The chill breaks
From the porch I see
The cars roll by I hear
The church bells mark
The hour.
The sun bakes
And bleaches out
The calendar.
Cascades of yesterdays
And tomorrows
Suspended.
Time enough for time
Not now.
We don’t have to name a condition to know it. The naming is often imprecise, incomplete and misleading, giving us a general idea, but not fully representing the experience or phenomenon.
Yet we want to name what we see and feel and know, because it allows us to talk about it and in the case of troubles or problems, start solving them.
Reading one of the many disturbing and unsettling stories in today’s news, I was reminded of a special movie that arrived in 1982. Free of narration, with a haunting soundtrack by Phillip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi is an arresting visual juxtaposition of nature’s world and man’s world in the late 20th century. The title is taken from a Hopi word, meaning chaotic life, corrupted life, life out of balance. The full title of the film is Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance.
There be no more apt way of describing where we seem to be right now. A name for our condition. It is this simple. Life seems to be out of balance. More so than in 1982, more than earlier times. Not worse, though that may be. Simply out of balance. As if we feel like we are falling over, or about to fall over, and we would like to feel steadier, so we can keep standing up, so we can keep walking straight ahead.
Humble
Humble in the morning.
Smart or stupid.
Big or small.
Strong or weak.
Humble in the morning.
What must it be like to wake up in space as an astronaut? You may think: aren’t humans remarkable? We built this spaceship, we escaped the gravity of earth, we propelled ourselves to the planets.
Then you look out the window.
“Displays are the secret superstars of CES” says a headline about the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show, the annual world’s fair of our bright digital future.
It seems that screens with higher resolution, more dimensions and more curves are something we can eagerly await.
It’s probably a good time to mention the Bible, Plato, Shakespeare, or whatever spiritual, philosophical or literary texts and icons you might consider a little remarkable.
As a student of media, and an admirer of brilliant media analysts such as Marshall McLuhan who tie evolving messaging to evolving media, I still should mention this. Much of our civilized foundation comes from oral traditions, or when set down, written and published in decidedly low-resolution form. Feathered quill pens managed to convey some very high-resolution thoughts and creativity.
Yes, I have a 4k TV and other amazing devices with astonishing screens and capabilities. But it was the Romans who gave us the concept of bread and circuses, distractions from the real issues at hand. Of course form and technique of messaging matter and change. But in the long run, our outcomes and lives will depend on the content of communications, whatever the resolution.
For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too.
Matthew 6:21
An excerpt from the story of the magi as told by the magi:
And (something) like the hand of a small person drew near in our eyes from the pillar and the star, at which we could not look, and it comforted us. And we saw the star enter the Cave of Treasures of Hidden Mysteries, and the cave shone beyond measure. And a humble and kind voice made itself heard by us, which called out and said to us: “Enter inside without doubt, in love, and see a great and amazing vision.” And we were encouraged and comforted by the message of the voice. And we entered, being afraid, and we bowed our knees at the mouth of the cave because of the very abundance of the light. And when we rose at its command, we lifted our eyes and saw that light, which is unspeakable by the mouth of human beings.
And when it had concentrated itself, it appeared to us in the bodily form of a small and humble human, and he said to us: “Peace to you, sons of my hidden mysteries.” And again, we were astonished by the vision, and he said to us: “Do not doubt the vision that you have seen, that there has appeared to you that ineffable light of the voice of the hidden Father of heavenly majesty.”
Revelation of the Magi 12:4-13:1
Revelation of the Magi is written as a first-person account of the visit of the Wise Men, though that is unlikely. The available text is written in Syriac, with the story originating possibly as early as the 3rd century. Long forgotten, an English translation of it can now be found in Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem (2010) by Brent Landau.
Only Candles Only Stars
Let there be lights (מארת) in the vault of the heavens … and they shall be lights (מאורת) in the vault of the heavens (Genesis 1:14-16)
All of the lights
On the candles, trees, houses
Beneficial artifice
The best we can do.
Even the stars
Awakening guiding
Are incomplete.
The light that eludes
In the dark cold of winter
Hiding in plain sight.
Happy Hanukkah. Happy Christmas.
The Icicle
A zaddik told:
“On a winter’s day, I went to the bath with the master. It was so cold that icicles hung from the roofs. We entered and as soon as he did the Unification, the bath grew warm. He stood in the water for a very long time, until the candle began to drip and gutter. ‘Rabbi,’ I said, ‘the candle is guttering and going out.’
‘Fool,’ he answered, ‘take an icicle from the roof and light it! He who spoke to the oil and it leaped into flame, will speak to this too, and it will kindle.’ The icicle burned brightly for a good while, until I went home, and when I got home there was a little water in my hand.”
Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim
“People ask, ‘What is the Buddha?’ An icicle forming in fire.”
Dogen Zenji
Constellator (Starry Nights)
To the uninitiate
The stars are arrayed
Points of white
That delight
But mean nothing.
The constellator sees old pictures.
The artist connects them anew.
The astronomer investigates
Each by each.
On cold nights
Of black sky
I see connect investigate
Unsure which I am
While the stars
Patiently wait.
If you don’t make and take notes, you probably should. Those great thoughts won’t remember themselves. And when you make and take notes, you should use Simplenote.
Simplenote is free and simple. Nothing fancy, not multi-function. It just lets you make text notes and sync them across devices. It is available for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux and the web.
Simplenote was bought a few years ago by Automattic, the folks who give you WordPress, the platform for this and multi-millions of blogs.
Simplenote is my most used and valuable app. Some notes are just one sentence or a link. Some notes are longer, the length of an essay, a poem or a blog post. In fact, the majority of my blog posts start out as Simplenote notes. Like this one did.
Bob Schwartz 