Friday, July 08, 2005

You say you wanna Revolution

Lorianne over at Hoarded Ordinaries ( http://www.hoardedordinaries.com/ ) is right. Life is made up of tiny, daily things. Or as a very old friend, now lost, used to say “Life is just so…daily.”

Today we are trying a new medication to try to wipe out Max’s skin problem: Revolution. After three courses of Brand X, highly recommended by veterinarians though it may be, it is time to try something new. Revolution and a change of diet, lest we encounter the next whipered threat of biopsy or the more dire threat of big words like cutaneous melanoma. We live in hope that the simple remedies will serve.

Today I also had broccoli for breakfast, by choice. This is a mental breakthrough that is the end result of days and weeks and months of trying to make the right dietary choices. First get the high quality protein right, then aim for seven vegetables a day. Sometimes revolution in outlook can be shaped by thousands of baby steps.

And today I am wearing something totally different. I’m not sure it suits me. Linen dress over loose printed pants. Beads from Oaxaca and my favorite black nylon maryjanes for comfort. It's kinda hippy dippy, it might not be me, and yet I know that from time to time it is good to try on a new outfit, a new skin, a new way of being, if only for a day.

Change is seductive and frightening. At times in my life, I have been a change junkie and paid the price of that addiction. I have also leaped into the abyss--in the image of the Tarot fool--and enjoyed remarkable adventures. Other times, I have clung in desperation to the familiar. Whatever pose we strike, life is change, our very cells sloughing off or renewing themselves with that high quality protein, those garden vegetables we supply them. Truly what we are tomorrow is the inevitable product of what we choose today. Do we choose to cling or to let go? Well, it all depends.

Revolution's allure is that something happens outside us to make it all better. But the truth is that change is not always positive. Better we should get used to small changes in hopes that the big ones don’t kill us. Better we should accept the idea of change in quiet, solemn faith that in the end it will all be good.

Could we be wrong in this faith? Well, yeah. So what? “Better to live in faith lest we die in despair,” as my mother used to say, God bless her.

2 comments:

Zhoen said...

My beliefs are simply that, belief. I believe what I believe about the unknowable because it comforts me, and makes sense in my life. I do not hold this to be fact, immutable reality, but a useful fiction. Fiction as story, as I live the story of my life, as the stories explain or illuminate my path. Illusion that often dissolves into comprehension.

So I get frustrated by those who confuse stories that point at the ineffable, calling them factual data. Looking at the finger rather than where the finger points, they miss the point. They worship the sign, and stop seeking their path.

Your mother seems to have had something of the same idea. Keep the faith, baby.

Karen said...

I think you have it exactly right. We have the choice to believe in something or to believe in nothing, and life seems to work better for me if I believe in something.

I try to avoid the error of thinking my "something" is inherently true for all people and for all times...how could I presume to know that? At the same time, if I don't hold fast to what I believe, how can I claim real faith? My model is the Dalai Lama, who appears to have a lock on gentle, loving exposition of clear truth.

I like your image of the finger--the idea that we should continue to point toward truth and love. Thank you for your great comment.