anamnesis

by Don Marquis A fierce unrest seethes at the core Of all existing things: It was the eager wish to soar That gave the gods their wings. From what flat wastes of cosmic slime, And stung by what quick fire, Sunward the restless races climb!— Men risen out of mire! There throbs through all the worlds that are This heart-beat hot and strong, And shaken systems, star by star, Awake and glow in song. But for the urge of this unrest These joyous spheres were mute; But for the rebel in his breast Had man remained a brute. When baffled lips demanded speech, Speech trembled into birth— (One day the lyric word shall reach From earth to laughing earth)— When man’s dim eyes demanded light The light he sought was born— His wish, a Titan, scaled the height And flung him back the morn! From deed to dream, from dream to deed, From daring hope to hope, The restless wish, the instant need, Still lashed him up the slope! . . . . . . I sing no governed firmament, Cold, orde...

In corners of my house lie toys of iridescent color reds and yellows, blues and greens In small islands of chaos rebelling against the subdued tints of maturity surrounding them the stark off-white walls the earth tone carpets They are a jamboree jazz bands of sensation in corners of the house Carelessly chosen Randomly dropped they ignite the touch with a smorgasbord of metal, plastic, wood and cardboard the foil of a pie plate the resilient rubber of an aged balloon And in this tiny metropolis lies hidden relation wood blocks in secret containers soldiers in the body of a plastic tractor hidden here in iridescent colors is a mind alive in the corners of my house (A poem I wrote when Sonic and Mew were wee)

I've got way too many hobbies. Some I even forget about for several years, then all of the sudden, a neuron snaps on somewhere in the nogzone and a bright idea surfaces, like "I should make some fractals again." And here are the results. And yep, I'll probably be sucked into creating more of these for hours, so this post may grow. (click on the images to get the full effect. Or not.) Snake Bead Dragon Tail Medicine Cosmic Martini Bud Arctic Ships Werewolf

I believe it was Tao who made a comment once that *we* are becoming the new "elders." Which got me thinking today about the legacy of grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts and family living and dead. I feel deeply blessed to know and have known some of these Characters (with a capital "C".) I doubt I will ever live up to the collective bar that they've set. The traits that follow are those I remember having the biggest impact on me, on many levels. These were seldom things they talked about explicitly, like most of us growing up I suspect, we are more influenced by what people are and do than what they say. Here's some of the things these special people were, and are, woven deep into the fabric of their very beings. Authenticity. Some elders always seemed to have a deep responsibility for their own actions; they were comfortable living in their own skins, warts and all. While they could appear opinionated and stubborn, they expected the same from you, and ...

I have only a vague idea where I'm going here, so bear with me. Or not. Don't let the browser whack you on the way out ;-) An individual ant is not very smart. It probably has fewer neurons than comes in a box of tinker-toys. An ant colony, on the other hand, is pretty clever. This type of "collective intelligence" is an area of active research on many fronts. Its effects aren't readily apparent, unless we know what we're looking for. Or rather, how we are looking. We aren't used to seeing systems. I blame language. Case in point: did you notice the structure of that last sentence? Subject (I) action (blame) and object (language.) Language tends to put things in a straight line. One thing affecting or being affected by another. If "a" then "b". Most of our human wisdom is ascribed to knowing either what "a" to use to get the "b" we want or why "b" happened based on some "a". And if "b" h...

Stolen from Christine's blog, so here's a link to one of her posts to make up: 21 Ways to Be More Creative. And a cool looking stuffed bell pepper recipe . Mmmm. Must. Try.