Friday, August 3, 2012

Roundness


Haiku My Heart
August 3, 2012

Every Friday we gather. It's habit. It's fun. It's time to be poetic and share small moments of our lives with others via stories, photos and poetry in the form of haiku. To see more and find out to to participate, go to Rebecca's recuerda mi corazon.





The tunnel curves right
Or left from the other side
Which way will you choose
No, not talking about the upcoming election and which dogma you’re going to vote for when I ask which way you’ll choose. No, it’s more like the words of a couple of lines of the David Byrne song, “Independence Day” from his solo Rei Momo album in 1989, which fit neatly into the 5-7-5 haiku format:
This compass points in 
Two directions. And North and 
South are both the same

The yin and yang of all things. Or Einstein’s theory that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I believe it is that way in life. When an Elder passes to the next world, somewhere, a new life is born. When there is happiness and joy, somewhere is sorrow. Just like that tunnel, it just depends on which way you might be traveling on the road.

The traffic pattern in that tunnel may not be totally equal at any given moment, but can anyone tell me with total certainty that it doesn’t eventually even itself out?
I don’t look for this equalization pattern in my every day life experience, but I realized just today that I probably take it for granted.  Yet I sometimes feel it when it happens and places the karma directly in my path. Maybe I should pay more attention. Maybe the pacemaker was placed there, high on the left side of my chest, near my heart, and is working so the master plan can be even. Maybe we’re all just waiting for our opportunity to be a yang to some other ying.

I have felt out of balance because of the pacemaker thing. It has indeed affected my mind and is not just an apparatus implanted in my chest. I don’t know how many beats of my heart are generated by the electrical impulse of the Medtronic device and how many are my own and still generated by being alive.
And what about the roundness of life. There is no beginning. There is no end to the circle. There is no one in front or behind. At any place on the circle we are present. At any time in the cycle of life or standing on the round globe as the round Grandfather Sun moves in a circular motion and the round Sacred Earth Mother spins around with Grandmother Moon chasing. Does the pacemaker keep me in rhythm for a reason?
How the ocean waves and river currents round the edges of a squared off or oblique edged stone. How we wear, from our rounded fingertips, the edges of objects we touch, and over much time and use, turn the object into a roundness. 
Obscure thoughts? Maybe. But maybe they have come to me to say something to someone, send a message or just remind me how precious life is. Something I might have needed to hear so another occurrence could take place to complete another circle somewhere, in this life, on this planet, in this solar system, within the chambers of our hearts.
Peace

19 comments:

Bruce Miller said...

Sometimes with all the trees around here, at night the curving roads feel like tunnels. There's an imbalance, in that I can drive with my high-beams on if the road is turning left, but the oncoming driver can not. It does all even out with all the twists and turns!

Jeannie said...

It would be nice if there were balance - I don't know. It seems to me that life is very unfair to a good many people. Perhaps this is why the idea of an afterlife is so prevalent. A chance of a do over that can only be good. Or the threat of a bad one if you don't try your best this time around.

Still, there is yin and yang - but maybe they aren't equal.

Marit said...

Roundness... I'm working on a couple of artpieces with the same theme (more or less: the moon) I think you will like them! You're post isn't dark to me - I love how your mind works and the things you think and share. Your Friday posts are important to me Joe! Oh, and I love your former post too, by the way. I'm not on Facebook for the same reason (and a lot more - involving rules, policy and privacy.) Only my magazine is there on a 'business account' - I cannot believe what some people share online not knowing what happens with that information... but I don't talk to much about it 'cause when I do, I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. It's nice to hear another wolf (or is it buffalo?) crying back! We're not alone my friend!

Unknown said...

I will choose both way and if there are no left or right I will keep moving! That's life... keep fighting!

Amiko

rebecca said...

to be a yang to some other ying....How we wear, from our rounded fingertips, the edges of objects we touch, and over much time and use, turn the object into a roundness.
your post, each word an honoring of the roundness of life.
of being in the perfect place, no one ahead, no one behind. everyone whole and complete and necessary to the song of life.
today your words ring out with the realization that when we walk in love, when we offer peace, when we seek to just "be" all we are in each new moment we enliven each other.
your words remind me of skipping a smooth round stone across a lake, and how each circle forms and stretches out to touch the next until they all meet on the lips of earth.
today reading your words i cannot tell your your heart stops and mine beings. today as i read your words we are all one.
i feel so honored to be living on this earth at the same time as you.
i am a better person knowing the chambers of your heart.

Kim Mailhot said...

I have absolutely no doubt that your pacemaker is keeping time for you for an important reason. You need to be here right here, right now, sharing your heart and life and mind with this world.
(Hey, did you notice that pacemaker and peacemaker are pretty damn similar ? ;-)

Round and round we go ! Where we stop, nobody knows. I,too, am grateful you are here on the ride with me, Man.
Light, love and peace.

Lea said...

This is amazing... you have such a gift with words... evoking more than an image. I have never thought about a tunnel in this way before, and I love it! I do a lot with yin and yang, and I'm continually in awe at how much there is yet to see and understand, and take into the bones of our being. I am glad you are here to help us widen our circles, each beat of your heart is precious. Thank you so...

Mark said...

Oh, that tunnel! I have a habit of approaching them from both ends, but I never thought about that right/left curvature before. Hmm...

Jill Berry said...

I needed to be reminded of that roundness today, the slow curve that is constantly moving us up, over and back. Sharing the ride with you today, and so many other sweet Fridays.

carol l mckenna said...

I choose life ~ the moment, the nano second ~ Being ~

Lovely contemplative haiku and perfect photo ~~ thanks, namaste, (A Creative Harbor) on Blogger

Karen said...

I love your image, haiku and thoughts. Reminds me of "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell.

gma said...

So many great thoughts here Spadoman.
"And in the end, the love we take will be equal to the love we make."
My love to you.
xx

Fran aka Redondowriter said...

Joe, your tunnel, haiku and musings were definitely a message to me today. Into third week of traveling and have been thinking a lot about the circle of life. Look forward to hearing your port Angeles stor. My son's forest home is right out of the Hurricane Ridge gate.

GlorV1 said...

Very intense Haiku and so very reflective of life. Which way do we go? Thx for stopping by my blog last week. Appreciate it. Take care and be well.

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Are you saying that it doesn't really matter whether we go north or south; that we'll end up in the same place anyway?

Everywhere the Stars

susan said...

Yes, being present in the moment is best and most worth striving for. Do you recall Alec Guinness's last film? Being There was my favorite of all - so simple and yet so difficult for our busy minds to achieve.

Peace to you and yours.

Unknown said...

I am thankful for the tick tick ticking of the pacemaker....greg has one too...it`s a miracle I am grateful for. Here`s to that circle turning, unbroken.

Mel said...

Roundness.....

The sister was visiting the mother-in-law who wasn't expected to discharge. She sat, holding her hand, listening to songs play over the intercom--seems they play a song every time a baby is born.
She thought they should play a song every time G-d took one home.

Maybe they do--but they played no tune for the mother-in-law who'll be discharged probably Tuesday.
The sister counts it as a miracle--but the mother-in-law informed her that she spoke with her husband (passed on to G-d years ago) and she was told she's not done bringing to the world yet...but he'll be there to greet her when she is.

Roundness....there is purpose even when we don't see it.

Most days I'm grateful for that.

*hugs*

Grace said...

Nice perspective...However the left road may not always round up to the right road...different directions and you have to choose which way ~