a friend just posted this on her facebook...i love wendell berry.
"every day do something that won't compute." a beautiful and thoughtful poem to inspire the week ahead.
Wendell Berry - Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.
Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Monday, June 21, 2010
more current fixes
my current obsessions. past fixes listed here and here.
- music from glee: i can listen to songs from glee all day. literally, all day. it feeds my inner (and sometimes not-so-inner) diva. if i had more talent and guts, i would have loved to sing and dance on broadway. but dancing in my living room and belting along to glee will suffice.
- frederick buechner's listening to your life: reading his daily meditations provides enough food for thought to chew on all day.
- the tv show community: funny, funny, funny! a modern-day breakfast club (which they poke fun at in the pilot episode) with an ensemble of quirky characters who hilariously and poignantly learn and grapple with what it means to truly be a community of friends, even family. chevy chase stars in the cast - much, much older but still as funny as ever.
- olives from marks and spencer: oh my goodness. OH MY GOODNESS.
- headbands: still into headbands. slowly transitioning from wide bands to skinny bands, though, adorned with the occasional flower or ribbon. i know--i'm turning girly.
- my pilates personal trainer: i recently started with a pilates personal trainer and we meet twice a week. i LOVE her - not in a weird, inappropriate way, but in an oh-my-gosh-i-can't-believe-how-much-she-kicks-my-butt way. after our first session, i could barely make the walk home--muscles i didn't even realize existed were sore in ways i never thought possible.
- jimmy, my cat: he has feline asthma, he's rebellious and likes to bite, he scratched up my poor couch to shredded oblivion, he sheds ginger-colored hair over everything....but i LOVE my cat. especially when he sneaks in my room in the morning and licks my nose to wake me up.
cups of coffee: 1
mood: deeply, deeply thankful
- music from glee: i can listen to songs from glee all day. literally, all day. it feeds my inner (and sometimes not-so-inner) diva. if i had more talent and guts, i would have loved to sing and dance on broadway. but dancing in my living room and belting along to glee will suffice.
- frederick buechner's listening to your life: reading his daily meditations provides enough food for thought to chew on all day.
- the tv show community: funny, funny, funny! a modern-day breakfast club (which they poke fun at in the pilot episode) with an ensemble of quirky characters who hilariously and poignantly learn and grapple with what it means to truly be a community of friends, even family. chevy chase stars in the cast - much, much older but still as funny as ever.
- olives from marks and spencer: oh my goodness. OH MY GOODNESS.
- headbands: still into headbands. slowly transitioning from wide bands to skinny bands, though, adorned with the occasional flower or ribbon. i know--i'm turning girly.
- my pilates personal trainer: i recently started with a pilates personal trainer and we meet twice a week. i LOVE her - not in a weird, inappropriate way, but in an oh-my-gosh-i-can't-believe-how-much-she-kicks-my-butt way. after our first session, i could barely make the walk home--muscles i didn't even realize existed were sore in ways i never thought possible.
- jimmy, my cat: he has feline asthma, he's rebellious and likes to bite, he scratched up my poor couch to shredded oblivion, he sheds ginger-colored hair over everything....but i LOVE my cat. especially when he sneaks in my room in the morning and licks my nose to wake me up.
cups of coffee: 1
mood: deeply, deeply thankful
Monday, June 14, 2010
alice and destiny
finally watched tim burton's "alice in wonderland": WOW. besides being visually stunning and incredibly imaginative, the plot revolves around this interesting theme of destiny. in this version, according to an ancient scroll that foretells the future history of wonderland, alice is the champion who will slay the jabberwocky terrorizing the inhabitants of wonderland. alice doesn't believe she is the prophesied champion and struggles throughout the story with being "the wrong alice."
i think the storyline poses an interesting question: is destiny out of our control or do we have the free will to choose our paths? i struggle with this when pondering the will of God and my capacity for free will. if all my days are ordained, then where and how does my free will play in the midst of it?
without spoiling the ending, i found the film's approach surprisingly satisfying, holding both the forces of destiny and our freedom of choice in tandem. we see alice struggle with discovering who she is and the path to choose while simultaneously being shaped by the hand of fate. destiny is bigger than all our days and the decisions we make--and yet each thread, each moment of our lives seems to run with meaning and weave miraculously and effortlessly, without contradiction, in the fabric of the Greater Story.
cups of coffee: 1 + 2 cups of green tea
mood: relieved
i think the storyline poses an interesting question: is destiny out of our control or do we have the free will to choose our paths? i struggle with this when pondering the will of God and my capacity for free will. if all my days are ordained, then where and how does my free will play in the midst of it?
without spoiling the ending, i found the film's approach surprisingly satisfying, holding both the forces of destiny and our freedom of choice in tandem. we see alice struggle with discovering who she is and the path to choose while simultaneously being shaped by the hand of fate. destiny is bigger than all our days and the decisions we make--and yet each thread, each moment of our lives seems to run with meaning and weave miraculously and effortlessly, without contradiction, in the fabric of the Greater Story.
cups of coffee: 1 + 2 cups of green tea
mood: relieved
Sunday, June 13, 2010
mission accomplished
i did it. i completed 'the goethe project'....give or take a few days. for the most part, i blogged every day for the past 30 days, reflecting on beauty and meaning through some aspect of art, music or literature.
what did i learn from this practice?
1) beauty is everywhere. everywhere. this is nothing new but all too easily forgotten. as cheesy as it sounds, sometimes we really are too busy to stop and smell the roses. maybe we begin to find the roses annoying, or we just tell ourselves we hate roses anyway. and we barrel onwards, frantic and frazzled.
this past month was one of the craziest months i've ever experienced, in the sense that all things personal and professional culminated in one massive consuming storm of a schedule. how fitting that the goethe project forced me to stop and meditate each day--even for a few minutes, on things beautiful and life-giving.
2) insight comes with discipline and the rigor of intentionality. surface observation is easy: the grass is green, the water is cold, the cat is fat. but to connect the dots between the details, to analyze and slice through the obvious to reveal the core - that is quite challenging. i sometimes have the eyes to see but not the heart to feel. other times, i feel things strongly but totally miss the forest for the trees. i think practicing both capacities in tandem and learning to give things time (such a valuable trait!) builds insight.
3) both beauty and despair point to the world that ought to be. both feed the sour ache inside us, the longing to be where all this beauty comes from or where sorrow and despair have no place.
4) it's fun to be writing more consistently again, even it's just a blurb here and there.
i hope to be blogging more...even if not daily, then at least more frequently. more than that, i hope this practice began building a more consistent habit of appreciation and meditation particularly in the throes of busyness.
on another note, happily searching through amazon.com for books i want to purchase this summer when i'm home. here's what i have so far:
voluntary simplicity: toward a way of life that is outwardly simple, inwardly rich
a way of working: the spiritual dimension of craft
the $12 million stuffed shark: the curious economics of contemporary art
four seasons in five senses: things worth savoring (i am especially excited about this book - reminds me of writing assignments in college where we had to write descriptively about mundane activities such as making a peanut butter sandwich, eating a peach, etc.)
hmmmm. apparently all the books i want to get are non-fiction and possess super-long titles.
cups of coffee: 1 1/2
mood: fidgety
what did i learn from this practice?
1) beauty is everywhere. everywhere. this is nothing new but all too easily forgotten. as cheesy as it sounds, sometimes we really are too busy to stop and smell the roses. maybe we begin to find the roses annoying, or we just tell ourselves we hate roses anyway. and we barrel onwards, frantic and frazzled.
this past month was one of the craziest months i've ever experienced, in the sense that all things personal and professional culminated in one massive consuming storm of a schedule. how fitting that the goethe project forced me to stop and meditate each day--even for a few minutes, on things beautiful and life-giving.
2) insight comes with discipline and the rigor of intentionality. surface observation is easy: the grass is green, the water is cold, the cat is fat. but to connect the dots between the details, to analyze and slice through the obvious to reveal the core - that is quite challenging. i sometimes have the eyes to see but not the heart to feel. other times, i feel things strongly but totally miss the forest for the trees. i think practicing both capacities in tandem and learning to give things time (such a valuable trait!) builds insight.
3) both beauty and despair point to the world that ought to be. both feed the sour ache inside us, the longing to be where all this beauty comes from or where sorrow and despair have no place.
4) it's fun to be writing more consistently again, even it's just a blurb here and there.
i hope to be blogging more...even if not daily, then at least more frequently. more than that, i hope this practice began building a more consistent habit of appreciation and meditation particularly in the throes of busyness.
on another note, happily searching through amazon.com for books i want to purchase this summer when i'm home. here's what i have so far:
voluntary simplicity: toward a way of life that is outwardly simple, inwardly rich
a way of working: the spiritual dimension of craft
the $12 million stuffed shark: the curious economics of contemporary art
four seasons in five senses: things worth savoring (i am especially excited about this book - reminds me of writing assignments in college where we had to write descriptively about mundane activities such as making a peanut butter sandwich, eating a peach, etc.)
hmmmm. apparently all the books i want to get are non-fiction and possess super-long titles.
cups of coffee: 1 1/2
mood: fidgety
Saturday, June 12, 2010
simplicity and work
"Simplicity (as greater directness, clarity, and unpretentiousness) can transform our approach to work in a variety of ways. . . . First, our relationship with our work is enormously simplified when our livelihood makes a genuine contribution both to ourselves and to the human family. It is through our work that we find opportunity to develop our skills, relate with others in shared tasks, and contribute to the larger society. If our work is directly contributory, it can be a source of great satisfaction and great learning. It was Thomas Aquinas, I think, who said: 'There can be no joy of life without joy of work.' Our relationship with our work is enormously simplified when we move from an intention of 'making a killing for myself' to that of 'earning a living in a way that contributes to the well-being of all.' . . . . Without the clarifying frame of reference provided by sensing the contribution of our work to the well-being of the world, it is immensely more difficult to find satisfaction and fulfillment in our work."
-- Duane Elgin, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
"There can be no joy of life without joy of work." hmmmmm.......
cups of coffee: 2 1/2
mood: sleeeeeeepy
-- Duane Elgin, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
"There can be no joy of life without joy of work." hmmmmm.......
cups of coffee: 2 1/2
mood: sleeeeeeepy
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
the big shaggy
NYT ran this eloquent and insightful piece by david brooks yesterday, arguing the necessity of studying the humanities even when economic downturns appeal to our pragmatism to pursue more lucrative fields.
besides arguing the importance of reading and writing skills obtained through humanities studies, brooks touches upon the true heart of why the humanities matter: they tell us of the human experience and enable us to engage with life beyond the superficial. it's not just about constructing systems that better our lives; it's about understanding the very framework of our human nature, delving into our fallacies and splendors. we read shakespeare to laugh at our foibles and ponder our mortality (and fall in love with the english language); plato teaches us rhetoric and challenges us to question what is just and true.
what i found most insightful in the article was when brooks talks about "the big shaggy." here's how he describes it:
Over the past century or so, people have built various systems to help them understand human behavior: economics, political science, game theory and evolutionary psychology. These systems are useful in many circumstances. But none completely explain behavior because deep down people have passions and drives that don’t lend themselves to systemic modeling. They have yearnings and fears that reside in an inner beast you could call The Big Shaggy.
You can see The Big Shaggy at work when a governor of South Carolina suddenly chucks it all for a love voyage south of the equator, or when a smart, philosophical congressman from Indiana risks everything for an in-office affair.
You can see The Big Shaggy at work when self-destructive overconfidence overtakes oil engineers in the gulf, when go-go enthusiasm intoxicates investment bankers or when bone-chilling distrust grips politics.
Those are the destructive sides of The Big Shaggy. But this tender beast is also responsible for the mysterious but fierce determination that drives Kobe Bryant, the graceful bemusement the Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga showed when his perfect game slipped away, the selfless courage soldiers in Afghanistan show when they risk death for buddies or a family they may never see again.
brooks goes on to argue that the observant individual will take the time to really dig into the big shaggy, to recognize the faceless yearning and learn from the realizations and efforts of the men and women who have gone before us in the tides of history. it is about learning who we are as humans so we may be more fully human and live in this world with all its proper tensions.
as someone who graduated with dual degrees in english literature and journalism, i'm a humanities-buff, no question. i think studying the humanities gave me the tools and resources with which to examine the big shaggy, but i don't think a college major is necessarily a prerequisite. perhaps it's more in cultivating an environment that values reading, writing and introspection. i know plenty of accountants and engineers who are very reflective, who enjoy reading keats and listening to bach in their spare time. it's not mutually exclusive.
we do, however, live in a society that is increasingly obsessed with information. the 24-hour news cycle, social media, onslaught of blogs (ironic, even as i blog).....we have become information gluttons. but what good is knowledge without wisdom?
cups of coffee: 1 1/2
mood: thankful
besides arguing the importance of reading and writing skills obtained through humanities studies, brooks touches upon the true heart of why the humanities matter: they tell us of the human experience and enable us to engage with life beyond the superficial. it's not just about constructing systems that better our lives; it's about understanding the very framework of our human nature, delving into our fallacies and splendors. we read shakespeare to laugh at our foibles and ponder our mortality (and fall in love with the english language); plato teaches us rhetoric and challenges us to question what is just and true.
what i found most insightful in the article was when brooks talks about "the big shaggy." here's how he describes it:
Over the past century or so, people have built various systems to help them understand human behavior: economics, political science, game theory and evolutionary psychology. These systems are useful in many circumstances. But none completely explain behavior because deep down people have passions and drives that don’t lend themselves to systemic modeling. They have yearnings and fears that reside in an inner beast you could call The Big Shaggy.
You can see The Big Shaggy at work when a governor of South Carolina suddenly chucks it all for a love voyage south of the equator, or when a smart, philosophical congressman from Indiana risks everything for an in-office affair.
You can see The Big Shaggy at work when self-destructive overconfidence overtakes oil engineers in the gulf, when go-go enthusiasm intoxicates investment bankers or when bone-chilling distrust grips politics.
Those are the destructive sides of The Big Shaggy. But this tender beast is also responsible for the mysterious but fierce determination that drives Kobe Bryant, the graceful bemusement the Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga showed when his perfect game slipped away, the selfless courage soldiers in Afghanistan show when they risk death for buddies or a family they may never see again.
brooks goes on to argue that the observant individual will take the time to really dig into the big shaggy, to recognize the faceless yearning and learn from the realizations and efforts of the men and women who have gone before us in the tides of history. it is about learning who we are as humans so we may be more fully human and live in this world with all its proper tensions.
as someone who graduated with dual degrees in english literature and journalism, i'm a humanities-buff, no question. i think studying the humanities gave me the tools and resources with which to examine the big shaggy, but i don't think a college major is necessarily a prerequisite. perhaps it's more in cultivating an environment that values reading, writing and introspection. i know plenty of accountants and engineers who are very reflective, who enjoy reading keats and listening to bach in their spare time. it's not mutually exclusive.
we do, however, live in a society that is increasingly obsessed with information. the 24-hour news cycle, social media, onslaught of blogs (ironic, even as i blog).....we have become information gluttons. but what good is knowledge without wisdom?
cups of coffee: 1 1/2
mood: thankful
all my sour-sweet days
Bitter-Sweet
Ah, my dear angry Lord,
Since thou dost love, yet strike;
Cast down, yet help afford;
Sure I will do the like.
I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve;
And all my sour-sweet days
I will lament and love.
- George Herbert
cups of coffee: 2 + 2 cups of green tea
mood: all sorts of full
Ah, my dear angry Lord,
Since thou dost love, yet strike;
Cast down, yet help afford;
Sure I will do the like.
I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve;
And all my sour-sweet days
I will lament and love.
- George Herbert
cups of coffee: 2 + 2 cups of green tea
mood: all sorts of full
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