#MicroPoetry|August ’18 Reflections

The image of water, anchoring and releasing are not uncommon metaphors for the personal journey of self-knowing and self-discovery. I suspect part of this is even when we are in places of doing things that might not be good for us, per se, they are nonetheless familiar. Yet there is often that silent and whispering voice that endeavours to inspire us to be more of who we long to be. This verse plays with the metaphor and introduces the idea of this journey not as an individual act, but one that is collective.

Choices and doors – these two concepts are sometimes used to understand the journey of our lives. Whether it is about self-discovery or collective collaboration, the image of a door and hallway are powerful ways to describe life. Playing with the idea of multiple choices, I endeavour to impart not that you/we have to go through every door, but to help us reflect on how to enter upon the path with intention. Perhaps, more importantly, with intention that we share corporately.

Balance: it’s a word that sometimes feels hollow. Or, perhaps, more succinctly has lost some its richness in a world that constantly reinforces consuming and doing. In this constant hubbub, balance itself can become a commodity, as opposed to an intentional orientation of choices that allow us to Be. In this musing, I am attempting to explore some of the choices that might be explored in the search for balance.

So many competing voices try to guide us. Whether wisdom from an audio book, a TV self-help host, a get-better book, there is a constant din that silences us from hearing the voice within. Though it is always there, whispering, it is easy to constantly be distracted from the wisdom you possess. To find it takes practice and intention and is in constant tension with those exterior voices. This verse explores what might be hear if we listened to that still voice within. This practice of listening, however, is not only one we do alone, but together it often can be clearer and more succinct.

Prayer and choice. Perhaps sometimes these two things might not seem connected. Or – perhaps – more clearly, they are not often intentionally threaded together. I love the idea of prayer as not passive or removed, but an active act: as a verb. For me this connects the act of prayer to the action that must follow. Without action, then I think we stand must consider that we simply foster injustice. With this challenge in mind, I am trying to explore prayer as the door that leads to the choices we make in the world.

Often imagination and logic seem to be used to contrast one to the other. They are presented as in tension as though it has to be one or the other. This can be unfortunate as it ends up implying not only that one is better than the other, but entrenches one other way that people can judge each another. It has been my experience, however, that you cannot have one without the other. Imagination without logic stands well challenged to be ‘fanciful,’ as it becomes difficult to translate the possibility into actuality. Logic without imagination leads to reinforcing what is and excludes the possibility for change that benefits everyone. This verse endeavours to thread these two together into one tapestry.

For this musing, I was inspired by the metaphor of dreams being paralleled with staircases and steps. If you fail to take the steps, but only focus on the stairs, eventually you will lose sight of how to get to where you are going. We may stumble or fall. Perhaps even more importantly, we may miss the gift of recognising the intentional and incremental opportunities to arrive at the top all the while having been in the present. Dreams are great and finding ways to birth them is amazing, but only being focused on the future and not now, leads to the loss of not living in the moment.

I am always exploring – expanding – metaphors for the Holy. The Universe has been one, recently, but I have also just embraced “expanse.’ This new word has led me to revisit fear, knowledge and wisdom and how they interact in the journey of life and the intention of self-knowing and awakening. This verse tries to explore that metaphor as a way to encourage and – hopefully – embolden the aspiration to be who we Are, as opposed to be who we are moulded to be.

Meaning and Purpose. These are central to the life explored and examined. For some, it can take commitment and time to discern that. For others, it is often found in revelation and epiphany. Sometimes, it slowly percolates, and other times is it is always present. With all of those possibilities of discovery it, the image or purpose of life as light or energy seemed like a possible way to explore how meaning might be reflected in this poetry.

Energy is a helpful way to reflect on our choices. Hopefully this makes space not to hear judgement, whether directed at ourselves or others. Energy, as an image, can help us recognise that until a choice is made there is no sense of right and wrong. In this musing, I am attempting to weave our choices through the lens of what we choose to create the world around us. Whether we nurture the social good or exclude and oppress ourselves and others becomes a choice that is hopefully more accessible with the use of this metaphor.

The concept that we are shaped vessels is a very old one within the Christian tradition found within its Sacred Scripture. Though this image of a person is well used and referenced, this verse plays with the idea further in respect to with what we chose to fill ourselves. Furthermore, sometimes I like to reference that to what we listen shapes what we hear, or where we place our focus is what we see. This musing continues that idea but with taste this time and hopefully serves to illustrate how important it is to be aware of the choices we make, as they determine the way in which we see and engage with the world.

Wonder: it is often framed to be the purview only of children and poets, artists and dreamers. This is a most unfortunate limiting of an intrinsic spark that binds each of us on this journey of life. Without wonder, I believe we stand in the danger of cynicism and isolation. Here, I am endeavouring to suggest that wonder is, in fact, a character in our lives hoping for us to recognise her. By implication, what might we discover when we acknowledge wonder in our lives?