Reflections on a Pandemic Spring leading into Summer:
J. Laster
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America
The Writer Elkhound on a pensive afternoon.
J. Laster
Opposites.
In The Mahabharata there are many references to the pairing of opposites. Winter ends and spring begins. There are too many words and never enough.
Frost-dragons in flight across a cold pane.
J. Laster
Fear versus moving forward.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.”
Frank Herbert, Dune
family album
Which is worse – the global pandemic or the pandemic of ignorance and fear? Whoever screams the loudest is rarely the person telling the truth. Whoever threatens, bullies and postures like a petulant would-be warrior is rarely the bravest person in the room.
The incremental journey.
J. Laster
Peering through the lens of time.
“Art is the provocation for talking about enigma and the search for sense in human life. One can do that by telling a story or writing about a fresco by Giotto or studying how a snail climbs up a wall.”
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
Daylight ghosts.
family album
I am drawn to puzzles, enigmas and the heady mix of polar opposites that make up much of life. When it comes to words on a page, whether I am reading that page or writing it, I am captivated by contradictory couplings and the jostling of certainties.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
A full moon full note.
J. Laster
And so I write my way toward summer with an eye on the horizon and occasional glances aft toward the stern and its dark and churning wake.
J. Laster
Framing concepts in opposition to each other is a powerful device. Recently I was reading Ursula Le Guin’s presentation of Lao Tzu’s “Turning Back, in the Tao Te Ching.
Knowing man
and staying woman,
be the riverbed of the world.
Being the world’s riverbed
of eternal unfailing power
is to go back again to be newborn.
Knowing light
and staying dark,
be a pattern to the world.
Being the world’s pattern
of eternal unerring power
is to go back again to boundlessness.
Knowing glory
And staying modest,
be the valley of the world.
Being the world’s valley
of eternal inexhaustible power
is to go back again to the natural.
Natural wood is cut up
and made into useful things.
Wise souls are used
to make into leaders.
Just so, a great carving
is done without cutting.