Tuesday, October 15, 2013

On the Positive Side of the Ledger


Regular readers of this mess will have to acknowledge that my view of life tends toward the dark side.  War, famine, idiocy, fanaticism, hypocrisy, climate change… you know, reality.  But every once in a while even I have to acknowledge the beauty that surrounds us in this vale of tears.  The other day, for instance, I was up quite early, as is my wont, and was treated to a most spectacular sunrise.  The sky was ablaze with brilliant oranges and yellows and reds, speckled with dark clouds, and there on the Eastern horizon was the blazing ball of the Sun peeking up over the hills across the harbor.  The dawn was still, as if the world was holding its breath to take in the glory of it.  And I stood there in the upstairs dining room of my house, gazing through the arched windows at all of this, seemingly staged as a private spectacle just for me, and I felt awe, and something like ecstasy at the wonder of it… and a little guilty because I so rarely, these days, get past all the crap to take this in.

Then I thought of the beautiful souls with whom I’ve come in contact over the decades comprised by my life, human and non-human, and the love I’ve felt and still feel for them, and I heard myself whisper a “Thank You” to the Universe for the privilege of having known them.  I thought of the warmth of the Sun on my skin, and I understood for a moment how ancient people, so much more in touch with the rhythms of Nature, had little choice but to decide that the Sun was a god.  I thought of the goodness of peaches and apples and berries and, of course, wine.  I remembered myself as a small child, back when my Mother and Father were all-powerful and all-good, my ear pressed against my Father’s hairy bare chest as he quietly rumbled out a lullaby.

I often calm crises at work by reminding the staff that in a hundred years none of whatever is causing the crisis will matter, and probably won’t even be remembered at all.  But it’s hard to practice what I preach.  I find myself cursing at the traffic and scrambling to meet “deadlines,” and getting worked up over the headlines in the Timeses (New York and L.A.).  But when I’m standing all alone in the early morning looking at a dawn like that, or on a hill looking out over the sea with a storm building up, or at kittens playing in the “Ponytails” in my front yard, my proper perspective returns, and I forget all about the petty follies that are perpetuated by our so-called “modern civilization.”

Thousands of years ago, shepherds used to lie around staring at the stars in the brilliant night sky around the Mediterranean, and they were able to pick out the images of gods and heroes, great beasts and timeless beauties.  Now, with all of our much-vaunted technology, we can see a lot more… but in some ways are able to see a lot less.  Ancient people knew that every rock and tree and spring had its own spirit, and they took pains to appreciate and propitiate those spirits, because they recognized that they were an integral part of Nature, just as we humans are.  Now, though, it seems that our LED’s and halogen headlights have blinded us to the presence of the spirits that abound in Nature, and that our i-Pods and rap music (and let’s not forget “Fox News”) have drowned out their voices, too.  So it’s only once in a while, such as when we’re all alone in the still of the dawn, that we’re even aware of the essence of the world.

The old saying is to the effect that one must take time to “stop and smell the roses.”  I recommend that you try that, and I personally think that early tomorrow morning would be the perfect time.

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