Saturday 4 August 2007

From black holes

Out in the friary garden, you may remember is a silver birch that is about five years old now. I had a closer look at it this week, and realised it needed setting free from the plastic cover that has kept it strait these past years. I carefully worked through the plastic with a sharp knife, trying hard not to nick the young bark (as if it would shout at me)? There was no doubt the plastic had to be removed, but what about the wind? It gets very windy in these parts and it is still a young tree.

Is it my intention for this tree to grow strait and tall and become a classic shaped silver birch?
I look around; and the trees I tend to photograph are the interesting ones, the ones that have been shaped by prevailing wind and toughened by the weather. If I were to grow a bonsai tree, I would try to shape the growth using strong wire frame etc (you experts can correct me on that one). We are what we are as a result of what life throws at us and often better - for the not so good stuff.

Brother Cyril has been off on one recently telling me about beginnings and ends and what it might be like to travel through a Black Hole (my goodness). He was carefully explaining his theory and I know Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle all spoke about the world being spherical; so I had some notion how these guys must have felt when no one took any notice. I was being sucked into Cyril's theory, what if he is right?

I am pretty much like the next man and live my life based on my life expectancy; with a load of life experiences thrown in for good measure. Now if what Cyril is suggesting is true, would this affect the way I live, what would change, should there be a change as a result of this new information?
"This is getting too much for my little head Cyril" and I left him down the garden.

But seriously, how do we respond to new information? Even now reading the bible, I see things I haven't seen before and yes it challenges me - even events in the newspaper challenge my thinking. How do I respond?
It is easy to turn a page, switch the channel or give some glib remark. Is anything going to change in me?
If an event in our lives results in no change, should it ever have happened?
Note: take two panadols tonight before evening office.

3 comments:

awareness said...

I believe all change in our thinking happens when our learning has found it's meaning. Like a sapling, it needs to find something to attach to....the earth hugging it's tiny roots....our learning needs to attach to our previous learning in order for us to make sense of it.

Sometimes, we will read something new and it won't be for a long time until the light bulb turns on....that aha moment when learning becomes relevant.

I wrote a piece about understanding Grace which kind of reflects what I am trying to say here.......when I finally opened my heart and thoughts to reflecting on what grace may mean, I was floored by a memory of an experience which has occured 20 years before and was only a slip of a moment.....my learning connected to this one moment and made it all the more relevant.

I'll look up the date on the piece if you're interested in reading it.

take care........

J Pearson said...

Thank you for your reflection. I am fascinated by the moment knowledge (wisdom) becomes a reality. It is as if it has always been there.

Grace is an interesting commodity, I would love to hear about that, please drop me a link.

Good to hear you are back and enjoyed the break.

awareness said...

Hi there....here is the link to the piece I was referring to. It was also published on the New Brunswick CBC website as a contribution to a week they were doing on "finding faith." I had just written it as a starting point to returning to finding my own faith. One of the many wonderful aspects of this one little piece of writing is that it has reconnected me with a few old friends I have lost touch with who have googled my real name and have found me through the link.

I love how writing down my thoughts on grace has offered me new moments of feeling God's grace. The process has strengthened my belief in a Higher Power again......something I had dismissed for a long time.

I hope you enjoy it. here it is....

http://mayfairplace.blogspot.com/2005/11/recognizing-grace.html

dana