Ray Evans Harrell wrote:
>
> Brad,
>
> So talk to me about it.
>
> Do not assume that your interpretation was my intention.
This is always a good point to consider -- even when
persons [think they] agree.
While I do believe communication is possible [and even
relatively frequently relatively successful...], I also
think misunderstanding is easy, and that there is also
no last word on any subject.
[snip]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: Ray Evans Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 7:38 AM
> Subject: Re: For Dan George
>
> > Received.
> >
> > Read.
> >
> > Respected.
> >
> > Not altogether agreed with.
> >
> > Respectfully,
> >
> > \brad mccormick
> Ray Evans Harrell wrote:
>
> IN THE VALUE OF SNOW
>
>
> Since we all experience the Solstice
>
> no matter where we sit on this
>
> skin of our "Grandmother"
>
> who nurtures every need.
This is where I disagree, and I feel like I may just be
"not getting into the spirit of things" to do so
but every
time I see Nature celebrated I think of all the hurts
that Nature also brings. I think Nature does not
care about us and that "She" is simply profligate, so that
while we get much that *we* consider good from "Her", we
also get a lot that *we* consider bad, but "She" doesn't
give a ----. To borrow a phrase from Heidegger (not
that he was consistent or thoroughgoing in his use of it):
"Es gibt." -- All that which is just what it is, without
any reason. I don't see "Mother Nature" as nurturing --
to borrow a quote from [???]: "Nature is in
love with the *idea* of the individual, not with
any particular individuals." Nature produces both
the immune system and the oncogene, etc.
>
> -------------------
>
> Since we all experience the Solstice
>
> whether darkest or light
>
> we remember all of the animals
>
> we remember all of the plants
>
> we remember the stones
>
> we remember the water
>
> we remember the fire
>
> we remember the air
>
> we remember to have the courage
>
> to be responsible to all
>
> the web of life.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Since we all experience the Solstice
>
> whether darkest or light
>
> we share our most unique moments
>
> we share our food
>
> we share our work
>
> we share our thoughts
>
> we share our feelings
>
> we share our knowing
>
> we share the electricity
>
> of our breath.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Since we all experience the solstice
>
> whether darkest or light
>
> we know that each learns
>
> we know that each loves
>
> we know that each cleans
>
> we know that each knows
>
> we know that each expresses
>
> we know that each gives
>
> we know that each is healed
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Since we all experience the solstice
>
> whether darkest or bright
>
> we remember the bringer of light
>
> we remember the little spider
I cannot help thinking that if she bites me
I may have a serious problem (I think I did get bit
by a spider once and it resulted in a weird
cyst that bothered me for months). I never saw the
spider....
>
> we remember how she caught
>
> the light in her web.
>
> we remember how the web
>
> surrounded the fire
>
> gave the safety of distance
>
> -------------------------------
>
> we remember how it was the smallest
>
> the least "significant"
>
> that brought the warmth and light
>
> --------------------------------
>
> we remember how the light was nurtured
>
> by courage, knowledge and respect
>
> we remember how the light
>
> becomes the sun
>
> close enough to feed
>
> yet distant enough not to destroy.
>
> ----------------------------------
>
> In this web the heat of our thoughts
>
> can begin something that will create
>
> a new world renewed by this
>
> inter - net.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> The old world
>
> destroyed by triviality
>
> the insatiability of material desire
>
> can feed our renewal if we respect it
>
> and then place it
>
> as the dead fish
>
> feeds the corn
I think I do agree with this part, although more about
the potential utility of the past than about its having
succumbed solely to human neglect etc. as opposed to
"Mother Nature" (AKA entropy) having a big share also.
>
> -------------------
>
> In one solstice the world is full, warm, summer
>
> In one solstice the world is empty, cold, winter
For some persons both solstices are full and for some both
solstices are empty and for some one or the other is each.
And external circumstances can be straightforwardly
resonant with our feelings or mock them.
>
> Remember the fullness at this
>
> time of emptiness
>
> and feel courage
>
> Remember the emptiness in this
>
> time of fullness
>
> and feel humility
Can't argue with this point.
>
> -------------------------
>
> That we may all know
>
> and finish our roads
>
> together.
And here, I probably am not disagreeing, but still would
like to say explicitly: May we also travel together. May
no person ever be alone except insofar as he or she
chooses to be so, and may said choice be revocable at
will.
The way is everything; the end is nothing.
(--Willa Cather)
>
>
>
> Ray Evans Harrell 12/20/1996, revised 1/05/02
>
>
Such are my thoughts in response to your poem. (Most poems
I cannot even parse the syntax, so this is an exception....)
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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