The uncharted territories of our minds and hearts, yes! Your inner dialogue and exchange with your dog is splendid and deeply profound. I detect sadness but also a refusal to give up. To walk to the ends of the world and then continue to walk, protesting the illusion of our separateness.
Thanks for such an insightful comment as usual Kimberly, the dog is more than pleased with his mention ;) (apologies for the late reply, been out of the internet shadow).
Yep, you're (unsurprisingly) right Paul, they've been setting up camp in the interior landscapes for a while now. Not only fighting them on the beaches, now it's also on the inner reaches!
Exactly—Columns are on the march as we speak and have been for some time. It’s Manifest Destiny across all those wide interior spaces…even the horizon is no longer a safe place.
Truth. powerful words beautifully written and important in these times to go back, to see the roots to know direction we want to move forward. Hugs from Peru
I was thinking earlier that maybe the only point of pieces like this one is that they might get my name removed from The Great Blame List compiled in the future - Take his name off the list, it wasn't all his fault! Then you say tears were shed and I think, maybe there's another way to value these pieces too. Thanks Fotini.
Uffff! I am having a moment, upon reading your words, Jonathan! You are the second read I've had today where certain words and phrases that I have recently written have been written by others, and it's a little disarming, to say the least!
The only person we can change effectively is ourselves. But in sharing it, though, through your beautiful writing, you have the ability to affect others. You can't change them, mind you, but you can make them stop and think, perhaps get a glimpse of their folly.
You have chosen the correct path for you: the slower one. The one that ambles and circumnavigates, solely for the pleasure of it, to see what might happen in you. The more you continue down that path, the clearer and simpler life becomes, mostly because there are fewer distractions and that is an important piece, for otherwise, you wouldn't take notice at all. Keep your eyes and ears and heart open and keep sharing!!! XO
From the ashes build not another shrine atop the oldest buried beyond recall. Others have tried and then fled to the woods. Cut them down. Imagine if they had sat under a Bodhi tree. ,,
Ah yes, the Bodhi tree, the only safe wood from which to build ships. What would the world have been if only Bodhi tree ships had chanted their way around the world. Maybe you're right Richard. Maybe you're right :)
This piece is just so very good, thank you! You have such a gift with words, to be able to create such an emotional and intellectual response from your readers, myself very much included. In short (the chimney sweep is here, and I'm frantically trying to translate what he was saying about the stove whilst he cleans), this is superb and I have to share it widely. Thanks.
Thanks so much Alexander, I'm so glad you liked it and thanks for such a generous compliment to my efforts (I thought you might like this one, being that it touches on a few thoughts and ideas that I know we share in common). Hope the chimney sweep sorted it :)
It certainly did touch on thoughts and ideas we share in common! I really enjoyed it, thanks. And yes, the chimney is swept for another year—just have to wait for the log delivery in early November.
Tears are falling in my morning coffee, the knowing written into your words "heading straight for uncharted places where map makers once warned of barbarous dangers beyond the boundaries of their parochial vision. Here Be Monsters they scrawled, preaching to those who lived within the city walls, entombed in that place called civilisation." will distract my morning of other words in another language, well charted and well understood but enfolded so tightly in tradition by scholars and historians they no longer even look for uncharted maps, they have done 'sailing like knives, slicing through embryonic promise, silencing songs' there is no further discovery... its done. And, here there is no illusion - I am separated, I do not fear those Monsters, change will come...
Meanwhile I'd love to chat with your dog who seems infinitely more sensible than those that have mapped the way so far!
Thats a brilliant comment Susie, and so right to mention the tendency of education to build more fences than they tear down. I'd love a system that equipped students to ask questions and be critical, rather than fill them with answers and expect acquiescence (I know this is a stupidly simplistic and quite unfair generalisation, but maybe you know what I'm getting at).
It is simplistic, but simplistic is all they need until of an age to decide the route they wish to take. Most students would love a system that is more debatable, more channelled to the needs of this modern time, one that includes them rather then directs them...
Best I say no more because even with so many black marks against most education systems there are some which are learning. And I love my job!
I feel it too Jonathan, I feel it too. On bended knee, I reach for my dog. I am in the forest . Ranger, nose up, scents the air, I follow his lead. Do I smell smoke?
“Bored to the bone”. Yes, all the words upon words. It feels more sane to be talking with your furry guru than listening to all the opinions spouted everywhere. I’ve noticed that for me, I enjoy getting lost in my heart, so deeply that there are no words.
The uncharted territories of our minds and hearts, yes! Your inner dialogue and exchange with your dog is splendid and deeply profound. I detect sadness but also a refusal to give up. To walk to the ends of the world and then continue to walk, protesting the illusion of our separateness.
Thanks for such an insightful comment as usual Kimberly, the dog is more than pleased with his mention ;) (apologies for the late reply, been out of the internet shadow).
I fear the uncharted places within ourselves will become the next targets of colonization, Jonathan.
Yep, you're (unsurprisingly) right Paul, they've been setting up camp in the interior landscapes for a while now. Not only fighting them on the beaches, now it's also on the inner reaches!
Exactly—Columns are on the march as we speak and have been for some time. It’s Manifest Destiny across all those wide interior spaces…even the horizon is no longer a safe place.
Truth. powerful words beautifully written and important in these times to go back, to see the roots to know direction we want to move forward. Hugs from Peru
Hugs right back. And I couldn't agree more with you. Thanks Megan :)
Oh, you fool, you made me cry again with your words...
🖤
My pleasure ;)
I was thinking earlier that maybe the only point of pieces like this one is that they might get my name removed from The Great Blame List compiled in the future - Take his name off the list, it wasn't all his fault! Then you say tears were shed and I think, maybe there's another way to value these pieces too. Thanks Fotini.
And maybe through this pieces one can find a new way to look at the world…
...Maybe 🤞
Uffff! I am having a moment, upon reading your words, Jonathan! You are the second read I've had today where certain words and phrases that I have recently written have been written by others, and it's a little disarming, to say the least!
The only person we can change effectively is ourselves. But in sharing it, though, through your beautiful writing, you have the ability to affect others. You can't change them, mind you, but you can make them stop and think, perhaps get a glimpse of their folly.
You have chosen the correct path for you: the slower one. The one that ambles and circumnavigates, solely for the pleasure of it, to see what might happen in you. The more you continue down that path, the clearer and simpler life becomes, mostly because there are fewer distractions and that is an important piece, for otherwise, you wouldn't take notice at all. Keep your eyes and ears and heart open and keep sharing!!! XO
Thanks Danielle, I love the idea of people stopping to think! Isn't that a noble thing to do? We could all do with stopping and thinking. Thanks :)
Staggering and sublime. Exactly.
My warmest thanks Marilyn, a concise and precise comment ;)
From the ashes build not another shrine atop the oldest buried beyond recall. Others have tried and then fled to the woods. Cut them down. Imagine if they had sat under a Bodhi tree. ,,
Ah yes, the Bodhi tree, the only safe wood from which to build ships. What would the world have been if only Bodhi tree ships had chanted their way around the world. Maybe you're right Richard. Maybe you're right :)
Dogs make fools of us all. thanks for taking me along on the walk, Jonathan.
Lucky for the dog, I was a fool long before we met ;)
Cheers Wes :)
That’s so funny.
This piece is just so very good, thank you! You have such a gift with words, to be able to create such an emotional and intellectual response from your readers, myself very much included. In short (the chimney sweep is here, and I'm frantically trying to translate what he was saying about the stove whilst he cleans), this is superb and I have to share it widely. Thanks.
Thanks so much Alexander, I'm so glad you liked it and thanks for such a generous compliment to my efforts (I thought you might like this one, being that it touches on a few thoughts and ideas that I know we share in common). Hope the chimney sweep sorted it :)
It certainly did touch on thoughts and ideas we share in common! I really enjoyed it, thanks. And yes, the chimney is swept for another year—just have to wait for the log delivery in early November.
Tears are falling in my morning coffee, the knowing written into your words "heading straight for uncharted places where map makers once warned of barbarous dangers beyond the boundaries of their parochial vision. Here Be Monsters they scrawled, preaching to those who lived within the city walls, entombed in that place called civilisation." will distract my morning of other words in another language, well charted and well understood but enfolded so tightly in tradition by scholars and historians they no longer even look for uncharted maps, they have done 'sailing like knives, slicing through embryonic promise, silencing songs' there is no further discovery... its done. And, here there is no illusion - I am separated, I do not fear those Monsters, change will come...
Meanwhile I'd love to chat with your dog who seems infinitely more sensible than those that have mapped the way so far!
Thats a brilliant comment Susie, and so right to mention the tendency of education to build more fences than they tear down. I'd love a system that equipped students to ask questions and be critical, rather than fill them with answers and expect acquiescence (I know this is a stupidly simplistic and quite unfair generalisation, but maybe you know what I'm getting at).
It is simplistic, but simplistic is all they need until of an age to decide the route they wish to take. Most students would love a system that is more debatable, more channelled to the needs of this modern time, one that includes them rather then directs them...
Best I say no more because even with so many black marks against most education systems there are some which are learning. And I love my job!
(What Fotini said).
I feel it too Jonathan, I feel it too. On bended knee, I reach for my dog. I am in the forest . Ranger, nose up, scents the air, I follow his lead. Do I smell smoke?
Benny is the Yoda of dogs.
Love the The Crow symbolism...Yes, you smell smoke, we all do :)
🙏🏽
Btw; if you missed it, check the thread on The Plan, I had one more story to tell ( as usual).
Yes. I love seeing the journey I am also on reflected in your beautiful words.
Spiegel im spiegel, glad to see you here, there, here, there
I'm ready to follow this path to those wooden ships and set sail towards something better.
It's a pleasure to have you on the journey Troy. Anchors away :)
“Bored to the bone”. Yes, all the words upon words. It feels more sane to be talking with your furry guru than listening to all the opinions spouted everywhere. I’ve noticed that for me, I enjoy getting lost in my heart, so deeply that there are no words.
So deeply there are no words - beautiful 🙏🏽