Author: itoccurstocp

“And yet…”

Two words and an ellipsis.

Much too often I put a . where those two words and three dots would be much more appropriate.

“We are all swimming in wonder.”  Kate Bowler

On hearing this recently in a podcast my mind immediately jumped to the famous This is Water commencement address from David Foster Wallace, and in particular the introductory joke he uses in his address to make his main point:

“There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”

It occurs to me that like the fish in the joke, I go through much of life without the recognition of the fact that I am “swimming in wonder.”

If you have not listened to Wallace’s commencement address, do yourself a favor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbAH5DAs1oU

The Merton quote seemed appropriate for this Thanksgiving weekend. And on the “new wonder” note, I pass along this from Kate Bowler heard on a recent podcast: “We are all swimming in wonder.”

I have no clue on how the photo showed up in my camera — another of those accidental photo that makes a good background.

Photo taken of the tower at Union Station in Portland, Oregon on a morning run. Thought provided by two recently observed random acts of kindness.

Photo taken last week on a run. You are looking at the Colorado River and downtown Austin. The curved building (occupied by Google) adds a lot to the ever-changing skyline.

Carver’s entire poem can be found at

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/154788/happiness-5faad60c4b697

]

Lost – David Wagoner

“…You are surely lost.

Stand still.

The forest knows where you are.

You must let it find you.”

Whole poem here: https://onbeing.org/poetry/lost/

Impermanence.

That word jumped out at me today, perhaps because I read it in this sentence in haiku mind by Patricia Donegan:

“If we could expand our vision and really understand the truth of impermanence we would be enlightened on the spot.”

From my on-line dictionary:

“Impermanence” – the state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time 

I don’t know about being “enlightened on the spot,” but I think if I truly understood “the truth of impermannennce” I’d for damn sure be a bit wiser.

I know I have used this poem before, but it is a favorite, and every onoce and a while I take a photo that draws me back to it — like this one taken a few weeks back in Galveston.

From Howard Thurman, Deep Is the Hunger, this prayer, O God, I Need Thee:

I Need Thy Sense of Time

Always I have an underlying anxiety about things.

Sometimes I am in a hurry to achieve my ends and am completely without patience. 

It is hard for me to realize that some growth is slow, that all processes are not swift. 

I cannot always discriminate between what takes time to develop and what can be rushed, because my sense of time is dulled.

I measure things in terms of happenings. O to understand the meaning of perspective that I may do all things with a profound sense of leisure – of time.

Photo taken a few weeks back in Galveston. In this case, the “apple” is the Astros World Series Championship. Your apple today?