Light at the end of the tunnel

When trudging on and on through day after day with nose to grindstone gets overwhelming, it can be heartening to lift your head and catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. It can also be very worth your while to not only raise your gaze from your toes to gain strength from that distant light; if you look to either side you may spy another path to take that could quicken your journey or smooth some of the bumps from it. If you turn for a moment and look backward you may find encouragement from the distance you’ve already come and the obstacles you’ve already overcome. Choosing to acknowledge that there is light ahead and that you can achieve your goals enable you to insert patches of contentment, or even instances of happiness, into your daily trudging drudgery. There are some who choose to remain put upon or hopeless or to whine about their circumstances; that is their choice, we can change the way we feel by the choices we make about our attitudes; there are plenty of platitudes and clichés about this very thing – but at times we need a wake-up call to remember the choices are out there and that it is up to us to make them. Doesn’t hope trump despair?

Ruminations of an Amateur Philosopher

I have started another blog which presents some of the writings of my father, who doesn’t like computers. Please feel free to take a look and decide if you or someone you know would be interested in following the paths of the meanderings of thoughts regarding our motivations and actions. Here is the link to the blog: http://neelypardee.wordpress.com/.

Rock, scissors, paper

Each of the rock, scissors, paper trio seems as if it could be stronger than the next, then when you think about it, weaker. Each one of them has symbolic power of a certain kind and at different times may control different aspects of our own worlds. What these three symbols of power have is competition between physical power, shrewd wits, and intellect seasoned by luck.  However there is something stronger than all three of these major players put together and that overcomes all just by existing. Water embodies disinterested power. It can cover and erode rock, rust and bend scissors, soak and disintegrate paper. Rock, scissors, paper power can only become truly destructive of humans and their works when there is a human brain behind them exhibiting the signs of rock, scissors, paper attributes. Disinterested power such as is intrinsic in water, wind, or the sun may destroy humans and their artifacts, but it does not do so maliciously and does not deplete people’s self-respect. In some cases the destructive force of water and other disinterested powers has actually brought people closer together and heightened their ability to work together effectively. Just as the different aspects of rock, scissors, paper come together to make a fun game, those aspects of their power get played out in our daily world. The difference between the game and reality is that each of the current world powers feels it has an advantage over the others and, unlike rock, scissors, paper players, believe its imagined advantage can be parlayed into more and more power at the expense of others. To water none of the actions of strength, wit, or intellect matters; water just is and does not change. This true power shows balance and inevitability; perhaps the powers that be should take some lessons from such a force. For water will bend, then accommodate or move in a new direction, but it will never stop moving. It can be dispersed then flow back. It can evaporate and fall again as rain. Unregulated force will lose its strength, sharp wits will lose there focus, intellect will go off on tangents. Shouldn’t we save our respect for the elemental forces and take human powers with a grain of salt?

Shadows’ lives

I think there is a whole different world that lives in the shadows created by our world’s physical presence. Not a mirror world, but a world with separate beings that look and behave nothing like those in ours. It seems to me that they may all be living, even the shadows of mountains or rocks or buildings. When you look at your shadow, does it really look like you? Is that really your hair or the way you move your arm? When you look at the shadow of a tree, does it look like the tree? No, espcially if the branches are waving and the shadows are wild. Hardly ever does a shadow actually look anything like its author. Though the sun or other sources of light allow shadows to be seen, it really must be the blockers of light that are the authors of shadows. Once a shadow is there we have absolutely no control over it or what it thinks or will choose to do. I doubt we have any idea what shadows’ opinions are or what they may choose to do; the Yoda in the photo may very well be real and he’s enjoying the birds swinging down on his head from an alien suspension system. But we can’t know that. And we do have to tolerate whatever shadows do since we have no way at all to tell, convince, or order them to do anything. We live with that non-control every day; everybody does.  The shadows are not always benign either. The shadows on a playing field or on a road can cause accidents, shadows that look like they are in one place but are really in another can create havoc, too. The light-dark-light-dark progression is completely disorienting at times. Yet we deal with the positives and negatives of shaedows every day.  So why can’t we apply our acceptance of shadows and their behavior to other human beings, other countries, other regions? We have the capability to be tolerant and to carry on with our lives with shadows. If we can get along with shadows, friendly or not, don’t you think we should be able to develop a lasting peace with other humans?

Bugs’ bugs

It is known that humans get bugs and get sick. It is known that mammals other than humans get bugs and get sick; or bugs transport other bugs to us that make us sick. Birds and fish and reptiles suffer from illness because of bugs, too. But do bugs give bugs bugs? I don’t know enough entomology to know the answer to that question, but I certainly hope so. The bug above perched where he’s shown and didn’t move for almost two weeks – I didn’t detect any movement at all. But as a couple of doctor friends have told me, a treated cold lasts for two weeks and an untreated one for 14 days. So I’ve wondered if he had a bug cold; I confess, I hoped so just because I wanted to spread my own bug-suffering around. But there really isn’t any justification for wishing a misery on someone or something else just because you feel or have felt miserable. It feels good at the time, but doesn’t feel any too good later on if the memory pops up in your brain again.. It does seem to be true – misery loves company. As with so many things, once a negative topic comes up, suddenly it’s what everyone has on their minds. This can’t be healthy in many ways, from physical to mental. The mind is a powerful tool and it seems senseless to me to allow it to be used for negative purposes. Of  course, we can’t help being negative occasionally, or we wouldn’t be human. Making an effort to recognize the tendency or occurrence and remedy it should not only make you feel better, but may help others feel better as well. You could even be providing a positive example. If that sounds too good to be true, it probably is; we all have a bit of mean inside. Especially so when we’ve just caught a bug and have been caught up in the ‘bugged’ cycle once again. Fortunately it’s a cycle and we’ll come out whole again on the other side.  Don’t you think it would only be justice if bugs got sick from bugs, too?

Obstacles

There are times when obstacles may be a good thing. Some obstacles are beautiful or have hidden value that should be considered before judging them negatively. It is helpful to look at obstacles as if they are part of a fairy tale, that there may be a lesson to be learned or a  treasure, the kind you most want, at the end of the path. An obstacle may be about your own behavior rather than a hindrance to your purpose. There may be no shimmering reward, but you may grow and advance your inner self  by accepting the challenge or challenges  presented by an obstacle. Similarly, you may discover your limits and go beyond them by persevering in the face of obstacles. Or you may find that something you once perceived as an obstacle has changed in a positive direction.  If you’re a little person struggling through the leaves and stems above you may find that you’d rather spend your time exploring and appreciating the obstacles. This may divert you from your original goal but the new one may be much more beneficial to you. How would you know unless you give it a try? You may also find another to overcome an obstacle with you so that you both stand out from the crowd. Obstacles are really more opportunity than obstacle. Like so much else, how you choose to look at an obstacle defines whether or not is really is an obstacle. I prefer to think of obstacles as chances instead, even when one after another comes flying fast. It takes an effort sometimes to look for the positive aspects of obstacles, but in the long run it’s worth it to at least try. Isn’t it better to try to see the beauty in your troubles, than focus on the negative side of them?

The bell curve

Looking at virtually everything in life you will see that the bell curve can and does occur universally. From our galaxy and beyond, to the pattern of mold found in that one container in your refrigerator, the bell curve applies. Though we tend to think of them as such, bell curves are not exclusively reserved for grading or valuing people’s performances and attributes. For example, there are many trees in a forest and many different kinds of trees. If you look at their distribution you’ll find that trees of the same kind occur, smallest to largest in a bell curve as does the pattern of distribution for all trees. Or look at waves on a beach; not only are waves as they come ashore shaped like the curve against the curved shape of the shore, but the waves roll in in a bell curve pattern too: each seventh wave is larger than the others. The waves in between are not all the same size either but graduated largest to smallest then smallest to largest. Even the whole planet exhibits evidence of the curve with the solstices and equinoxes – the day/night changes happen fastest toward the solstices and slowest toward the equinoxes as with the swing of a pendulum. But it’s true – the bell curve does apply to behavior and mental tasks as well as the physical world. What we need to keep in mind is that although we all fit somewhere under a bell curve, that’s an interesting fact but not really important. It just is. We tend to let physical and mental testing play way too important a role in our lives, especially when measurement against a bell curve is involved. There are progressively stronger reactions (bell curve again) by the people at either end of the imposed curve that create standards no one could live up to. Nothing else, plants, animals, or stone even react to the naturally occurring curve.  We should ignore the bell curve when there are attempts to use it to categorize us. But we can admire the beauty of the curves that remain when the attemtps to categorize them are denied. Would you rather be categorized or enjoy the beauty of the bell curves all around you?