Bird Droppings November 4, 2012

Life is so much more than just living

 

“The peril we face today does not come from such differing philosophies of how to serve as stewards of the earth, but from the failure to exercise control over how we act upon those philosophies. If the preservation and sustenance of the earth is not a core value in a culture’s philosophy; if the long term good of the earth is trumped by the belief in the short term good of the individual, then the land on which those people live will inevitably come to grief.” Kent Nerburn

I was looking through various emails on my Ipad last night and found an old one I received it was an update alert from Kent Nerburn’s blog site. He had been traveling in Europe and was pondering his experiences in Holland and then Iceland. Kent has a great understanding of Native philosophy as well. Sitting in a class this past week one of my students commented that some people are content and happy as they are and no more. So often this is the attitude of short sighted individuals. There is so much more to life.

 

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche

 

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” Hans Christian Anderson

 

Often I wonder at the why of things. Why my dog will wake me up an hour earlier than normal to go out? (Daylight savings not accounted for) Why was the sky so clear that morning many mornings back and why a car came screeching through the neighborhood in front of our house and goes into a back cul da sac and then out after a few minutes at two in the morning. I think back to a few nights ago and a minute or two differences in my arrival at a fast food restaurant and I would not have met up with my brother, maybe a coincidence or synchronicity as Carl Jung says.

 

“The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.” Chinese Proverb

 

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day.” Elwyn Brooks White

 

I may have to start wearing shoes in the morning as I go out as the temperature is going down. We are to have a freeze tonight so my delicate plants need to come in. Most of my life I have had an affinity for touching the earth with my feet. In Indian thought and philosophy there was nothing wrong with sitting on the ground versus in a chair. It was considered far better to be one with the earth. There is a scene from a movie “City Slickers” In which Jack Palance plays a mean old cowboy and Billy Crystal an urban fellow out on a dude ranch.

 

“Jack Palance: ‘Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean crap.’ Billy Crystal:  ‘Yeah, but what’s that one thing?’ Jack Palance:  ‘That’s what you’ve got to figure out.’”

 

Over the years I have come to find there is no one simple solution to what life is all about, it is different for each of us. It is very much like the paradox offered by the grumpy old wise cowboy in “City Slickers”. You have to stick to it but you have to figure it out first.

 

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.” Richard Bach

 

Most high school students would not have a clue who Richard Bach is, yet thirty years ago many would as author of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”, a best seller. Many of today’s youth would not have heard of J. R. Tolkien if not for movies that made his books famous and even there with some of the all- time money makers of all time most would remember the movies director over the books author. But what started as stories for his children became a fantasy world of Hobbits, Dwarfs and Elves in “The Lord of the Rings”. So often we forget and so quickly.

 

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden

 

I can imagine Thoreau walking about observing as he did the throngs of humanity simply scurrying about doing what they do and simply surviving. Much like watching an ants nest as worker ants fan out and gather seeds and bits of grass, constantly moving, flowing yet appearing chaotic, order yet mayhem. For so many people life is really never changing simply here, busy and scurrying about.

 

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” Emily Dickinson

 

There have been moments for me where I was in awe, simply existing in the moment too enthralled to know which direction, or what words to say. It might have been a sunset, a clear morning, stars crystal clear overhead, a full moon so big it nearly takes up the night sky. It might have been a hawk gliding past me so effortlessly, or a wave rolling onto to the shore on CumberlandIsland as I walk alone along the beach with the sunrise.

There were moments many years ago coming upon a stretch on the Appalachian Trail where the rhododendron were blooming along both sides of me for hundreds of yards as I walked through, or sitting on a rock out cropping just outside Toccoa, Georgia looking at the sunset and dangling my toes in a stream so cold in summer it gave me chills. One that always brings a tear to my eye however is seeing the glimmer of understanding in a student’s eyes when the ah-ha hits.

 

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.” Danny Kaye

 

Nearly five years ago I used this quote for the first time, finding it on some daily quote site. A few months back I found a piece of black poster board and for nearly an hour it became a canvas for various students in my class. We only had black and yellow paint and a silver high lighter. Amazing what can happen from a Picasso or I should say a Birdio to a sign reading “You are not a beautiful and unique snow flake”.

As I read that last inscription and actually the final ending for my piece of board I wondered what my student was offering. We have always heard each snowflake is unique and different and all are beautiful. Was this student raising a question about their own individuality and uniqueness perhaps? I am like Danny Kaye let’s throw all the paint on we can and see what happens. Perhaps in a piece of black board and some paint, an in road to being able to help a teenager find themselves. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your heart and to always give thanks namaste.

 

Wa de (Skee)

bird