A piece by Wendell Berry
The Looking Glass - A Woman's Creed by Robin Morgan Robin Morgan, in collaboration with Perdita Huston, Sunetra Puri, Mahnaz Afkhami, Diane Faulkner, Corrine Kumar, Simla Wali, Paola Melchiari, at the 1994 WEDO Global Strategies Meeting. Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO)
The Real Woman Creed author unknown.
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I hope you, dear, kind and gentle reader, will find those links interesting or inspiring, however they bring to mind another thought I've had a few times when my mind was engaged for a moment.
It's sort of a "you talk a good game" thought. I have known people who never espouse philosophical or spiritual baloney (unlike me in that regard). But they are much closer to being a good person than I'll ever be.
One of those people is my wife. Another that comes to mind is a friend of mine named Paul. Kind, calm, loving, kind hearted, good hearted, caring people. But they don't talk about it and they don't (as far as I know) read about it. It being how to be a good person.
There is something here I can't quite put my finger on, an idea that can't be grasped straight-on. Maybe like having to look a little to the side to see a dim star. It's not as simple as hypocrisy, but is there something about claiming, or explaining, or writing something that makes it less true?
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, as I crudely understand it, says that by measuring or trying to observe some things we disturb them and can never get a true picture. Maybe other things in life, beyond the quantum physics realm, are like that?
A couple more links...
Heisenberg - Quantum Mechanics, 1925-1927: The Uncertainty Principle. You can jump to the end to get a description if you are in a hurry.
And this SJAA Etiquette for star parties (the real thing not the Hollywood variety) mentions using averted vision to see a dim star,
"You can gain a couple of magnitudes by using averted vision, which means that you look slightly away from your target, above or to one side as works best for you."
I think I need to go someplace where it's perfectly dark and clear and stare at the sky for awhile.
For now, being a bit lazy and not totally unencumbered by other responsibilities I'll imagine I live in the desert, or on a mountain or I'm on the ocean, relaxing and looking up at the billions and billions of stars or that I have a bedroom with a big skylight/window over my bed, that gives me a view of the stars.
Anyplace that didn't have light pollution I suppose would do, although even a view of of city lights would be cool, but not in the same way of course, being human-made and all.
I think I'll go outside and look up.
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I'm back. It's cloudy and I can't see anything...plus my neighbor's motion sensor light came on. I'll just hang here a little longer drinking coffee and using tobacco products.
Mentioning Paul makes me think of the most important Paul - in my world-view.
That Paul was known as Saul until he met God on the road to Damascus. Saul was human all too human. He was a bad man. He persecuted other people.
He was completely transformed after his encounter with God, and became the author of many loving letters. You don't have to be a Christian to appreciate Paul's letters or the basic concept that any person no matter how evil, cruel, mistaken, hurt, or otherwise screwed up can be forgiven, forgive themselves, and change...sometimes, as in the case of Saul/Paul most dramatically. It's a good story.
