‘Reading the morning newspaper is the realist’s morning
prayer. One orients one’s attitude towards the world either by God or by what
the world is. The former gives as much security as the latter, in that one
knows how one stands.’ Hegel (quoted by Drew Milne from Foul Papers).
Wang Xiancheng, a Ming Imperial Envoy and poet retired to
his birthplace Suzhou after a hazardous career in the bureaucracy and in 1510 began work on his ‘Humble
Administrator's Garden’. It is a beautiful garden, but in the 35 years between
my visits has become much busier, because it is so wonderful. A shame, a garden
like that is for peace, refection, thinking, writing, painting.
Why did I build an Asian garden between our rainforest and
orchard
and beneath the forest of towering Blackbutts and
Bloodwoods?
It’s humble work, using touch, so no gloves, watching for
Funnelwebs,
Black Widows, and Scolopendrids, the large aggressive
centipedes
just to pick weeds and gather leaves the forest continually
sends me.
It’s ritual, claiming a piece of ground as separate and as
aesthetic experience
in and of itself, the absurd labour is all part of the
articulation.
‘I also believe that a lack of anger—a lack of moral rage—is
partially to blame for how we got here. Yes, the Trump supporters were plenty
angry at the media, the Jews, the blacks, the immigrants, etc. But where was
the anger directed toward this hateful candidate? Where was the anger at every
last one of his supporters and enablers in the Republican Party? For a culture
that so often appears tiresomely judgmental, the inability to make an instant,
withering judgment about this monstrous man should be a mark of eternal shame.’
Isaac Chotiner, ‘How Could We Have Let This Happen?’, Slate, Nov 10
In Kyoto, nearly thirty years ago, spending time in a Zen
garden,
gravel and bare rocks white as skin, except for one covered
by moss,
one magical rock among lifeless stones then a young monk
appeared in traditional black Samue, geta (wooden clogs)
and a watering can, and he poured as if seducing the moss -
water became life-giving, the green moss became our biome,
a simple performance with practiced daily ease blessed
presence.
‘The US as we have known it, in all its guilt and glory, has
become a giant insult: to women and people of colour, to its continental
neighbours and its allies, to its traditions of enlightenment and scientific
rationality, to a planet threatened by the climate change he denies, above all
to its own intelligence.’ Fintan O’Toole, ‘The United Hates of America has
raised its middle finger to the world’, Irish Times, Nov 10.
soothing and righteous - love it.
ReplyDeleteYes, where is the anger? Where is the no? Where have all the No!s gone?
ReplyDeletePowerful stuff :)
ReplyDelete