[ For 'Little Dancer Her Fourpennies' ]
Dear Learners,
Summary
"Unhappy is people that has run out of words to describe what is happening
to them."
Thurman Arnold
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Anon
-Il lavro nobilita l'uomo, e lo rende simile alle bestie-
Work gives man nobility, and turns him into an animal.
These three sentences may be worth some reflection today.
Is there any-one out there in cyberspace who can remind Andrew which Hesse
novel it was that told the story of a man who lived for the first part of
his life in luxury on one side of a river, to then pass over to the other
side and live like a 'trappist' denuded of all but his true self and
service to others and to end in his third st/age (do/tage;-) as the
'ferryman' carrying others over the 'troubled river' between the two. Many
thanks in kind anticipation.
We talk of 'dung' and 'leadership'. This is good for an age of a Sengian
growth paradigm.
I am reminded of Jonathan Swift author of Gulliver's Travels, who for
reason;-) no-one quite understood then took very great interest in the
'droppings' of his fellow humans. He noted for example that the peasants
eating primarily a diet of vegetables, wheat and corn passed lovely, large
and swollen 'particulars' and seemed little troubled by illnesses of the
'guts' (unknown then as cancers) whereas the 'upper class' diet was
consistently of a much smaller volume intake of cereal consisting rather
of higher protein and fat saturated foodstuffs which promoted mightily
many digestive ailments and they found elementary fruitful passing of
droppings commonly uncomfortable.
My life-partner has for a while been promoting a variety of health
products that are beneficial to good health. I have been very skeptical as
to the science of these products. Though I take a few of them myself by
way of expressing doubt in my own ability to make sound judgement and
thereby tacit support. She loves me, so she must be right! Sales have not
been fast in climbing the ladder of inference. Until that is now..ŠAnd
what is the difference that makes the difference..Šthe same supplements I
take were used in the training diet of the winning Oxford Boat crew this
year. Hooray Oxford! Thankyou for the marketing gift! And of course all
those who thought my 'dearest' quite loopy now have to commence eating
something called, yep, HUMBLE PIE. Me too!
We have what we have, no more and no less.
I wonder if we can really think that they we can frame the
symmetry/asymmetry of what is going on here, or anywhere?
Alchemy is a 'pseudo science' that apparently fascinated Newton. He also
sought the 'prisca sapientia' as a devout seeker of unifying principle. "For
there is no way outside of revelation to come to the knowledge of a deity but
by the frame of nature." (You might like to save me typing another citation
to read Deepak Chopra on the subject of God as implicate.) His biographer
says this of his 'way'; "-he considered no avenue of research beyond his
probing, no stone unimportant enough to be left unturned, no theory beyond
the pale."
Roger Bacon wrote "Though everything is not permitted, everything is
possible." Does that not sound like a river to be forded? Does that not call
out for a ferryman?
Emil Her Many Horses is an Oglala Soiux who happened to be studying to become
a Jesuit priest is a kind of caring ferryman when he writes, "I am a person
filled with many questions." Sounds like a river to me, an endless patient
river over the plains, coursing, meandering, cutting through and into and
under the deserts of fuller, filled up and maybe, just maybe more constipated
minds. The cultured wisdom tells it, -" Andrew, never bad mouth anybody,
never be envious or jealous of anybody; if you are- you wont be on the right
road yourself, 'cause all roads are good." Grandpa Fools Crow.
~~~And as I wandered through the deserts and plains I saw in the distance a
living flame, a flaming, whirring tree that danced on a hilltop and from it
came a song of discord that settled into active harmony when I discovered
inside the dancing girl. "This is my -- jingle dress -worn only by my peoples
- we make it out of metal cones and textiles both/and in which we practice
the skill of the dance which is given by the sound and sight it produces. We
call it the 'clink' and the 'flash' and it is a becoming garment ;-)~ In a
museum such a dress would not be such a dress, the significance is lost
because the difference of viewing things confers different kinds of
validity."~~
Mmmm I hummed like Winnie the Pooh.
Well, that day taught me many things and it remains.
By way of parting I approached an old Navajo and I asked him what to tell the
children,
" We see no need to create concepts to separate or fragment our daily lives.
You need not to have to go to church to pray when your home and environment
are your church, your place of prayers. Try to live clean, beautiful and good
balanced lives. Be generous and caring. Think good thoughts, pray. Don't
disrespect that anthill over there. Ever since I was a child they always told
us these things."
I turned to leave him and he asked if my journey was long back to the city. I
replied affirmatively. He said, "Take these shoes and call them your
'lifeway' to remind you of our meeting. It is the perfect shoe for you to
wear. It is formed to your feet and allows them to fit the largest and
smallest contours of the land. When you are in the city streets sadness will
overcome you and you will yearn for these moccasins of your nature. Your
'shoes of the city' shield you from the concrete and the concrete shields you
from the earth, so you are doubly removed."
-Il lavro nobilita l'uomo, e lo rende simile alle bestie-
Kiowa Headress. Cloth, Eagle Feathers, Ermine, Horsehair and Beads.
Length/height 190cms
Better than a BMW.
Best,
Andrew Campbell
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