The Wisdom of Time

Time heals all wounds.  It's just a matter of time.  Time is of the essence.  You have time on your hands.  Time, O good, good time, where did you go?  I think that relative to the cosmos, since our stay is comparatively short, we have a fascination with time......a need to understand it, but mostly to control it.  When we are in pain, we want to speed it up and move on.  When life pleases us, we want to slow time down all the more to savor those wonderful moments.  Alas, we have no ability to manipulate time to our advantage.  It is what it is and as the tent-maker pointed out, it moves on.  The ONLY thing that we can do is learn to pay attention to each, individual moment.....to ignore no single minute in an effort to give greater concentration to another.  Gluttony will not do here.....no great, gulping swallows.   Each bite (or byte...lol) must be savored on the tongue....all flavors identified and appreciated.  Know every nanosecond intimately and well.  Count every moment as a friend to be loved.  Life should be your vocation, your calling, your profession and time is your vehicle.....that which carries you from birth to death.  Know it, care for it, appreciate it.   Death should come as a well-earned nap at the end of an exhausting life.  Time does not leave us behind.  We exist forever, somewhere within the context of Time, whose memory is eternal.

Death and Taxes

Once upon a time it could be said that there were two things we all had to face......death and taxes.  Now we know that if your accountant is clever enough, he will find a way to winkle you out of paying and if you are rich enough, your attorney will be able to keep you out of jail for it.

Death is the only thing we cannot winkle our way out of.  Oh, we may be able to delay the moment for a short time, but now or later we must all face our mortality.  Personally, I am on the short side of middle-age, the point where my goals should be close to achievement, my legacy established and everything readied to allow me to play my way out of my life.....hopefully to the point of exhaustion.  The idea is to meet death during an afternoon nap when I am fatigued from a full day of living on the edge.  Actually, I am not there yet, but I know I need to prepare for it.  Tomorrow......I will do that tomorrow.

The Wisdom of the Body

Based on my own life-experience, the observation of others and academic study, I have come to the conclusion that our bodies have their own wisdom and they speak to us with eloquence if we but listen.  Symptomology is the study of symptoms.......messages our bodies give us when there is a malfunction or dysfunction.  Pain and fever are two biggies, but there are many others:  nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, warmth, redness, alterations in the perceptions of various senses, changes in routine body functions, cravings, etc.  The list is remarkable in its vastness and variety.  The problem seems to lie in the realm of not recognizing body messages for what they are.
With minimal effort we can learn to recognize these messages and even develop some degree of understanding as to what they mean.

The Wisdom of Romance

Can there be wisdom in romance?  I venture to say that there are those who would say no, but after attaining
sixty-two years among the human species and a variety of non-humans, I would have to say, "Absolutely!"
For one thing romance alters our vision so that we do not notice minor flaws.....much the way moonlight or candlelight are so much more flattering to everything and everybody.  It allows us to get close enough to each other to learn the important things like character, moral compass, tastes, philosophy, political outlooks, religious beliefs.  These are things it takes time to find out.  Romance allows us not to be put off by superficial appearances, long enough to establish a life connection.  Yes, I would say there is wisdom in romance.

The Wisdom of Gardens

I have seen some really magnificent gardens in my time.  They include the rose gardens of Connecticut, the Tuileries in Paris, and a reproductions of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  My favorite is always the one at home.

When MaryBeth was little and I was trying to put her to bed, we would lie close together and talk about the garden we would plant someday.  I guess the original discussion was generated by the rising popularity at the time of that wonderful children's book, The Secret Garden.

We naturally planned a walled garden, but we planned a multitude of others, too, depending on where our fancies led us.  Our walled garden had one large oak tree in the northwest corner.  Then, there was a pond with great golden carp over which were draped three lovely weeping willows.  The walls were covered in climbing roses, bougainvillea, honeysuckle. morning glories, and moonflowers.  There were rocks around the pond that were surrounded by ferns,and lichen, like a velvet carpet, covered the larger ones. There were gardenias and night-blooming jasmine in abundance in each corner and nestled amidst all that fragrance were wooden benches where we could sit and absorb all that wondrous beauty.......a banquet for the soul.

We planned one garden for just roses......every color...every fragrance.....every size and variety.  There would also be both a kitchen garden filled with herbs, fruits, vegetables...and a medicinal garden.  We would be experts in these areas....get back to nature.  And a "white" garden where every blossom would be.......you guessed it...... white.

Gardens have a serenity about then.....even the wild, unattended ones.  They are one with nature and they
play their part in the eco-system whether cared-for or not.  Everything in the garden exists within the framework nature.  While we are in them, we do, too.

The Wisdom of Moonlight

Diana, the virgin huntress, is the goddess of the moon, which is my favorite celestial orb.  The moon rules much of our existence, from farming to romance, from tidal activity to mental activity, cycles both internal and external.  That is one powerful reflective device.  The moon is not a star which is why it does not create its own light, it merely reflects the light of our sun which is the "star" of our solar system.  Are you confused yet?  Not to worry,  Apollo is the god of the sun and rides across the daytime sky in a chariot driven by Phaeton.  They chase Diana round and round, which is another story.  People "dance" by the light of the moon, embrace and kiss, "moon-bathe".  They eat, sleep, dream and make love by her celestial magic.  Like candle-light, moon-light is flattering, frosting everything with silver, softening lines and wrinkles, and imbuing everything it touches with its ethereal illumination and primal power.  The wisdom of moonlight is ancient and eternal and endlessly renewing.

The Wisdom of Money

This is a hard one.  There is wisdom in money and other financial instruments, but only if they are earned, spent, invested, saved, and donated judiciously.  It can be a hedge against future times of famine, so to speak, a safety net, a life-saver, a protector and comforter if used properly.  It can be the motivator of the worst kind, inducing already weak and twisted individual to new depths of wrong-doing.  The only REAL value money has is the one we (society) sets on it.  In and of itself  it has neither meaning nor value.  It can accomplish great good, make dreams come true, save lives, but you already know the flip side.