jazzoLOG - Category: Diary    
 Responsibility6 comments
picture31 Oct 2004 @ 12:23
Lives based on having are less free than lives based on either doing or on being.

---William James

The River moves, moon travels rock,
Streams unreal, clouds there among the flowers.
Sails go: They can't know where.

---Tu Fu

Let each one turn his gaze inward and regard himself with awe and wonder, with mystery and reverence; let each one work his own influence, his own havoc, his own miracles.

---Henry Miller

Guerrilla Warfare (Picket Duty in Virginia), 1862
Bierstadt, Albert

A very dear, caring and empathetic Internet friend in Scotland advised me yesterday to remember: all this is not "your very own responsibility". She was referring to the flurry of activity in my life now, particularly as the Election approaches. I'm sure many of us in America are feeling the intensity, even if we're not particularly busy volunteering. Harvest may be done, but there's cleanup and lots of preparation for winter in the northern areas. There always are assignments at school and duties at church or synagogue this time of year. Caroline particularly of course was referring to my recent surgery and continuing health concerns.  More >

 My Addiction Loves Me1 comment
picture15 Jun 2004 @ 10:12
Preparing food is not just about yourself and others. It is about everything.

---Shunryu Suzuki

A thief entered the house of a Sufi and found nothing there to steal. As he was leaving, the dervish, sensing his disappointment, threw him the blanket on which he had been lying.

---Sa'di

Fishermen have hauled their nets and gone.
The crows of dusk, in pairs, all flown.
Young moon, a tattered fan,
Thin clouds, a ragged gown.

---Tu Fu

The photo, taken by Ivy Clear, is of the author, on the road and a bit zonked in the summer of 1971. This would make the man, despite all appearances, aged 31!

There are times of loneliness, brought on by and/or bringing on the use of intoxicating substance, when one can feel a bond of friendship with that bottle, that pipe, that syringe. Ever since the first primitive man fell face down into a puddle of some kind of fermentation, and came up with a feeling of giddy well-being, men have wondered about this sense of relationship---and sometimes even given it a name or worshipped it as a god. Tribal man was very careful about it, and only designated holy people or times of the year that were appropriate for altered state indulgence. Violations were extreme taboo. In our society, where every man with money in his pocket is king and shaman, and every woman at least priestess of her medicine cabinet, a little fling can be anyday, all day.  More >

 Surviving The Digital Hospital18 comments
picture10 May 2004 @ 10:16
Why am I aging so
this autumn?
A bird flying into the clouds.

---Basho

The quieter you become,
the more you can hear.

---Baba Ram Dass

Springtime light
fills the room
vacancy.

---Soen Nakagawa

First, I'd like to thank those who have encouraged me to get back to writing...and particularly an attempt to chronicle this past week. It's a daunting project for a number of reasons, but chiefly physical: I still tire easily, and my coordination is not always there when I look for it. But the longer I put this off the more difficult it becomes, so here goes~~~  More >

 Spring In The Air11 comments
picture14 Feb 2004 @ 11:13
I have never waited for anything the way I've waited for today, when nothing will happen.

---Marguerite Duras

And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

---T.S. Eliot

Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end. You can't know it, but you can be it, at ease in your own life.

---Lao-Tzu

In the Woods, c.1900-04
Watercolor over pencil on paper
Paul Cezanne 1829 - 1906

A break in the weather and, while it's still cold outside (around 20 degrees Fahrenheit) here's a chance to restore and replenish. Southeast Ohio has been so wet this fall and winter, relieving a few years of drought conditions, that the ground is completely saturated. Any more rain or thaw after snowfall means flooding at once, so time at home has been used fortifying against the elements. Today is calm and rather bright so I was inspired, as the Valentine ladies laze about a bit this morning (plus Ilona's friend Tara who spent the night after the big Middle School dance) to get after a few chores.  More >



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