The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.
~ Mary Oliver ~
I found my copy of this poem this afternoon. I was gifted it 3 months ago, kept it in a spot for treasures. Today I found it crumpled on the floor of my car, no idea how it got there. It was covered in dirt. I generally consider such occurrences to be a sign.
I wonder what it means? I have ideas, none of which I like. I am going to leave trying to figure it out for now.
“Do you believe in destiny?“ is the question in 12 days journal #168
There are no coincidences, that much I know. I am not sure about destiny because it seems to mitigate free will choice...I don't know. I am sure there are some Chinese proverbs that shed light on this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this picture..it reminds me of a time when Shawn and I were young and idealistic and pregnant... fantasizing about having kids and making them pay us for treats using beach glass.. 1 green piece= 5cent candy a dark blue a chocolate bar...
ReplyDeletetime goes by so quickly.. again thank you for living in your truth and posting everyday, makes you appreciate and expand time..
I've thought a lot about this question since you first posited it earlier in your commitments. I used to think fate and destiny were all that and that everything happens for a reason. Now I firmly believe that life is nothing but a string of experiences and coincidences and the only real meaning they have is the ones we choose to give them. I know that sounds a little crazy, a little bit like I'm denouncing all the wonder that life holds, but really, it's the opposite. There is something very freeing in just saying, "This happened and that's all there is to it." Yes, I still think it's important to learn from one's experiences and to try to make better and/or smarter choices the next time they arise, but some grand "plan" that just unfolds? No, I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteLife is really amazing and wonderful. I don't need to figure it all out or have a sense of fate or destiny to know that. I just need to take each thing as it comes, try to enjoy and experience it fully, take what is meaningful to me from it, and let the rest go, and then move onward, like a river, constantly flowing and moving...there is no purpose or destiny for a river...it just IS and it just MOVES and it finds its own path just by doing its thing.
Not sure if this makes any sense to anyone but me. I don't feel like I'm expressing myself well. But I guess the bottom line is that no, I no longer believe in destiny.