Everything alive is curious, humans excel in this trait. When meeting up with something we haven’t come across we ask … is it worth knowing: is it important, useful, is it friend or foe? Getting to know something is a kind of taming. We energise what we tame, and attempt to exert control over it, be it elements, animals, people, or ideas. Then again, when for innumerable reasons, which include changing priorities or attitudes, interest fades; we withdraw our energy from what we tamed.
Take this vat. Not having held water for some time – its wood shriveled.
a dried-up vessel
lacking its soulful function
becomes an icon
an exquisite memory
or inspiration
where in beauty of decay
new dreams incubate
as nature’s purpose rotates
Getting older sparks such contemplation, and the reassurance that a formidable self-regulating force is in charge of life – nature and its cycles of birth, death and rebirth.
Despite every greedy effort to control nature, there is ample proof it will only work for life if we honour the spirit behind the delicate interdependencies of its cyclic system, which in its wisdom continuously expands the consciousness of the one and only being.
‘Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.’ Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
Course of Mirrors 
Nature is the reaason man has come this far.
He better learn or he will regret it.
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Quite so … ☼
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Thankyou for this rush of the air of freedom Ashen. Wind blowing through a ruined old house, rain pelting out the rythmn of what has passed and what is to come.
Change is an illusion according to Einstein’s General Relativity. The future is a place already waiting for us. The new dwelling was already built and decayed before the Big Bang.
Just back in the bosom of my Zulu family after 10 days in the bush in proximity to thorns, lions, leopards, mosquitoes, elephants, rhinos, hyenas, a violent electric storm and, most intimately, to TICS!
Oh Mother Nature!
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Thanks Rob. Glad to hear you’ve been welcomed in the wilderness again. Interesting, and ironic that tiny tics surpass the impact of big beasts, evading control. Take care. Sending best wishes to your Zulu friends.
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Thank you Ashen for your words and Rumi’s xx Alice
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Hi, dear Alice, thank you.
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Beautiful, Ashen. I love what you say about a need to “honour the spirit.” Doing this does put so much into perspective…. Thank you.
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Thanks, Barbara. Yes, it should be obvious when looking at our planet from outer space, which confirms our oneness inside. When I saw the first image of the splendorous earth rise, I thought humanity would wake up.
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There is a certain thrill in the beauty of dilapidation.
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It’s a slow motion change, giving leisure for reflection. So sad that our runaway aggressive progressive culture developed such blinkered perception of beauty.
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Our striving for instant perfection tends to blinker us from the absolute beauty in aged perfection.
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That is beautifully put. ☼
Q: Why are you not posting on your blog anymore?
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A beautiful post, Ashen. Too many of us forget the importance of standing to look: this is a lovely reminder. Do like your response to the barrel.
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Thank you Cath ☼
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Really interesting thoughts.
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Thank you, Raimey ☼
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