It occurs to me…

Photo taken on a recent walk in Scottsdale, Arizona. Text is a wonderful prayer within Mary Oliver’s Six Recognitions of the Lord.

Reading today, Thich Nhat Hanh conveys this story, which seems to ring true in my life:

A person is speeding down the road on a galloping horse, apparently in a hurry to get somewhere important. A second person is walking down the road and yells out as the rider passes and speeds on: “Where are you going in such a hurry?” The second replies: “I don’t know. Ask the horse.”

“Ask the horse.” Life feels like that a lot, hurrying, working frantically to get to — well, I’m not quite sure where, or perhaps I have nominally identified a “where” but not really defined it well. Perhaps the destination is “success” or “enough,” or ….

The “horse” in the story, according to Thich Nhat Hanh, is named “habit energy,” after those mindless tendencies we follow without really thinking them through. But he also offers us the solution, the “reins” so to speak: “Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

Photo taken under Pleasure Pier (formerly, the Flagship Hotel) in Galveston.

C. S. Lewis deals so deftly with the issue of pride, well, deftly until it hits you like a sledge hammer. Today, Lewis from The Problem of Pain, on pride: “…it is the fall in every individual life, and in each day of each individual life, the basic sin behind all particular sins: at this very moment you and I are either committing it, or about to commit it, or repenting it.”

Though he and I have never met, I think he’s got that about right.

Photo taken on a run around the lake this weekend. The animal kingdom, at times, shows signs of wiser, if not higher, development.

Continuing my Mary Oliver-a-thon. A two-fer with the whole poem and a portion, photo taken in Galveston recently.

A couple of (the last two) stanzas from Mary Oliver’s Mysteries, Yes poem stuck with me this morning:

“Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

‘Look!’ and laugh in astonishment,

and bow their heads.”

The word that comes to mind here is “reverence,” which Webster defines as “profound adoring awed respect.” Reverence doesn’t allow us to think “we have all the answers.” Instead, it causes us to “look,” to “laugh in astonishment.” There is much to look at, much to be astonished by.

In looking at my folder of completed photo and text offerings, I realize that they are heavily skewed to Mary Oliver poetry, which makes sense as I am working my way through her collection of poems — Devotions. Here is one (another) of those. Photo taken in Portland some years back.

As has been/will be reflected in my posts for a while, I am working my way through Devotions, a compendium of Mary Oliver’s work over the years — most excellent! Today is a two-fer from her poem, Don’t Hesitate. it didn’t seem right o provide only a slice of this pie. Photo 1 is a Galveston sunrise taken a few months back. Photo 2 is one of the mystery photos that appear on my camera roll from time to time.