“The world is too much with us,” said Wordsworth back in the first decade of the 1800s. What would the poet laureate of England think of today, and how far we are from the way of Nature?
The World and it’s pressing concerns at one end of a spectrum and Nature and inner life are at the other. Each of us makes a choice about where our attention lies daily.
This choice affects what I read and watch each day. It also affects my writing.
I have two quite different modes of writing and being in this time. In one I'm interested on being current and of service with my own experience. I want to help; I have a sense of mission and message.
The other writing is not a message but a joyous celebration of words and play in the moment. This one is easy to write. It comes out needing little change. It’s happy nothings, idle pillow talk, spontaneous reflections on whatever comes to mind. It’s like putting fingers in the stream of consciousness and watching the waters play as little fish arrive to see if my fingertips might be good to eat. It’s idle chatter fun to write.
On the other hand, daily I keep tethered to what's going on in the world. I marvel at brilliant minds theorizing on the labyrinthine intrigues that make up the plot of our world. I listen like a safecracker listening to hear the tumblers falling in the Matrix, hoping that I’ll get it right and the doors will fall open and all will be revealed.
Does all that help?
Isn't it enough to see the changes around in our little neighborhood and the neighbouring countryside? Look what they done to our farms, Ma. To notice the faces of the people, to see how they are expressing God's love and presence.
I talk with people daily online in conversations designed for straight talking, what Matthias Desmets calls Truth Speech. He says, and I’ve come independently to a similar conclusion, that honest plain talk is the future. In private conversation we learn to tell truth from fiction. We discern. We hear in people's voice whether their connected in the moment to what they're saying or if, like addicts, they're covering for something they can't say or refuse to notice. Lying that is, but not knowing they’re lying.
“In a room where
people unanimously maintain
a conspiracy of silence,
one word of truth
sounds like a pistol shot.”
Czeslaw Milosz
I benefit from speaking to others in person as directly as possible and listening to them. It's not the content of the talk mostly. It’s the quality. It’s the connection. The unspoken attempt of one of us to say what's true and meaningful inspires the other to do the same.
It's not my grand idea that will educate you and set your life straight. It’s not my fixing or helping you. I know nothing about what’s right for you . Nor do I want you to fix me or imagine that you can. It's more a the gradual noticing that we're surrounded by a world of meaning and resonance that’s greater than ourselves. It doesn't need saying out loud. Sometimes it’s like catching the joy in another’s smiling face and you understand what's being communicated before the words. The words chisel out some precision and that's helpful, but the truth is already present in the expression and in the moment.
When I meet someone who knows that, I want to know more about them. I want to know the content of their thinking too. I want to enjoy their company. And if they have a message, or a special mission, I want to hear it because it will inform my own search for what’s important and worth saying.
Those people are everywhere; they’re anyone and everyone who’s paying attention. They’re very likely you. A greater truth is that anyone you earnestly connect with informs your own worldview and your own choice about how you spend your time.
I know nothing about what’s right for you . Nor do I want you to fix me or imagine that you can. It's more a the gradual noticing that we're surrounded by a world of meaning and resonance that’s greater than ourselves.
And while all that is going on the natural world is still vividly present, still bringing joy and meaning just as it did for William Wordsworth. Today someone found a caterpillar of a Black Swallowtail butterfly in our community garden and inspired this meditation on what’s important. They linked an exquisite meditation on the Swallowtails’s life, an astonishing series of transformations happening unnoticed under my nose.
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Personal Practice
I think small groups of peers in tightly formatted space are tremendous for building relational skills and feeling connected and growing in the world. I’m offering a small mixed group at noon Eastern time each Monday, this month at least. You can register and receive the link here.
With Lorree Appleby, a small group for men and women. August 18th at noon Eastern time for two hours. Here’s the link to register. (Note that time has changed from August 4th.)
We use dyads (pairs) to explore together in a mutual space of respect. We do our best to make this group safe and also deep. The set-up will encourage people to stay in their own lane, being accountable for our own experience, not knowing what’s best for the other.
You may attend for free. Paid subscriptions help everyone share the cost of a significant shared endeavour.
Andrew
Thank you Andrew. Beautifully said. Love ... John
A wonderful post.