on the path…that ever winding path
I read a quote from shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ today in one of my favorite books called “A Path with Heart”
Be cheerful, sir:
Our revel have ended:
These our actors,
As I foretold you were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rock behind:
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Jack Kornfield writes it like this.
All experience arises in the present, does its dance, and disappears. Experience comes into being only tentatively, for a little time in a certian form; then that form ends and a new form replaces it moment by moment.
My experience in this town is coming to an end. I’ve been here 8 years and 8 days.
The next few posts will be about relocating from the Southeast side of the country to the West.
2546.07 miles according to mapquest.
This past year I was presented an opportunity to go deeply within and wrestle with angels and demons.
I found it important to get to know the interplay of light and shadow in the context of divorce, career ambivalence, and the emotional addiction to self sabbotage.
And the big one, the difficult one, self acceptance.
As my old life “melted into thin air”, I found myself gravitating toward music again, and working with creative people as a career.
Next comes the pragmatic reality check.
At what cost?
At this age?
What if…?
Despite the job instability, lack of corporate benefits and long term security;
I am at the point of self acceptance to leap and have a different experience.
Not better or worse or good or bad.
Just different.
It’s hard for me not to judge it in some way because I definitely want my new experience to be better than going through a divorce; which hurt a lot.
The truth is that an experience is an experience, and exists whether I qualify it or not.
So my experience here in the Triangle fades into another to take place in Southern California. Still all experiences are met with the same thing with every person on both coasts.
A little sleep.
Stephen A. THomas
June 9th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
I disagree with the point of Shakespeare and Kornfield. Experience does not just arise, dance and disappear. A large part of each person is a product of their experiences. That is why psychologists debate endlessly whether a condition is the product of nature or nurture (experience).
Secondly, an experience is not like a spirit that melts into thin air because one still has to deal with the consequences of the experience. Also, a bad experience can end up having good consequences, and what we might think is a good experience can end up having bad consequences.
Regarding the “pragmatic realit check” mentioned in the post:
June 9th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
Regarding the “pragmatic reality check” mentioned in the post:
No wife
No house
No job
Sounds like it’s a great time for a 2546.07 mile road trip. In the words of one of the great american philosopers of the 20th century, Janis Joplin, “freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” It is good not to be possessed by one’s possessions.
Off topic, I saw a bumper sticker today that said “Drum machines don’t have any soul”
Larry
June 9th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
Dance your dance, sing your song, follow your bliss. - Joseph Campbell. I think he said that. I know he said the last part. It’s not an rare quote, but a great one.
He also said “I don’t need faith, I have experience.”
If you haven’t seen this, you must. http://www.cothrun.com/gallery/albums/Misc/windows_mix.swf
I don’t know nuttin about nuttin but I do know that I want to come and visit you wherever you are going. Have a glass of wine and a hot dog and catch up.
Where xactly is it you are heading? Being a lonesome traveller, if that is your intent, does have an appeal, but it’s good to have a friend too. Take a friend, make a friend, but don’t be alone too long is my advice. I’m sure there’s a song lyric about that that I don’t know or can’t think of.
Look forward to future blogs posts.
-rl
June 14th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
I agree totally about experience - without experience we’re just lumps of observant protoplasm.
And it’s the sum total of those experiences, not small collections of them, that really matters. We don’t know what that will be, and by the time we die we won’t care. Maybe that’s part of what God sorts out.
I was terrified when I came back to MS after my doom. I thought I’d end up in Vicksburg dealing blackjack and playing Russian Roulette. As it turns out, I did OK and got basically the life I had pre-divorce, albeit without the wife and child. Randy’s right, though; being alone too long is bad. I’m living that particular nightmare scenario still, after almost 5 years. Then again, you make friends easily; always have, as far as I’ve seen. Just tell Terry Bozzio Jeff says Hi.