Daily Archives: March 19, 2011

Commentary on Religion, Faith and Spirituality

Sacred

Leave a comment

Imbolc                                                                  Full Bloodroot Moon

“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.” – Ernest Hemingway

A wordy sentence for the master of terse.  Still.  Not only is it true, it will be true each and every day.  It could also be said that this hour is only one hour in all the hours to come, but what happens in it can influence all the other hours you’ll ever have.  Be here now has its detractors, I know, those who want to talk about history and the future, yet with all their reluctance or eagerness, they must still leave the past behind and the future for the next moment, because we are never in any time other than now.  Life comes to us in the present tense.  Always.  And ends the same way.

A presentation tomorrow morning at Groveland, Redefining the Sacred.  I’ll post it here after I’ve given it.  There’s a whole book, maybe several, in this general theme, a way of understanding the awesome, terrible, wonderful, magical, sacred nature of the lives we live and the world in which we live them, understanding them, that is, without needing an authority to tell us how, understand them within the experiences we have now, not ones we might have later, after death or in some altered state.

You might think my flat-earth approach to religious mystery rules out an after-life or a supernatural possibility.  Not at all.  It just means I don’t have anything to say about it.  If death includes a future, well, I’m there.  If not, I won’t be.  If there is a supernatural realm, a realm of the gods, I want to visit, but I’ve not seen the evidence for it.

So, a way of understanding the sacred within our lived experience excites me, makes me want to tell others of the possibility.  Which I will do tomorrow.

Aging, Art and Culture, Bees, Cinema and Television, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Friends, Great Wheel, Great Work, Humanities, Politics, Weather +Climate, Woolly Mammoths

Carpe diem

Leave a comment

Imbolc                                 Full Bloodroot Moon

Got my novel a boost by going out to Blue Cloud, got back and dove into the legcom, MIA, Latin sequence plus finishing my presentation,  Redefining the Sacred, and have gotten little novel work done.  The times.  Now the air has begun to warm up and the snow to melt.  That means more time outside, which I’m eager to get started, but that, of course, means less time inside and all of the winter work is desk bound or at the museum.

When I talked to Kate about my despair for human life on this planet (see yesterday’s post), I also commented on my zest for life.  It’s never been higher, I told her.  OK, yes, the sun shone, the sky was blue and it looked warmer, all boosts to the life zestometer, but it’s more than that.  Kate’s retired and that’s removed a lot of stress from my life as well as hers.  I know this for sure because I have a mild case of psoriasis and its gotten much, much better since her retirement in January.

I’ve also got two challenging volunteer roles, docent at the MIA and the legcom at the Sierra Club, each of them test different skill sets every week.  The Latin work has given renewed confidence in my learning capacity, plus it’s fun in ways I hadn’t anticipated.  We have two grandkids with birthdays coming up.  The dogs are healthy.  Our orchard should begin producing this year.  I know what seeds I’m going to start and what I’m going to plant outside, early.  There’s a novel underway.  I’ve made new friends at Bluecloud and through the MIA and Sierra Club work. This will be my third year as a beekeeper. The Woolly’s are in our 25th year.  Finally, Kate and I have started new physical routines.

Said another way I get to be around art, practice politics, create, grow, love, laugh, visit with friends and family.  Life is full of matters that can keep us excited and eager to get up in the morning.

No matter what the world may be like tomorrow today is a day filled with promise.  So, like my friend, Bill W., I’ll take my life one day at a time.