A Butterfly Searches for Chaos . . .

It's Odin's day . . . and the heat teaches us patience . . .

We are unwilling to throw the mystical baby out with the institutionalized bathwater. – Mirbai Starr

“The moving ever shall stay.” – Basava, cited by Brian McLaren discussing necessary disruption imbedded in change.

Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
things standing shall fall,
but the moving ever shall stay. — Basava

The Butterfly Effect

I dreamed I was a butterfly.

Now I do not know if I am a human

who dreamt of being a butterfly,

or a butterfly dreaming

I am a human. ― The Zhuangzi

Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s waiting out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it. – Pema Chödrön

Rita Dove turns 71 today. The U.S. Poet Laureate was born in 1952 Akron, Ohio.

Insomnia Etiquette

There's a movie on, so I watch it.

The usual white people
in love, distress. The usual tears.

… I get up for some scotch and Stilton.
I don’t turn on the lights.
I like moving through the dark
while the world sleeps on

… I know tomorrow I will regret
having the Stilton. I will regret

… all those years I could get lost
in anything. Until then

it’s just me and you,
Brother Night—moonless,
plunked down behind enemy lines
with no maps, no matches.
The woods deep.
Cheers. — Rita Dove, “Insomnia Etiquette” in Slate Magazine, Apr 3, 2012.

If your search is honest there is no doubt you will find what you are looking for, by whatever its name.

The mighty Quinn is the only maybe 'twixt on and off

It's Tew's day . . .

There are no yesterdays on the road. – William Least Heat Moon who turns 85 today.

Yesterday was the 56th anniversary of the anti-war riots at the Democratic National Convention in 1968. Garrison Keillor posted a reminder for those of us who remember, for those who don't, and those who might be curious. You'll need to scroll down, although Nemerov's poem and the piece regarding Christopher Ishwerwood's birthday are also worthy.

It's the 254th anniversary of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's birth. Perhaps best known for his concept of “dialectic,” the philosopher was born in 1770 Stuttgart, Germany, at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire

Today is the day Julie Andrews made her screen debut as Mary Poppins in the now classic Disney musical. The film premiered on this day in 1964 Los Angeles. Her birthday is just around the corner on October 1. Like today, it'll be a Tew's day when she turns 88.

Trump's campaign is floundering and can't seem to find the microphone switch. – Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from An American.

“Quinn the Eskimo” …no reason... just 'cause... Bob Dylan wrote it sometime between July and September 1967 in the basement of a house known as “Big Pink” a few miles from Woodstock . The original members of The Band were living there at the time. Manfred Mann recorded it too (a year later).

Paradox: An Invitation

It's the Moon's day . . . slowly waning toward “new.”

At one o'clock in the afternoon on this date in 1883 the volcano Krakatoa exploded. It was one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions in human history. The tsunami killed some 36,000 people.

Speaking of tsunami's . . .

The aftermath of Kamala Harris’s nomination convention suggested a transformation that goes beyond markets and jobs. — Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from An American.

Yesterday was the birth date of Leonard Bernstein. The conductor and composer was born in 1918 Lawrence, Massachusetts.

An introduction to paradox: a brief autobio from Fr. Richard Rohr.

Widening Circles

I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?

– “Widening Circles” by Rainer Maria Rilke, is from Rilke’s Book of Hours. Translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows, Riverhead Books (April 1, 1997).