How colorful the world!
People have said after cataract surgery How colorful the world! It seems colorful to me already.
:- Doug.
Archive for the 'Conversations' Category
two at once, kindly?
Can you be two places at once?
in a classroom cavorting among the cloud shapes out the window
in a business meeting doing a role-play
Can you be two times at once?
looking at a picture and being at your wedding years ago
studying your progress in savings and piloting your sailboat in retirement
Can you be two people at once?
while romancing using all your senses to experience your lover’s experiencing
arguing with your teenage daughter and knowing what she is thinking before she does
That you do these is no revelation
To do them kindly, that’s the thing
:- Doug.
In what frame?
What is my attitude when I think of the alternative in front of me? Am I eager, do I hold back, am I in some other frame of mind?
:- Doug.
and inhale
close your eyes
and look
close your ears
you can
and inhale
a world
in unnoticed flood
:- Doug.
in your arms
Dreamy your conversation
Early when your dream awakens you
Lay with it in your arms
Examining
Think on your friend
And upcoming conversation
Carry us into a new dream
:- Doug.
if you live
Invite a conversation and you will not regret it if you live. (Tip of the hat to Mark Twain in “Taming the Bicycle.”)
:- Doug.
accompany the river
accompany the river
stay 20 minutes
here
watch the river with the river
see
you already are the river
flowing
:- Doug.
Saying “You are forgiven”
Saying “I see you” to another, “Your pain has touched me” says more than the words. It says “The past is past, it can be overcome.” It says “Your past is forgiven,” even “You are forgiven.” Every time you meet truly another, hear them, receive them, you are saying exactly this. This repeats the radical words of Jesus of Nazareth, the words that so enraged the powers of the day. You too might get killed for repeating them. They bring life to the wearied.
Imagine saying “You are forgiven” to your opposing person in a political debate.
There are of course different levels of saying this, different words can be used. We have choice, can be blatant or subtle.
Pay attention today. Just how often do you say “I forgive you” in any of these ways? Just how often do you have the opportunity?
Maybe a major learning of our study of conversation is that we are engaged in forgiving one another. And in that, giving life. Give back to each other a newness of life.
:- Doug.
middle muddle
We’re always in the middle muddle: so we have no choice but to proceed without all the data.
:- Doug.
Commerce at the start?
Our picture of the American revolution is angry young men, entrepreneurs held back. Maybe it did not stem from despair and repression. Commerce at the start, conscience in the middle over slavery resulting in civil war?
:- Doug.
Satiated and numb
Today we are satiated. Today we are numb. It is the task in conversation to call us to pathos, to call us to feel, to call us to be here.
:- Doug.
