all is vanity - look on my works but don't despair

It is sunny and clear and cold outside - and I am inside writing. Today is a poetry and philosophy kind of day. A clear and sunny and crisp thought kind of day. A day for seeing far away. Thinking about the coming season of Lent in the Christian calendar. Lent is an extended time of refection, of thinking, of quiet. Like early spring, a time when a lot is happening, but underground where it can't be seen. Thinking about what is real and good and necessary. For a lovely discussion about the value of Reality check this interview on Bill Moyers Journal (a program I highly recommend - interesting guests - thoughtful and thought provoking discussions). Parker Palmer interview But then I began to ponder Parker Palmer's words about how his life work can never be done, that we are mortal. What is a life's work worth? Percy Shelly had a pretty stark thought about that in his poem, Ozymandias,



A thought that echoed the words of another poet thousands of years earlier whose wisdom became part of the collected religious teachings of Judaism and Christianity. All is vanity... Then I went back to Bill Moyers' guest, who said, "we need to live in the tragic gap between what we know to be true and what is possible." Turns out the London Underground voice is not just a safety message. It may also be a voice of wisdom, "mind the gap".

K