I’ve already hinted at “the idealist” and “the realist” being at odds in the way they perceive the world through Lin Yutang’s pseudo-scientific formula:
| Reality | + | Dreams | = | A heart-ache (usually called Idealism) | ||
| Reality | + | Humour | = | Realism (also called Conservatism) |
I hear you say “Why?” Always “Why?” You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?George Bernard Shaw
Failing and Flying
by Jack Gilbert
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It’s the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph. Continue reading
My ship, my Titanic
Has hit an Iceberg
Her last passengers
Move to the tip and
Near-vertical
gaze at with
foundered horror
the last lifeboats’
departure
I was so glad when I heard that Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize. 1st Canadian to win it, but also (still only) 13th woman. I’ve noticed that some of my favorite authors are Canadian women, like the late Carol Shields and Margaret Atwood, who also write fine short stories . I’ve only discovered them in the last 4 years and I can trace my becoming more conscious of the (female) fool’s journey reading these female Canadian authors. Continue reading
” He looked at his own Soul with a Telescope.
What seemed all irregular, he saw and shewed to
be beautiful Constellations: and he added to the
consciousness hidden worlds within worlds.”
Coleridge, NotebooksXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I have reblogged this post from dreamrly and got acquainted with it from http://symbolreader.net/
If you’ve read any of my posts, you may have noticed my interest with “the dream world”.This post /blog shares this interest and an astute poem by Wislawa Szymborska open to discussion, especially about dreams beyond analysis. I find it a po(e)tent means (one “Telescope” of sorts) at “looking at [one’s] soul “as Coleridge so aptly put it.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
dreamingly yours,
MichalXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Related PostsXXX
https://happyheuristics.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/metaphors-coaching-with-right-brain-modalities/
https://happyheuristics.wordpress.com/2013/07/01/mythology-1-evolution-as-revelation/
There was too much to look around, so I looked up… Continue reading
Be aware, the La-
conic Sage in-
structs:
The Path.
Is that all it takes?
Fair and square.
Dolce Far Niente or …
My idea of a holiday is far niente, dolce far niente, to my husband’s dismay. Not even reading. And I have an outstanding talent at doing nothing without any feeling of guilt. Continue reading
I wish I were Tamar
Who kept her pledge
And cast her net
wider than Yehuda’s,
whether he liked it or not
Who are you, Tamar?
“A lethal woman,
methinks”,Yehuda’s
delusory prejudice.
Beware the fatherless
widow’s oppression.
Disgrace.
I know who you are,
whether you like it or not
-Who are you, veiled
woman?
– Don’t you know?
For money, but a kid
shall do, you may know
me better. No kid, no mo-
ney? I bet you can pledge
thy seal, cord and staff,
whether you like it or not
-Who do you think
you are, Tamar?
You show, my girl
A harlot methinks,
and only fire may pur-
ify thy offense. Pray,
Who’s the father?
-The Man who pledged
this seal, cord and staff,
Whether he liked it or not
-Whether you like it or not,
You are more in the right
than I, Tamar: I did not give
you to my son Shelah.
Who am I?
I am Tamar, a woman of
valor who, to establish seed,
no shame, no scruple
may stop at hollow men,
made him swallow
hook, line and sinker,
so his sons
find their way home
and fulfill his pledge
Amen
Happy Heuristics
Image credits
http://www.rogallery.com/Chagall_Marc/Book-Lithos/Drawings_Bible/chagall-tamar.html
