An elder I know spoke of a conversation that he had had several decades ago—a conversation with a Hawaiian elder on the island of Molokai. He was told that everything we give attention to or physically touch becomes connected to us (and us to them) and a reciprocal way and that doesn’t obey modern notions of time or space. There’s more to say on this but, without his blessing, I won’t say more.
Amen Tad. Dante never touched Beatrice yet he would have never written the Divina Commedia without her. A little add on to etymology. Miracle also comes from mirare in the sense that means "to create wonder" and beyond that from an older Indo European word “ smeiors ” that meant to smile. Dante spoke of her often as a miracle in that sense I believe of "wonder creating". I came to believe that Eros is the capacity to hold the other in a SMILE. Blessing on your work Tad
Beautifully expressed and such true sentiment. Let us all keep the roads small and mysterious then. And be open to the wider community consequences of our romantic drives.
I love this way of thinking about the terrain between people. There are things living there that need to live. So much more beautiful and mysterious than a collapsed reductive notion of relationship health. I think many of us basically have a wasteland there and that’s why it’s tempting to just get through it fast. Im going to explore thinking of this area as needing remediation and one day teeming with life again
balm for my heart Tad. i've spent years walking in my local forest, and then more closely since the fires, stepping tenderly on the ash bed, witnessing the community of beings as they, each in their own way, put everything into living together. and in between my wanderings, heavy machinery would come in and carve the tracks wider, push over trees, and spread weed infestations into all the tenderness. i keep asking the forest what do you need of me? and by "chance", a series of noticings led me to being able to tell one man in authority about one tree where the sugar gliders were nesting. i was grateful that he marked the tree and added it to the database. but the next time i visited, there were flattened and felled trees, heavy track gauges where animal runs had been. so much destruction, but the tree he marked was still standing. i'm still sitting with it, feeling for what to do, how to respond. but to read your writings helps me feel into sanity.
Oh and- "Heaven knows that’s been most of my romantic relationships and entanglements. Too much. Too fast. Too soon." (Searches Gaelic word for "snap" :-D)
To Admiration...may we steep in the beauty for a lifetime.
Amen Tad. Dante never touched Beatrice yet he would have never written the Divina Commedia without her. A little add on to etymology. Miracle also comes from mirare in the sense that means "to create wonder" and beyond that from an older Indo European word “ smeiors ” that meant to smile. Dante spoke of her often as a miracle in that sense I believe of "wonder creating". I came to believe that Eros is the capacity to hold the other in a SMILE. Blessing on your work Tad
Beautifully expressed and such true sentiment. Let us all keep the roads small and mysterious then. And be open to the wider community consequences of our romantic drives.
I love this way of thinking about the terrain between people. There are things living there that need to live. So much more beautiful and mysterious than a collapsed reductive notion of relationship health. I think many of us basically have a wasteland there and that’s why it’s tempting to just get through it fast. Im going to explore thinking of this area as needing remediation and one day teeming with life again
Good answer! :)
My first thought: In an economy built upon consumption, self-gratification must be pushed as a virtue. :(
A lot of great things to think about here. Thank you
balm for my heart Tad. i've spent years walking in my local forest, and then more closely since the fires, stepping tenderly on the ash bed, witnessing the community of beings as they, each in their own way, put everything into living together. and in between my wanderings, heavy machinery would come in and carve the tracks wider, push over trees, and spread weed infestations into all the tenderness. i keep asking the forest what do you need of me? and by "chance", a series of noticings led me to being able to tell one man in authority about one tree where the sugar gliders were nesting. i was grateful that he marked the tree and added it to the database. but the next time i visited, there were flattened and felled trees, heavy track gauges where animal runs had been. so much destruction, but the tree he marked was still standing. i'm still sitting with it, feeling for what to do, how to respond. but to read your writings helps me feel into sanity.
Admiring your work and words, Tad.
Oh and- "Heaven knows that’s been most of my romantic relationships and entanglements. Too much. Too fast. Too soon." (Searches Gaelic word for "snap" :-D)
another add on. Dante thought that Beatrice was sent here to show a miracle. " a miracle mostrare". Aren't we all?