SUMMER HARVEST
Some poem comes to mind
Life in the making, constant work in progress
The decision-making
The reiteration of a commitment made long ago
The idealized vision of what could be
The undertow of fear and longings, imaginary belongings
Rupturing and breaking
Fixing and repairing.
Some mineral desert as the proper site of awareness
At first, you can’t see anything. A closer and more attentive gaze soon engages the probing eye with some grass, and an occasional flower—a welcome encounter with color renewed by the striking contrast between the abiding snow and the stubborn stony surface.
The inner joy of the single flower, the promise of the few blades of grass. All against the backdrop of austere beauty.
Keeping your purity of line. Even in the face of fear, lack, despair and even death. Sometimes, you can hold to your own precept. You fall short. And others will find you lacking. Yet, you tried.
Suspending judgment, giving life the benefit of love. Giving space, giving time. Take a chance, take a leap. A plunge. Back to the surface of other dimensions. Beyond the texture of the known and certain.
The theatrics of decision-making. Playing a part, rehearsing for it. Eventually improvising, or forgetting the script—and going from there. Playing the part. Without remorse, without guilt. Expecting recognition. Or walking away, leaving the stage empty-handed. Yet, be content with the knowledge that you did play your part.
Then suddenly, when life has already taken you to a place from where you could no longer see the formerly desired goal, you encounter it. You stumble into it, or wade into it, or stride into it. Or love into it. Some bold out of the blue, or red. Or out of the rainbow—nothing more, nothing less.
Surprise. Awe at the wonder of its simple delivery. Staying clear of previous fears and agonies. Wiping the slate clean. And marveling at words and thoughts and ideas, all falling into place on to the slate once clear, and now full.
Hesitations and stuttering coming to a halt. Leaving room for new songs and whispers. Dreams morphing into life patterns. Some unexpected and sudden coherence informing today’s order of the body and mind, heart and soul walking hand in hand, unimpaired, unstoppable, deciphering the riddle of love, responding to the call of some oracular possibility. Passing pilgrims in the eternal quest, or actors strutting about the stage and vanishing indeed, with or without Shakespeare’s fellow travelers.
Remember that information is not knowledge is not wisdom.
The syllogistic logic of our technology-informed lives not standing the test of time and love.
Engage in difficult conversations, and work your own way out of them.
Whip up the energy to start anew—maybe even from scratch—without regret and nostalgia.
Revisit filiations and legacies. Empowering rituals of agency, and/or self-defeating sense of purpose. Vows and forms of dedication, sacrifice or self-promotion. The range of human experience. The spectrum of life’s musical or visual scores: beautiful, with occasional jarring and gaudy notes, and meaningful, figurative and abstract, fully realized and in the making.
Negotiating the turns and curves. The twists and traps. And, all the while, keeping chaos at bay. And sometimes despair, too. Frustration and anger. Joy and relief.
Peace, at last, once the straight line emerges out of the crooked existential scribbling.
Devising strategies and stratagems. Scripts and blueprints. Some tentative roadmap, or perhaps a charter. A pact. A pledge.
Setting new goals for yourself. Maybe even an agenda. Unless it is a new way of life. Or maybe even a new… life!
Working around the set ways, and the known paths. Past the off-the-beaten track mode to meet on the other side of the looking glass.
Do not judge and cancel out
Do not dismiss, quickly or not
Be aware of complexity in a complex world
Organize words into writing, linear or not
Be faithful to yourself.
Be bold.
Marie Lienard-Yeterian