tedious & brief

tedious & brief...

...a saying on a sundial somewhere, making the notion relevant to 'time.'

the extraordinary truth in this small thought is that its actual relevance is only about 'us.' a number of years ago i realized that 'time' is a man-made convention, probably designed so that clergy and employers could tell us when to be there; and so they would know when we were late. tedious and brief is a fairly good description of  our time here, and the words themselves are able to evoke a response (emotion?) in us (and only in us) ...as are words in general. squirrels, i realized, (may not) don't give a single thought to what day of the year it is : just where the nuts are buried.

within words are the emotions of reflection, hesitation, contradiction, insanity, inability, hope, greatness, and every other feeling we can have. within the ability of words are we able to feel wronged, and able to right wrongs. words incite.

...and within words may healing (also) be found.

in the beginning was the word : and it was ours to interpret.

within the swirl of so much that can (does) go wrong or right, there is only the moment when we wake up ... and gaze upon opportunity. ours to claim, ours alone to see. there is opportunity for opportunity. to know that the brass ring beckons, waiting only to be seized : but only for one who is willing, one who will give everything into the reach.

to imagine the tedious and brief moment within the span of living, to go to the mat every time it presents; with the knowing that there is balance in all things, and to reach inside and know that the only salvo is in the reach ... that we may do as much as we will do, by our own decree, by our own zeal, by our own fortitude to do. it is therefore ours to decree, and to act. our time here, tedious and brief, is for our own discovery : let us discover rightly, sanely, and with an eye toward gratitude! ...for breath, for life, for opportunity, for peace among ourselves, for a way forward that does not kill - each other and our home, and for blessings for all beings, including our mother earth.

warning : rant ahead : read on at your own risk.

frac'ing : short for fracturing, as in breaking... as the trees are the lungs of our earth mother, as the oceans, rivers and streams are her circulatory system, the oils and gases, her synovial fluids. as the polar caps are her air conditioner, the rain is her cleanser and drink of choice. as the sun is her heater, the moon her rest, and the stars her eyes, ...her bedrock is her bones.

she knows well how to rejuvenate using her own cycles for her health - creating life and nourishing herself with the decay of beings gone before. her own systems are not her problem.

humanity has for a period of time created a great game of buying and selling her to each other for gain of yet another of her own creations : gold. we alone place meaning in gold -- no other creature before us has had any use for it - it was and is just another mineral. our incessant desire for more and more and more has placed her care way down the list in our priorities.

i believe it all started purely enough - people need food and she was glad to give it - glad to be a good mother to us. people (and other creatures) also needed shelter, warmth, water, air, etc., and again, she was happy to share - she had no need to keep it all, and her way of being created opportunities for sharing herself with all of her creatures, including us. in the long ago, i believe she was probably even pleased that one of her creations pleased us so much. she perceived our love for her and was glad to return it. somewhere along the way, it seems, our gratitude for (dependence on) her gifts became entitlements, and those who became (by our way) entitled to pieces of her (vis a vis, her gold), were also entitled to do with their pieces what they pleased. this buy-and sell technology advanced and today we have rendered ourselves, by our own design and by our own desire for always more, completely dependent on destroying her for our own gain - seemingly without consequence, certainly without (much) conscience.

attempts are ongoing to shift our focus : toward something other than gold, but the base of our zealous ways with each other (and our ever expanding girth as a species) increases the need, and so we continue to create more and more of her into it, and thereby change her very patterns and landscape in our march into zeal.

the very interesting part is the only way we know how well we are doing is by seeing others of us suffer and/or ourselves prosper. we force ourselves to (not) see her suffer, as our system of balance (sheet) has no category for her pain ... only our system of 'more' has meaning. we have created our way wholly dependent on her continued assault, her continued acquiescence to our onslaught. we coerce, force, convince others of us to do what is needed so that the ones who proclaim themselves entitled to her bits can do (in our way of thinking) well, and in exchange trade their sweat, intelligence, souls for smaller bits of our well-doing. we then take the small bits received and exchange them for pieces of her created by the labor rendered by the very ones entitled, thereby feeling a bit entitled ourselves.

the truth is, i don't know how to live in a world that does not offer these great 'advances' we have come to expect, become dependent upon - conveniences really. we have placed our needs and created our desires at the very top of the order of things, and created order of importance in ourselves based upon our system of gold, a.k.a. ability, entitlement.

it seems an obvious question, but why do we need so much/crave always more? our perverse, self-absorbed, competitive ways continue the destruction of our mother planet up to and including the very breaking of her bones. why? for more gold? for more convenience? so the entitled can become even more entitled - and the less-entitled can feel a bit more entitled? and those who remain unentitled can continue to be ignored?

we have become, in our ultimate place at the very top of all order, highly prolific breeders, considering our ability to propagate an entitlement. i tell you, as we burn through mother's gifts (resources) to keep pace with our ever expanding species-specific girth, she does all she can to keep up. the argument is made for the continuation of our ways and our lives (at all cost), but isn't there worth in awareness of what we do? and worth greater still in showing respect and appreciation for her by our effort to curb our voluminous habit of wanton waste (and population)? what non-damaging, zero-waste industry could be created to recapture and reinvent garbage? how would we reward those who participate? further, how may we bring ourselves to the truth of our own culpability?

what would a world look like in which earth is viewed in our hearts, our technologies, and our way forward as the source of our ability to live - as important as our own lives, as crucial to our (and all other) species' survival as the water, air and food she (alone) provides? what if we honored the 'responsibility' side of 'dominion?' what if we took an honest look at our capability for reproduction and realized what a billion (or 7) of us requires from her? how would a return to a clear, thinking, mindful way around responsibility, and effort toward stewardship come about? such a revolutionary thought may only be brought on the wings of first breath. teach responsibility, responsibly. teach contribution by contributing. teach goodwill and kindness and caring and sharing and well being by being each of these things toward all, and toward your own self. every single one of us matters, to every single other one of us : let us act in ways of brotherhood, of peace.

we are capable should we create ourselves so : we are bequeathed the gods' own intelligence! our species alone is the answer to our own self-made conundrums ... when all of us are taught to respect, earth and each other - creating a clearing for thinking (manifesting) an end to pollution, an end to destroying our home, becoming a species cohesive with ourselves and the planet - when we create this a creed of ultimate worthiness and personal reward, wouldn't these qualities of care and respect then spill over into our collective psyche?


there are 3 principles in answering these critically important questions :

• peace is its own answer. 
• do no harm. 
• love your neighbor.

there is only one earth . and we all belong to her (and to each other), no matter what we believe. let us now know the truth that we are (all) one, and let us now believe ourselves peaceful, because we (can!) choose to. let us give ourselves into the possibility of potential, and the potential of possibility ... and let us now create peace and goodwill toward all :

starting with ourselves. what may we each contribute ... none may save us but ourselves.

...and for heaven's sake, let us undo the harm we have caused : to earth, to each other, and to ourselves.

our (individual) (collective?) time here is tedious and brief : let us find purpose, and let us be better.

thank you for hearing me : thank you for allowing : thank you for starting where you are, using what you have and doing what you can.

take a deep breath : release. 

repeat.

now,