“We are on a mission from God.”
The Blues Brothers (The original,
not that crappy sequel)
I finished Steinbeck's Travels with
Charlie, again, and have started on William Least Heat-Moon's
Blue Highways and Carolyn Baker's Sacred Demise. These
books feel like conversations with good friends- sometimes sad
friends, but simapitcos.
Christianity has a saying, “All
things work together for good for those who love God and are called
according to his purpose.” Most Faiths have something similar, but
that's the best known version. For me, it's that smoothness when I'm
“in the groove.” When I'm not, it's like I'm constantly bashing
my head against obstacles and clashing with dunderheads.
As Joseph Campbell put it, “Follow your
bliss.”
It was that way with Garden Goddess. We
built the greenhouse, and things easily fell into place. People we
needed to know just showed up. Chances to spread the word competed
for our time. Not that it wasn't hard work, but it was work that
flowed.
That changed. Yes, our greenhouse
manual was selling. Yes, people were building greenhouses. Yes, we
had speaking engagements. But, we ran into more obstacles. People
started to get weird on us- Ones who should have been partners
ignored us or got in our way. Connections and plans that should have
worked out, didn't. We could feel that the context had shifted. I
started saying to myself, “My work here is done.” We needed to
rethink things.
With this trip and writing work, I'm
back in the groove. Improbable but significant people have just shown
up to be a part of it. I was prepared to camp, but folks all along
the way have offered beds.
Carol's story is Carol's story to tell,
but I'll just say that she's having similar synchronicities and
bliss.
“I'm off to get my life-sustaining
supplies- corn meal and gunpowder and ham hocks and guitar strings.”
Yukon
Cornelius, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
My, that preface got out of hand! What
I was originally going to write about was going for trip supplies.
Yesterday I went to the Big City out here, Willmar, population about
20,000. Don't laugh. That would have been considered a city anywhere
on Earth clear up until about a century ago- context matters.
As I sat having lunch in my favorite
Chinese buffet, finishing Travels with Charlie, and people
watching, I got the feeling of being in Rome a few years before the
barbarians invaded, or Pompeii before Vesuvius blew. No, not quite
Rome- they knew what a threat the barbarians were. There was an
episode of Doctor Who a while back that made the point- The
Pompeiians didn't really know what a volcano WAS. They had no concept
of the danger they were in.
Maybe both apply. Some people
understand what kind of trouble we're in, but most don't. The insight
that developed from last weekend's incident at the theatre, see my
Lessons on Human Nature, is that they literally CAN'T. Getting
angry and arguing with them is useless. It would be like arguing with
that pleasant Down's Syndrome fellow the other night.
We must each ask, “What am I doing?”
not “Who am I arguing with?” or “What fruitless protest am I
involved with?”
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