Nature's Pendulum

 

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,
and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick,
and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die;
so, let us all be thankful. 
~Buddha~

 

  There is no balance in nature…. it is more like a see-saw on a child’s playground. The populations of one animal might be affected by any number of factors. As the populations of one animal rise and fall through any number of years, they might open resources for another animal, or they may reduce the opportunities for another.

   Right now we are seeing a rise in the local coyote population… and I have seen no foxes for many months. The local foxes have been decimated in the last few years by a disease (distemper)… perhaps this opened the area to exploitation by coyotes who moved here after the large La Brea Fire this last summer pushed them from their wilderness areas that were scoured by flame. Those areas should be greening soon with the rains we’ve had…. populations of small mammals will rise and the area will be able to sustain coyotes again. Perhaps they’ll leave this area where the human presence though scattered is generally not well disposed to them. This will again open a ‘hole’ in the local ecosystem for eaters of rabbits and rodents, and surely one day it’ll be exploited by some predator.

   Like nature our emotions can run up and down…. try to keep to the middle… but occasional forays into sadness and happiness are to be expected.  If you journey outside the middle… upward is generally better.

   But people so often sabotage themselves….

The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it. 
~Will Foley~

   I’ve heard philosophers debate the relative merits of seeking happiness…. some say that to aim for personal happiness is a falsehood…. that we are too insignificant in the grand scheme of creation to desire for anything other than existence… that to banish all perceptions of joy and sadness is the ultimate goal… existence on an even plane is the aim….

 

“Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus.”  ~Susan Longacre~

   I’ve heard others endorse an attitude of reaching for and pursuing happiness….. I feel this is a worthy goal as long as you realize that when you push a pendulum hard, it will swing back eventually…. so don’t go rushing for hard-to-reach goals that you’re likely never to attain.  Plan and work steadily for a wholesome life without a lot of anxiety and distractions.  Free yourself from needless worry by reducing wants and desires…. aim for simplicity…. and try to cultivate an even-tempered emotional state.  It’s fine if you don’t go reaching for the stars…. but do look up and see them, and know they are there…. but don’t yearn to be on them…. that’s not gonna happen. 

   I’ve heard it said that
“it’s not a disgrace to not reach for the stars….
but it is a shame if you have no stars to reach for”

 

 

Tao teh Ching
Chapter 23

Nature says only a few words:
To speak little is natural.
Express yourself completely,
and then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
a gale seldom blows the whole morning,
nor does a downpour last a whole day.
When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If nature’s words do not last,
why should those of man?
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
The Tao accepts this accordance gladly.
Virtue accepts this accordance gladly.
Loss also accepts this accordance gladly.
He who does not have trust in others
should not himself be trusted.

 

   Be happy for the good things that come your way… be grateful for the life you have… an attitude of gratitude is one of the most attributes to cultivate within yourself…. you are your own Master Gardener…. you hold the trowel and water can…. you must do your own digging…. others might counsel you where and how to dig…. but you will select the seeds of your future…. and you plant them daily with every action you take…. you cultivate them with every thought good or ill…. would that the seeds you sow grow strong and full, giving you beauty and strength within yourself.

 

~Kahlil Gibran~
‘The Prophet’

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge.
You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

And it is well you should.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.”
Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself like a lotus of countless petals.

   I ran across the Gregorian Chants with the old song ‘Losing My Religion’.  It is a different way of hearing this song.

 

 

REM
‘Losing My Religion’

 

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you tryBut that was just a dream
That was just a dream

   Here’s the original REM video