Once, a long time ago when I was still working, I took a psychological profile test. All of the department chairs took the test at the same time and it gave me a great deal of pleasure, to be one of two identified as a "Random Abstract" thinker. I guess what that means is that often I wander all over the place when I'm thinking about things. That seems to be the case now, as the wind batters against our house.
During the past month, several quotes came to my attention and more than one of them gave me pause. Like this one from Annie Dillard: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." She goes on: "...to stop measuring my days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence. But what, exactly makes that possible?" Most of us, Dillard suggests spend a good deal of time thinking about the future...what will happen tonight, how things will be at the party next weekend, what will happen to my child five years from now. "But the future is still not here, and cannot become a part of experienced reality until it is present," she contends. " ...what we know of the future...cannot be eaten, felt, smelled, seen, heard, or otherwise enjoyed. To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead. This is why all the affairs of civilization are rushed, why hardly anyone enjoys what he has, and is forever seeking more and more. Happiness, then, will consist, not of solid and substantial realities, but of such abstract and superficial things as promises, hopes, and assurances."
On the other hand, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk says that the Buddah taught that it is essential to live, to focus, to act in the here and now. This moment, not the next. This person in front of you. This thing that you are doing. When you are doing the dishes, do the dishes one at a time. When you are walking the dog, walk the dog on this block, this place, this step.
In Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (a truly depressing, but thought provoking story) I read: "...the past is a fog that breathes out ghost after ghost, the present a freeway thunder run at 90 mph, which makes the future the ultimate black hole of futile speculation..." It may be that all of our speculation about how things should be, will be in the future is just a lie...a trick to lift us from whatever our here and now truly is.
And then Thich Nhat Hanh again: "Though a million people may believe a lie, it is still a lie...You must have great courage to live according to the truth..." Which brings me smack up against the last book I read, The Monuments Men, in which Hitler was quoted saying, "The crowd will succeed in remembering only the simplest concepts repeated a thousand times." And I think about our current day politicians who consistently lie and distort the truth to the public, spin it, twist it a thousand ways, until we have no idea what is true or not true, and therefore making it very difficult to ascertain what the pols are doing and what we really believe should be done. Advice offered toward the end of the book: "...history is more often than not a messy combination of intention, courage, preparation, and chance...There are fights that you may lose without losing your honor; what makes you lose your honor is not to fight them." As I said, random abstract and as the wind continues to batter our very foundations here, I leave you to ponder anything or nothing of what I've written.
There are, of course, pictures to go with this blog (as if anything could). Some scenes in and around Estes Park, animals, and ongoing road construction in the St. Vrain Canyon (highway 36) between Big Elk Meadows and Lyons where 6 miles of roadbed is being located 20 feet into the side of the mountain and away from the river. There are also a few pictues of Lucy as she learned "No breakfast!" because we're going to Dr. C's so you can have your teeth cleaned.
We are at present visiting Lee and Mare in Ft. Myers, FL. Unfortunately, when we left Little Valley, so did three of the other snow plow people...and that night, five inches of snow fell all over Estes Park. Random Abstract! And so it goes from here. We wish you all well. Stay tuned for a follow up blog that is more linear and concrete...FL pics and an account of our travels.
Here is the link to the newest set of pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnpostpics/sets/72157641527730525/
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