Can We Ever Travel “Light”?

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Are We Destined for the Unknown?

When we are lucky, we come across a conveyed thought that speaks to us. This happened to me a while ago.  The quote was in a book called “Genius and Heroin” by Michael Largo. The book’s featured biographies gave me pause to reflect upon the lives or more aptly, the demise of a number of gifted individuals who had lived throughout history.

Writer William Inge, one of the many notables highlighted in the book, was both an Oscar and a Pulitzer prize winner. He is also credited with the declaration: “Death makes us all innocent and weaves all our private hurts and griefs and wrongs into the fabric of time, and makes them a part of eternity.”

In the grand scheme of things, can we rejoice in assuming that all the pain and suffering we have endured on Earth will one day be released – only to be found (or not found as the case may be) in that vast, immeasurable space called the unknown?  Is there solace in accepting this ultimate rendezvous with Destiny as our comfort food for the time being?

While Inge may have believed that the pathos of our lives will be forever intertwined in that eternal place called the universe, could the opposite be true? It may be presumptuous to think we are so important that all our sorrows and personal afflictions will timelessly live on in some other form – especially in that pristine place we call the Heavens.

When we reflect upon the countless number of people who have already departed from this world or who are currently living (over seven billion and still counting), we soon realize that we are talking about a lot of fragile egos – much like that proverbial grains of sand on any given beach analogy.  This doesn’t even take into account the incalculable number of future generations –  all those who have yet to set foot upon the planet.

Can we honestly believe we are so significant as to have a place ready to embrace us in the cosmos? Perhaps, it is already written in the stars.  Only Fate knows for sure.

 

 

Can We Make Peace with the Journey?

In the book “The Power of Myth,” Joseph Campbell comments “‘All life is sorrowful’ is the first Buddhist saying, and so it is.”   So, how do we find contentment on our own individual journeys?

Years ago, I became friends with a woman who had come to the same small town in Michigan.   Our friendship was bonded by a number of mutual interests.   And, we believed it was more than serendipity that we shared the same birthday.

When “C” died, she had few guests at the visitation, and a small number of mourners at the church service – many who were members of the same church which she had attended regularly.

Her one and only child, a son, came from New York City to arrange for her funeral.  He looked nothing like the black and white photo which had hung on her living room wall:  A composite likeness of a youthful Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan.  Instead, he was a middle aged, ruddy complexioned individual who had traveled to the Midwest to bury his mother.

While some might have viewed my friend’s circumstances as sad or lonely, a life that had little chance for happiness or fulfillment, “C” seemed to follow her path with ease.  In reflection, part of the answer may be found in how this friend embraced her world.

“C” lived outside the city limits on a less traveled, county road – a setting filled with trees and few homes.  A diminutive “Walden’s Pond” was part of her property’s landscape.

Before the great room concept was alive and booming, “C” had planned her home’s design so that her living room would be the largest spot in her very small house. This room beckoned for the centering of one’s soul:  The large, black wood burning stove was the object for meditative focus.  And the windows filled one’s vision with her paradise: Greenery and sky.

It was in this room where three to four of us would meet on a number of Sunday afternoons.   Since her interest was in Jungian psychology, “C” would read from her books on this topic – often from either “He” or “She” by  Robert Johnson.   Then,  she would engage us in the significance of the symbolism in these passages and stories. Afterward, we would drink Darjeeling tea – allowing the thoughts of our discussions to settle.

At the time, I gave little reflection to the real significance of these short-lived gatherings. But in retrospect, were those ideas and beliefs the foundation from which she positioned her life?

Like society’s never-ending quest for a Utopian world, are we ever capable of achieving the perfected wholeness that we seek?  Could there be a paralleled irony which embodies both society and Man?  Or is this instead our collective and individual  blessing?

Near the very end of the “The Power of Myth,” Campbell quotes Karlfried Graf Durckheim:  “When you’re on a journey, and the end keeps getting further and further away, then you realize that the real end is the journey.”

The Beginning, and Bon Voyage!

Hello, and welcome to the very first post. If nothing else, this will be an an open and honest dialogue of questioning and pondering Life’s meaning. It’s a journey we all share.