Every once in awhile, the Universe seems to reach out and smack me with a concept. I figure I’m really supposed to learn this point because it will show up every where for awhile. This week it has been the concept of “One River, Many Wells” which is also the name of a book by Matthew Fox, as you can see if you follow the link. I’ve only scratched the surface of this book, but I’ve been intrigued since I read the title. The concept is that there is one shared Truth, but many different ways to arrive at that Truth. (The book describes “Truth” as “Divine” instead. I have altered it for my purposes here.)
The idea so completely encompasses my understanding of the religious world that it struck me. Ever since I began learning about ancient cultures and their creation myths, ever since I began to learn more about the many active religions in the world, the idea that any one system had the ONE and ONLY path to Truth seemed impossible to me. There were similarities to be found in all of the ones I’ve read, and the differences were matters of cultural diversity.
So, it was not a new idea to me, Matthew Fox simply stated it far more clearly than I’d ever heard or tried to express. To think of a single flowing Truth or Divinity that we all tap into in our own unique ways…that’s powerful to me.
You have a unique and delicious genius to share. You see this vibrant and vulnerable planet in your own strange way. You draw connections that make you wonder if you’ve lost your mind. Your fears are specific, and alien to me. We’re human kin, you and me and Murakami –when we dig deep enough into our own individual wells, we reach the same universal stream– but the places we’re digging from, they’re different.
It’s not enough to me that we draw from this deep and shared river of Truth, Creativity or Divinity, though. I believe that we not only receive from it, but we, each of us, feed it. Just as many tiny streams feed into the large and sprawling river, so we too have our own unique things to give to the greater Truth. It is not enough to see that there are many paths, we have to acknowledge that each individual path helps make the common Spirit stronger. The sharing of each Personal Truth only makes the Greater Wisdom all the more potent.
We’re somewhere around halfway through J’s summer break from school. The kids are bored with each other, and I’m bored of refereeing their constant spats. I need some inspiration for cheap and easy things to do with them at home! Getting anywhere in town is expensive these days and I’m trying to cut back to only the most basic trips from home. Combining trips is a lovely idea, but I can only combine so many activities in one day before I’m a worn out mess!
Our fish tank is providing some entertainment at least. We all three spend a lot of time staring into the tank, studying it, trying to see what the animals are up to now. Yesterday was an exciting day because we discovered two tiny snails. We have three large mysterio snails, but these little guys are different. They must have hitched a ride on some of the new plants we just got! I know that snails can sometimes take over a tank, but I’ve also read that they can be good for it, so for now, we’ll leave them and let them eat the foul stuff in there.
It was even bigger excitement when we realized that we have some fry in the tank! The only breeds of fish we have right now red wag platy (4 of them) and silver lyretail mollies (4 of them). Both breeds are livebearers and we suspected that the two platy females were pregnant within a week of having them home. I hope there is enough cover for the fry to survive, but if not, I guess we know there’s population control in the tank. (I know, that’s a horrible way to look at it!) We’ve thought about setting a nursery tank, but for now we don’t have the resources to do that.
I’m not sure if it’s the search for something to do or the realization that in about a month X will be starting preschool, but I’ve been weighted down with thoughts of what I’ll be doing once he’s in school. Toph and I have always agreed that when the kids are both in school, I’d start working - at least part time. This year is the year to turn my thoughts that way. X will only be in school for the mornings, which doesn’t give me much time to work a job, but it would give me time to write or do school work. So, I’m weighing up my options: either I pursue writing far more seriously or I get myself into a school program in order to get a degree. It begs the questions of what degree I’d get and what kind of writing I want to do. So, I have a lot on my mind these days.
For now, I guess I’ll succumb to the madness of life with my children. I’ve had requests to play with bouncy balls in the foyer (oi! I’m ready to hide the darn things!) and we need to go to the library today. I’ll have to get some pictures of my seedlings and some of the projects me and the kids have done lately.
Here’s hoping your summers are passing more peacefully than mine!
I heard this song on the radio today: Tim McGraw’s Live Like You Were Dying. It got me to thinking of what makes a good romance novel. Ok, Ok, I guess there are those of you who read this who can’t put “good” and “romance novel” in the same sentence, but I can. In a good romance novel, the hero and the heroine eventually seem to decide to live like they are dying….they love sweeter, they become the spouses they should have been from the start, and they spend time with each other in ways that people don’t in every day life. It’s part of the charms of these books, part of what makes them so escapist too.
It puts a new spin on what I’m trying to write. It’s something for me to think on.
I miss writing on here every day. Not posting every day makes the alphabet game drag on, and then I feel bad for not posting the next letter. So I don’t post anything at all. What a vicious cycle.
We spent Memorial Day weekend at my parents’ house, visiting with my aunts and uncles and my parents, of course. It was a weekend of family recipes. My parents had sangria made; my uncle Dave made empanadas on Saturday evening; my mom made frittatas for breakfast on Sunday. Then we had a late lunch/early dinner of my aunt Dot’s enchiladas that night. The next morning, it was just the four of us and my parents. My mom made coffee cake, like she and dad used to make when me and my sibs were growing up. Lunch on Sunday was simply leftovers (boy, did we have leftovers!) and finger foods: french bread, sliced pepperoni, sliced salami, porsciutto (I don’t know if I spelled that right. hrm.) and sliced cheeses.
The really fun part of the weekend was on Saturday night when my parents pulled out my grandfather’s old slide projector and slides. There were so many pictures of my parents, aunts and uncles as teenagers (or younger) and plenty of me and my cousins and sibs when we were babies/toddlers/preschoolers. It’s always fun to hear what the generation before has to say about those days. The stories they tell are fun and sometimes embarrassing. ha!
We came home from the weekend with 5 baby oak trees, a bunch of iris, and a tiger lily plant ready to be split. My dad dug them all out of his yard and gave them to us to use to beautify our rather barren yard. Toph and the kids helped me dig the trees and the lilies into the yard when we got home. The kids and I will get the iris in the ground sometime this week. J is very eager to help with that, so I have to do it some afternoon after she’s home from school.
Speaking of school, next week is J’s last week of fourth grade! It is amazing how time flies. Scary, kind of. She’s nine now, and as Toph likes to point out, she is halfway to becoming an independent adult of 18. Next school year, X will start preschool and J will be in fifth grade. My mornings, at least, will be my own…although, I will be devoting more time to writing, I still don’t think I’ll quite know what to do with myself. Get a job, that’s the popular answer. X will only be gone a few hours in the morning, though, so a job may not be feasible just yet. We shall see.
I think the writing sounds good, if only I didn’t have to deal with submitting and receiving rejections. No, it’s not even that that bothers me. It’s the research to find the people to submit to that leaves me feeling helpless and lost. The whole networking thing often feels beyond me, and the whole research thing takes up time I’d rather spend WRITING!!!!! I’ve got to get that balance figured out before too long, I guess.
That’s the update for now…life keeps on moving ahead, whether we will or no.
I added a new page to the blog, to be found in the top menu bar: “My Short Stories”. I’m working on migrating the short stories from my other blog to this one. You can find the first of them already there. It’s called “An Unexpected Reunion.” I’ve included a link to my other blog, My Muse Speaks Softly, in case you want to check out the others before I get them over here!
