truth

The Spirit of Work

Cup of coffee in hand and looking out over the fields, it is difficult to muster the motivation to give up the fire and go out to work.  But, as always, there is work.  This is not bad thing, it is just that the grey mornings and rainy weather have a tendency to dampen the spirit of working.

That spirit to work, that drive to do something, something meaningful defines who we are.  Work is neither a right or a bane.  Rather, it is that intentional act to give meaning.  We do not have a right to work, we must simply work in order to have rights.  Work is not a heavy load to bear with a dreary mind, work is what we do no matter our attitude towards it.

There is always work, and work can always wait.  But why?  Why make the meaning in our lives wait for sunny days or better dispositions?  For those who do not understand the spirit of work, we are too busy.  For those who misunderstand the spirit of work, we are not busy enough.

And so the coffee finished and a final log put on the fire, I don the overalls and you (perhaps) don a suit and we both work in the spirit of making meaning in our lives one minute at a time.

Thank God It’s Friday

It is difficult to portray true sympathy.  The words fail somehow; they become crass or ridiculous.  Language fails often where thought is concerned.  However, it is important, somehow, to express what we feel; especially to those we care about and perhaps more importantly: to ourselves.

Life, it would seem, is very short and it is difficult to be sympathetic to this when the workday seems so long or the weekend so far off.  This, on the other hand, seems to be a failure of thought but the results are the same:

“hump-day…yay!”

“Thank god it’s Friday!”

It is as if we are wishing parts of our lives away.  But we are unable to be sympathetic to the true consequences of doing so.  Those boring days that we wished away are automatically the subject of longing and desire when we realize, in short and few moments, how short life really is.  Sympathy seems important to remember if we are to understand that a beautiful day or a starry night is…well, miraculous.

But our thoughts cannot contain such grandiose ideas and as a result our language fails.  No matter how much we may love, the word “love” will always fall short.  No matter how much we may seem to care, the word “care” never cuts it.

Philosophers have pondered the concept of time and the only objectively real component of temporal ideas: it is the present.  And so, be sympathetic to the present and what it contains, which is the whole universe; something that we may never come to understand.

Fixing Things

“Fixing things may be a cure for narcissism.” -Shop class as Soulcraft, Mathew Crawford

To be sure, whether this is a moral or factual statement remains to be seen.  In any case it is a meaningful phrase.  The act of fixing things seems to be becoming antiquated: “fix when you can buy” is no longer a question but an exclamation.  This simple grammatical change has moral implications.

As we stare down into the abyss of cellphones, the only time we take our eyes off the virtual keyboard is to look at the battery are “bars” display.  Each telling us just a bit of information and at the same time telling us nothing at all.  We know we need both for our illusion to continue, but we have no idea how these things work.

Our fix for one becomes walking around in circles and our fix for the other is not a fix at all: toss it.

Fixing things, whether that is a house or a machine (or even a farm) is not easier than fixing ourselves, but is better.  Let me explain: the one actually does fix the other but the other can never fix the one.  To fix things, fixes the self.  It must because, as Crawford states, and as anyone who has both fixed things and put thought into fixing things will attest, the self must take a backseat to the material thing.

The material part is important because it is not a part of us; it cares a whit for us; it has no agenda or empathy; it simply is.  This fact is ironically somewhat spiritual in nature.  And when things need fixing there is no room for petty arrogance and ignorance will be paid back in full with pain and frustration.

Fixing things reminds us that we are not the center of the universe, something that most of us need to be reminded of quite often.

Life

Everyone makes mistakes; some bigger and others not so much.  However, as has been mentioned in this blog on previous occasions: mistakes are useful if we learn from them.  That being said, learning from mistakes are rarely enjoyable experiences and perhaps even harder to actually learn from.  I’ve made my share of mistakes and have come up with a three-part plan to deal with the mistakes that are inevitable in our lives.

First…the mistake.

Our societies have somehow made mistakes faux pas’.  Interestingly enough talking to individuals we are given advice on how mistakes are helpful.  This contradiction is perhaps explainable if we do not assume that people know when they’ve made mistakes.  The first step in this three-part plan is to recognize and accept the mistake.  Both actions take concerted efforts on our parts and are not fun.  But, we are here to rectify mistakes!

Secondly… consider how the mistake happened.

Once the mistake is recognized gnashing of teeth and crying of tears will probably ensue.  This is to be expected.  At some point, however, we must begin the learning process and this process begins with understanding the decisions that led to and perhaps continue the mistake itself.  So, between the gnashing and crying take an assessment of your decision-making processes that led you to the point that you are recognizing, i.e. the mistake.  Do this while gnashing and crying perhaps, but do it at any rate.  Perhaps a beverage or two, but not too much as we don’t want to lead ourselves down a path that leads us to even more mistake-making.

Third….what now!?

After the last tear has fallen and the last tooth has been gnashed, a plan is needed.  Take a good and honest look at the situation you find yourself in and ask a simple question: where do you want to be?  Is it another place?  Is it another person?  Is it another philosophy or job? and then start the process of making further mistakes again.  Enjoy the trip and start the three-part process over again.

Have fun and best of luck!

Paying Attention

On a whim, we bought four chicks from a well-known agriculture store to supplement our existing flock.  After a few weeks, we find that we have three roosters and a hen.  Right now they’re cute; they run around playing and chirping, but I know the future for the three little roosters.

That future is a reality for people who have decided to be self-sufficient.  The first lesson to learn is that self-sufficiency is not always bucolic, it is not always so peaceful.  Every day I take the little chicks out of their box in the coop and transfer them to the chicken tractor to enjoy the grass and sunshine.  And all the time, I know that the rooster’s days are numbered.

Last year, I “processed” about sixty five chickens and two pigs.  The killing is not easy, but the passing of the days with the animals was enjoyable.  Don’t let anyone lie to you: animals have a personality and I firmly believe that they smile in their own way.  This does not make my job easier and nor should it.  When it becomes easy to kill or worse, enjoyable, then we as a society have a problem.

This problem shows itself in many ways, often subtle but equally disturbing.  Taking a life, human or otherwise, should never be an act taken lightly, but because we often want easy, it has become just that.  Every morning I take the chicks out, and I let the hens out.  All of them have a limited time on earth and so do we.  Death is inevitable, but it is the time before death that counts.

Maybe we should pay attention to life a bit more and we will finally realize just how precarious it is.

To Finish What You’ve Started

There is no way to know what you are getting into when you start a project.  The first hammering of a nail, the first whiff of dust or the first word tells us nothing; it only opens doors to unseen futures, futures that did not exist seconds before we’ve made our decisions.

But, when we’ve made our decisions, it seems, the futures pop into reality from the simplest of ideas, from the most vague of visions.  Futures, the ideas of futures, run our lives albeit silently at first.

The hen may not take to the chicks, the house may not be built, the dream may not succeed, the book may not be written; the idea may die unborn.  And yet we must push on.  It is almost as if a sickness takes over the mind and drives all reason from our heads and fills them with grandeur visions of what could be.

However difficult, however impossible our projects may seem when we are knee deep in mud or muddled over words, no matter if we cannot continue to hammer one more nail in a board, or bring another idea into existence: we must finish what we’ve started.  For not to do so is the true failure.

We must resist the all-powerful feeling to walk away because no matter what we do we will inevitably live and die with our decisions whether or not they are successes.

Space

spaceSpace is amazing thing.  We create things to create space; we place things to create certain spaces and we rely upon people to give us space.  Space surrounds us; it makes up most of the universe and yet we are surrounded by barriers.

Once asked the job of government the answer was simple: to create space for a civilized society.

Once asked why read, the answer was simple: to create space in our minds for imagination.

Why learn?  To create space for curiosity.

Why be curious?  To create space for progress.

We all need space to ourselves and to allow space for others.  This is not just tolerance; we must not tolerate stupidity or incompetence.  But we must leave space for those who do not want to be or to remain stupid; to be or to remain incompetent.

There must be space for them and the change that they search for in the space that they live in.

There must be space for change; and it is in the spaces that we create that life happens.

MISTAKES, MISGIVINGS, AND MOTIVATIONS: III

face roadmap

As he realized, there was no explanation and searching for answers to the puzzle that the past posed, he found none.  With the past in his pocket, there was only the unknown, the future left to pack.  And as he folded and flipped the future a new realization dawned: it was not his own.

“The future is not ours…”, he thought out loud.  “The future belongs to no one; it is, in fact, nothing.”  As the thought settled in his head he reached for another piece to pack and found that there was always something to put into his bag, into his pocket to become the tear-soaked past.

“Something out of nothing is the truth; finally!  The Truth!!”

And what of meaning and these dangerous days of wonder and worry.  There will come more mistakes and more misgivings, but of what?  And about what?  If the future is truly nothing, than we are left with the pocket full of past and the present that we cannot notice.  Are we truly slaves to the limits of time or are we burdened with the freedom of space?

Philosophical nonsense made meaningless by poetry and prose, by literature and leitmotifs.  And as these thoughts ran through his head, the responsibilities that he had once believed he had had continued to create something that was never his.  Picking up his empty bag and feeling the weight in his pocket, he turned to go.

The Unattainable 

Looking at a mountain and slowly crawling up its magnificient facade by eye; the peak, so far up, and smiling down, from its precipice in the sky; seems to smile and smirk as if to say there is no way you will come to me.
And as you ready yourself, taking long breaths and feeling the tingle in your gut; you busy yourself with tools and toys and thoughts of what you must; the answer, you realize and come to know, is in your thoughts and not what you see.

 
The journey begins one step at a time, one foot, one stone, one rock; you begin the climb and see the sights that the trees down below have blocked; the climb is steep and the rocks are loose and the peak continues to smile.
The days go by, the tiredness heavy, and newness has worn off; your muscles sore, and so alone but the voices in your head they scoff; the morning comes and the pain is fierce, but ahead mile after mile, after mile.

 
Until one day, all hope is gone, the peak it snears and screams; the pain is numb, the cold is deep, and misery is in your dreams; you walk again, your bones are brittle, your desire is all but erased.
Dumb and blind, careless and lost, your adventure is no more; no more pain can cause you harm, there is no voice to implore; but at the top, you’ve made your goal! And now a smile comes across your face.

 
At the peak you sit and eat, and hope and power you feel; the sun shines down and the rocks are warm, your fate it has been sealed; you have conquered your fear and made better your life; explained the unexplainable.
Looking down, the trail is known, and the miles they melt away; you’ve not met your match, you’ve accomplished much no matter what others say; all are proven wrong, and you are honestly proud to have attained the unattainable.

It’s Just a Feeling

There is a place for that feeling that we get, our gut feeling, without explanation, about places, people, and decisions.  Sometimes that feeling is a warm and tingly sensation in the stomach and sometimes that feeling is a knot.  Somehow (it seems) our body is reacting to thoughts that we might not realize that we have; somehow are emotion is a road sign to an unknown understanding.

Perhaps this unconscious intelligence has just been blinded by a society that is motivated not by curiosity but by consumerism?  Maybe it takes time to realize, to listen, that how we feel is sometimes linked to what we do.  David Hume famously stated that reason is the slave of the passions.

Do not get me wrong: logical reasoning and rationale must be the foundation; we cannot lie to ourselves and equate our emotions with intelligence.  However, we are human and we must accept the bastard child, emotion.  Reigned in and controlled it will steer us toward what we truly want, ironically.

Think about it: the dreams that we pursue are not rational when we envision them but must be rationally pursued to make them a reality.  So, it seems, that we have a choice: 1) to sleep and perchance to dream, or 2) To dream and perchance to act.  It’s just a feeling after all, but feelings count when we choose to listen carefully.