12 June 2015

“Wanderer, your footsteps are the path, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking.”  

  ~ Antonio Machado

The Caravans, Vincent van Gogh

While I’ve been practicing curiosity this week, I’ve come across both embers of anger and flickers of delight.  Normally I’d have brushed these aside, barely noticing, and moved on down the road.  But instead, stopping to inquire into them was rewarding.  I was able to attend to the irritation before it kindled.  I slowed down to appreciate and savor a delight I might have missed entirely.

MYSTERIES, YES

Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous

to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds

will never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the

scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,

and bow their heads.

Mary Oliver in Evidence

Live the questions, embrace uncertainty as an opportunity to cultivate understanding.