poetry, and essays of political and cultural criticism for which he received the National Humanities Award. This is definitely not taking romantic refuge in the enchanted forests of La-la-land. Here's a recently published New Yorker magazine article, which I synchronously(?) read yesterday: "Wendell Berry's Advice for a Cataclysmic Age."

PS: The "Country of Marriage" poem is much longer than the excerpt I provided, which might have suggested a romantic theme out of context.