Kev's Musings and Shared Journal

T h e F o r e s t

The young boy had walked most the morning and had come to the treeline of a great, deciduous forest.
He paused at the boundary to take a standing rest. He looked behind him and there was the widened and narrowed and hilly path he had hiked.
He returned his gaze and looked before him. The forest was thick and had no apparent paths winding through it.
The boy looked at the sky and saw the sun was high up in the air and he knew it would be soon on it's way to going down.
The boy checked his pockets. He had not thought early on to bring his compass, as he didn't know he may eventually leave the path.
Aftere a thought, he stepped into the treeline and began making his way into the forest.
The boy's father had taught him to recognize trees.
He recognized Oaks and Maples and a Sycamore with a white trunk.
As he made his way into the trees, he realized he would be doing lots of climbing and stepping over, as there were many fallen trunks along the way.
Feeling brave and energetic, the boy pressed on and continued further and further into the forest.
After about an hour of hiking through the trees, the boy stopped at a felled trunk to take a rest.
He had spent the time walking further and further in, swiping away branches that inevitably cut at his face and climbing over trunks.
The boy had no backpack with water in it. Or food to nibble on.
So he just sat quietly on the trunk and listened.
There were no cars driving nearby.
There was no running water of a stream.
There were just forest sounds.
Birds chirping sleepily, the wind blowing through the branches and the leaves of the trees.
But mostly, there was silence.
The boy looked behind him.
All he could see were the trees and the fallen trunks.
There was no path.
He began to wonder, which way did he come in?
The boy looked all around him.
Trees, were all he could see.
In every direction he looked, the forest looked the same.
Great, sturdy Oaks and Maples and Evergreens, their branches reaching out to one another in an apparent atttempt to block the sky.
The boy was not afraid.
Though this was the longest hike he had ever been on, he still felt brave and energetic.
He, peeking through the great limbs, was still able to see the sun.
It appeared to have not moved.
How long had he been in the forest?
It felt like a long time, but the sun's position in the sky indicated otherwise.
The boy thought about what would happen if he got hungry.
'Why, I'll just eat a pine cone' he thought.
'Or maybe kill one of these racooons or rabbits I've seen along the way and cook them over a fire I'll start by rubbing two sticks together.'
But the boy was not hungry. Or thirsty. He breathed in the forest air and without knowing it, felt completely alive.
After a moment, the boy got up from the trunk to continue on.
Deep inside, he knew which direction to take and stood to continue his long hike.
The boy noticed the trees were a little less thick, and felt he must be getting close to the other side of the deciduous forest.
He walked along his own path, humming a tune to himself along the way.
The boy saw many things he had never seen before.
At one point, a deer had walked up to within two feet of him and stopped to stare.
The boy had stopped to stare at the deer as well, even looking into it's deep, black eyes.
Soon a fawn had come behind the deer, it's mother, and the three had stood with each other for what seemed to be a long time.
Getting bored, the boy had moved on, for he knew the deer and the fawn would eventually run away anyway.
As the trees got thinner, the boy became a little confused.
For though he should be coming out the other side, he could hear no cars or see no people or houses in the distance.
For though the forest was thinning, all he could see before him were more trees.
Eventually, after about a half an hour of hiking, there suddenly was a clearing in the forest and at the center of the clearing there was a body of water that wasn't a lake or wasn't a pond.
The boy now realized this is why the trees had been thinning.
It was not because he was coming out the other side, but because there was a clearing and a body of water.
He was in the center of the forest.
He still was not hungry.
Or thirsty.
The boy made his way to the pool of water, kneeling on his knees before his final approach to the still, still water that lay before him.
The boy peered over the edge of the water and looked in.
When he did, all he saw was the sky reflected in the quiet water.
He did not not see his own reflection where his head should be.
He just saw the sky.
Curious now, the boy rolled over onto his back to look at the sky.
His head was craning over the water as he did so.
The sky, as he thought when he looked in the water, looked like the pool of water.
It was clear and blue and green, and the sun was not there and there were no clouds.
The boy stared at the water and the sky, and the sky and the water, for what seemed just a moment more, and thought how curious the whole thing was.
Suddenly, he did see the sun overhead and realized the sun had not seemed to move.
What time was it?
How long had he been in the forest?
It felt like it had been three quarters of a day, but the sun's position in the sky indicated otherwise.
The boy, deep inside, knew it was time to move on.
Though he felt no fear and was not tired, he knew his mother would be looking for him, as he felt he had been away from home for a long, long time.
As the boy made his way around the deep pool of water, he could now see towering trees in the reflection of the glass surface.
A leaf that had blown from a tree softly landed on the water and created concentric rings around it that pushed for the water's edge.
Once around the water, the boy faced more trees, a scene that looked exactly like the one he had already been through.
He did not know how much further he had to go.
He knew his arms and face would get scratched by brush and little tree limbs.
He knew he would have to climb over trunks.
He knew he would see more racoons and rabbits and deer along the way.
He knew, though he was lost, he wasn't really.
For deep down, the boy just knew the way home.
And with that, the boy stepped around the last of the deep, reflecting pool of water, and quietly began his journey home.

THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS

1. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Dæmons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them.
p. 2
4. Honour likewise thy parents, and those most nearly related to thee.
5. Of all the rest of mankind, make him thy friend who distinguishes himself by his virtue.
6. Always give ear to his mild exhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.
7. Avoid as much as possible hating thy friend for a slight fault.
8. [And understand that] power is a near neighbour to necessity.
9. Know that all these things are as I have told thee; and accustom thyself to overcome and vanquish these passions:--
10. First gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.
11. Do nothing evil, neither in the presence of others, nor privately;
12. But above all things respect thyself.
13. In the next place, observe justice in thy actions and in thy words.
14. And accustom not thyself to behave thyself in any thing without rule, and without reason.
15. But always make this reflection, that it is ordained by destiny that all men shall die.
p. 3
16. And that the goods of fortune are uncertain; and that as they may be acquired, so may they likewise be lost.
17. Concerning all the calamities that men suffer by divine fortune,
18. Support with patience thy lot, be it what it may, and never repine at it.
19. But endeavour what thou canst to remedy it.
20. And consider that fate does not send the greatest portion of these misfortunes to good men.
21. There are among men many sorts of reasonings, good and bad;
22. Admire them not too easily, nor reject them.
23. But if falsehoods be advanced, hear them with mildness, and arm thyself with patience.
24. Observe well, on every occasion, what I am going to tell thee:--
25. Let no man either by his words, or by his deeds, ever seduce thee.
26. Nor entice thee to say or to do what is not profitable for thyself.
27. Consult and deliberate before thou act, that thou mayest not commit foolish actions.
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28. For it is the part of a miserable man to speak and to act without reflection.
29. But do that which will not afflict thee afterwards, nor oblige thee to repentance.
30. Never do anything which thou dost not understand.
31. But learn all thou ought'st to know, and by that means thou wilt lead a very pleasant life.
32. in no wise neglect the health of thy body;
33. But give it drink and meat in due measure, and also the exercise of which it has need.
34. Now by measure I mean what will not incommode thee.
35. Accustom thyself to a way of living that is neat and decent without luxury.
36. Avoid all things that will occasion envy.
37. And be not prodigal out of season, like one who knows not what is decent and honourable.
38. Neither be covetous nor niggardly; a due measure is excellent in these things.
39. Do only the things that cannot hurt thee, and deliberate before thou dost them.
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40. Never suffer sleep to close thy eyelids, after thy going to bed,
41. Till thou hast examined by thy reason all thy actions of the day.
42. Wherein have I done amiss? What have I done? What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43. If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it;
44. And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.
45. Practise thoroughly all these things; meditate on them well; thou oughtest to love them with all thy heart.
46. 'Tis they that will put thee in the way of divine virtue.
47. I swear it by him who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred Quaternion, the source of nature, whose cause is eternal.
48. But never begin to set thy hand to any work, till thou hast first prayed the gods to accomplish what thou art going to begin.
49. When thou hast made this habit familiar to thee,
50. Thou wilt know the constitution of the Immortal Gods and of men.
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51. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains and binds them together.
52. Thou shalt likewise know that according to Law, the nature of this universe is in all things alike,
53. So that thou shalt not hope what thou ought'st not to hope; and nothing in this world shall be hid from thee.
54. Thou wilt likewise know, that men draw upon themselves their own misfortunes voluntarily, and of their own free choice.
55. Unhappy that they are! They neither see nor understand that their good is near them.
56. Few know how to deliver themselves out of their misfortunes.
57. Such is the fate that blinds mankind, and takes away his senses.
58. Like huge cylinders they roll to and fro, and always oppressed with ills innumerable.
59. For fatal strife, innate, pursues them everywhere, tossing them up and down; nor do they perceive it.
60. Instead of provoking and stirring it up, they ought, by yielding, to avoid it.
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61. Oh! Jupiter, our Father! if Thou would'st deliver men from all the evils that oppress them,
62. Show them of what dæmon they make use.
63. But take courage; the race of man is divine.
64. Sacred nature reveals to them the most hidden mysteries.
65. If she impart to thee her secrets, thou wilt easily perform all the things which I have ordained thee.
66. And by the healing of thy soul, thou wilt deliver it from all evils, from all afflictions.
67. But abstain thou from the meats, which we have forbidden in the purifications and in the deliverance of the soul;
68. Make a just distinction of them, and examine all things well.
69. Leaving thyself always to be guided and directed by the understanding that comes from above, and that ought to hold the reins.
70. And when, after having divested thyself of thy mortal body, thou arrivest at the most pure Æther,
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71. Thou shalt be a God, immortal, incorruptible, and Death shall have no more dominion over thee.

Life is not the by-product of the Universe.
The Universe is the Product of Life.
-Evelyn Underhill in 'Mysticism'
Paraphrased I'm sure.

If Only
____________________________


If you only look long enough,
you'll see spiralled shells in the desert
and laying on the mountaintops
among evergreen pine needles.

If you only hear long enough,
you'll hear Mozart's symphony
in the midst of industry
wafting through polluted air.

If you only feel long enough,
you'll feel you laugh when you should cry,
feel pain when you should be joyed,
feel none when you are most sensitive.

If you only taste long enough,
you'll taste watermellon in lieu
of the spiciest hot tamale
and think how your tongue buds grew.

If you only smell long enough,
you'll smell honeysuckle not rose,
and instead of rose you'll smell toes,
and instead of toes who knows?

And if you only live long enough,
you'll hear stop signs while driving
you'll smell water when diving
and be giving while conniving.

If Only.