April 25, 2013

Things I do.

It's been said, By John Donne (and I'm sure that we could include the women folk in this phrase) that; "No man is an island". Hell, even Hemingway believed it and adopted a few of the lines from this poem as the title of his book: For Whom The Bell Tolls, so who am I to disagree?
Yet I do!
I live my life and spend my days encapsulated and travelling from place to place confined within the physical structure of my body and the fantastical limits of my imagination...That itself is an island.
An island by definition will have a shoreline due to it being surrounded by elements that don't share the same physical or spiritual properties that it has and therefore is isolated due to encapsulation of that same said material; whether it be physical or moral, ephemeral or permanent.

There are times when passing boats may dock in my harbor, storms wash up detritus on my beaches or the crashing waves erode my cliff faces, but that doesn't alter the fact that I am a singular entity much like the particles that make up the atoms that make up the molecules that make up my physical self. There are forces and attractions which promote stability and create the fabric of our world and it's social infrastructure.

Wait! Now, hold on. Did I just contradict myself? Oh, shit, I did!!
Now I have to rethink this whole damned idea before I become as contradictory as Thoreau or prohibitively one sided as Ayn Rand.

Are we all in this thing together or not? If so, what exactly is my part to play? Do I have to worry that if I don't put on my socks in the morning a clothing factory in Rangoon will close down? I'm getting a little dizzy here and it's not just from the copious amounts of whiskey I dring brink, fuck, swill. I mean I'm starting to feel a little like a ping pong ball being slapped around by the Chinese national Olympic team.

Hmm, looks like I'm not gonna find the answer to many of the questions that bounce around in my head, but I sure do enjoy thinking about them.
How about you?
What's tickling your cerebellum these days???

7 comments:

dianne said...

There are no answers for some of the questions in life that we ask but they are interesting to think about.
We are all made of the same atoms and molecules but our emotions and imaginations are entirely our own and make us whom we are.
We are all influenced by our experiences and surroundings, they all add to the 'self' and enrich our lives.
xoxoxo ♡

Serena said...

I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I saw on my sidebar that there were new posts on your blog. Yay!

I don't know about you, but I now seem to be in a place where there are more questions than answers. Some days it's just maddening.:)

lime said...

what's tickling my cerebellum (ie what am i ENJOYING thinking about) hhmm....not a whole lot. the things occupying my thoughts and requiring mental energy are really frustrating the hell out of me. though on the occasions when a student wants to talk about a book or gets a light in their eye when i challenge them to think about what they've read....that's really a good brain tickle. i just wish the powers that be had a sense that this was more important than having kids hunch over desks filling in bubble sheets for two weeks. that this is the sort of thing that matters.

NYD said...

I really love reading the comments to this blog. They usually offer an alternative "take" on my original train of thought and are, more often than not, worthy of expansion on a post of their own. Thanks Ladies!

The Grunt said...

This is what has been going on with me: ???

It's a good thing I like asking questions.

Mayden' s Voyage said...

We are like islands in the way you wrote of...individuals trapped in our own little worlds, yet floating around independently, but covered in a sort of membrane (much like a blood cell) which is permeable. We receive information and energy, as well as give information and energy. But rather than being an island, I more think of us like rubber ducks in a big tub...surrounded by water, bumping into each other on occasion :) We ARE all in this thing together, but also, at times, very much alone. (Perhaps the blood cell idea is actually better than rubber ducks, but the ducks are cuter!)

I wish, often, when I'm alone and thinking of someone one far away (blog friends, dead loved ones, or people who live in Alaska :) that there was a way to break through the barrier of time, space, and location and simply communicate. Sometimes I do speak, almost prayer like, to the person I'm thinking of. The alternative, of course, is texting- which is almost as good, except it doesn't seem to work with the dearly departed or bloggers in other countries. I guess this is why we have computers and email? ;)

Above all- what I read and feel in this post is about connection, as well as lack thereof. It's the thing that tickles my brain too...wondering how and where I fit in, especially now that my "place" in the world is radically changing as I watch my kids go and emerge into adulthood. My baby rubber ducks aren't paddling behind me anymore...I'd better stop now. I might get all mushy and start writing my own blog post...
♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mayden' s Voyage said...

We are like islands in the way you wrote of...individuals trapped in our own little worlds, yet floating around independently, but covered in a sort of membrane (much like a blood cell) which is permeable. We receive information and energy, as well as give information and energy. But rather than being an island, I more think of us like rubber ducks in a big tub...surrounded by water, bumping into each other on occasion :) We ARE all in this thing together, but also, at times, very much alone. (Perhaps the blood cell idea is actually better than rubber ducks, but the ducks are cuter!)

I wish, often, when I'm alone and thinking of someone one far away (blog friends, dead loved ones, or people who live in Alaska :) that there was a way to break through the barrier of time, space, and location and simply communicate. Sometimes I do speak, almost prayer like, to the person I'm thinking of. The alternative, of course, is texting- which is almost as good, except it doesn't seem to work with the dearly departed or bloggers in other countries. I guess this is why we have computers and email? ;)

Above all- what I read and feel in this post is about connection, as well as lack thereof. It's the thing that tickles my brain too...wondering how and where I fit in, especially now that my "place" in the world is radically changing as I watch my kids go and emerge into adulthood. My baby rubber ducks aren't paddling behind me anymore...I'd better stop now. I might get all mushy and start writing my own blog post...
♥♥♥♥♥♥