Too Normal

William Blake’s “The Tyger,” published in his Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a work of Romanticism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Just because you haven’t seen something—doesn’t mean it’s not there.” ~ Narrator from movie “Epic”

One would think I would not go near the genre of poetry after last month’s demand of one a day, but this “poem” is one I wrote a few years ago and it reflects the fact that I want to live a more fanciful and magical life.

 I am a believer, I have faith, and I have hope, but none of these things come easily—hence the poem. I think by now you recognize me as a prose poet rather than one who follows rules, or writes pretty verse (though I would like to make that rise).

Here is the preamble I wrote to the poem “Too Normal”. Note to readers: you will not recognize this type of poetry. It is from the school of fractured thoughts, lack of discipline, metreless cadence, and incandescent whimsy:

 

Too Normal

My feet

are planted solidly on the ground

mired in the mud of

my own disbelief

 

My brain

will not accept

what it cannot explain ~

and it cannot explain a lot

 

I say I am open to the

spirits, the muses

the fairies

and the hobgoblins

 

But I am only of this physical world

Aware of what I can see,

feel, smell, hear

or taste.

 

Blind to anything I cannot see

Oblivious to everything but the obvious

I still have hope

that something will sway me

Move me

Make me believe

beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

I want to believe

there is something

More.

 

I do.

 

Bliss is being sure of what you believe—I have not achieved this totally yet—have you?

Would You Find Bliss in Reincarnation?

Hindus believe the self or soul (atman) repeatedly takes on a physical body. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s prompt from Michelle at WordPress~

Reincarnation: do you believe in it?

I don’t know.  In the last little while a fellow blogger (grosenberg Feb 7, 2013) talked about the fact that “I don’t know” is one of the most honest answers you can give. And I agree. When it comes to reincarnation, I just don’t know. I don’t discount it. I don’t not believe in it. But I also do not know if it is something that really happens.

I sometimes wonder why we are supposed to be faith based. Why do we have so many unanswered questions? If they were answered, would be sealing our fate as Adam and Eve did?

Reincarnation has a number of synonyms: rebirth, re-creation, reawakening, restoration, re-embodiment, recreation (I assume this is the same as re-creation, and not referencing activities such as baseball or beer drinking).

 Definitions generously provided by my Encarta Dictionary for reincarnation say that “in some systems of belief, the cyclic return of a soul to live another life in a new body”; “ a person or animal in whose body somebody’s soul is born again after he, she, or it has died”; or more simply “a reappearance of something in a new form”.

I like to keep an open mind. And I do not like to discount other’s beliefs unless they are harmful. Reincarnation is a religious concept as well as philosophical, and in those terms I am not prepared to reduce it to something I do not believe in.

Shirley MacLaine 1987. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find the concept fascinating. That we have more than one chance at life. Different chances, different experiences. If I have been reincarnated, I wonder what my other lives were—and why I don’t remember them.  Shirley MacLaine does. Maybe we should ask her.

Would you find bliss if in fact we knew there was such a thing as reincarnation?

~ Monday Musings ~ The Power of Possibility ~

FAITH (Photo credit: cacigar)

“Faith is the defeat of probability by the power of possibility.”

I heard a wonderful definition of faith on the Canadian television program “Big Ideas” a few weeks ago. It seems in this sometimes secular age we are not supposed to admit that we have faith in something—but this definition, by a Jewish scholar and Rabbi wrapped it up quite neatly for me. Rabbi Sacks said that “Faith is the defeat of probability by the power of possibility.” I love that. We are capable of believing no matter what our particular belief system is. The Rabbi also said that “nothing interesting is probable.”

The word probable is defined as “appearing to be true or accurate” in “The Thinker’s Thesaurus” by Peter E. Meltzer. My computer’s thesaurus comes up with a few more pithy synonyms for probable, such as: likely, credible, feasible, and plausible. In other words, probable has its feet firmly planted on terra firma, but still wants to hedge its bets.

On the other hand, the word “possibility” does not seem to have hard and fast perimeters. And I have found that wonderful if hackneyed saying “anything is possible” has so many delightful derivatives. Here are just a few, from the wise to the famous to the philosophical:

Anything is possible as long as you have the passion. ~ Guy Forget
Anything is possible in this world. I really believe that. ~Liza Minelli
Here’s proof that if you live long enough, anything is possible. ~ Barry Manilow
Never let life impede on your ability to manifest your dreams. Dig deeper into your dreams and deeper into yourself and believe that anything is possible, and make it happen. ~ Corin Nemec
The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible. ~ Ray Bradbury

Try changing the word possible to probable in any of the quotes above, and the meaning is just not the same, and not nearly as inspiring.

Possibility reeks of hope and aspiration with words like: option, opportunity, potential, and leeway, with a little risk and chance thrown in for good measure. You cannot quantify possibility; you just have to believe in it.

My favourite “possible” quote is found in the words of the Dalai Lama ~ “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

Do you believe in the probable or the possible? Is faith the defeat of probability over possibility?

~ ALL IS WELL ~

(Photo credit: maraker)

Bloggers make good muses! I am getting so inspired by other bloggers and what they provide on their blogs that it is hard not to use them as my muses.

Today on Misifusa’s Blog, (presenceofpresence) she offered her readers a short video featuring Louise Hay, the great inspirational and motivational author and speaker. This lovely lady is 86 and carries with her all kinds of wisdom—but today her words particularly hit home. She was being interviewed and gave some advice on how to deal with problems when they raise their ugly heads.

Louise Hay in London , April 2008, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ms. Hay says that when she is confronted by a problem, first she says “All is well” then follows it up with: “Everything is working out for my highest good. Out of this situation only good will come, and I am safe.”

She says that uttering these words “quiets your inner turmoil down enough to give the universe time to give us a solution.” Now, you can define universe however you want. For me it is a combination of getting my wherewithal together, combined with a little faith and hope.

The last question she was asked in the interview was:  “Where do you go from here?”

She said: “I don’t know. Life will bring it to me.”

And that is how it goes—life provides us with the next step—all we have to do is believe that “All is well.”

HOPE Sits Over My Closet

Hope & Faith (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yeah, yeah, we have all heard that “hope springs eternal”. Well, that is not true at my house. HOPE sits above my front hallway coat closet. Carved out of wood, painted blue, outlined in gold, and sporting white stars, it reigns over my house.

I have heard it said that if you have faith you do not need hope. I beg to differ. I think the two go hand in hand, and if faith is not your cup of tea, then hope is there to fill in the vacuüm.

The subject for this post today was handed to me by one of my favourite blogger friends, Heidi@lightlycrunchy. She was tagged by another blogger friend to write about hope, and she tagged me. Go see what she has written on the subject and you will be delighted. She has hope for the future, but some immediate ones too—delivered with her wry sense of humour and a recipe to boot.

There is no recipe in this tiny diatribe. Hope sometimes takes the desperate form of that old chestnut “this too shall pass” (though many times in my opinion, not nearly fast enough) and that gives me a kind of hope. But the hope that I want is the one that renews, the one that helps you face the day, the one that thinks “maybe this is the day (minute, hour, time)  when all will be well”.

My handy-dandy thesaurus that lives in my computer gives some synonyms for the word hope: confidence, expectation, optimism, anticipation, courage, and faith. Taking those words into account, I have confidence and anticipate optimistically that courage and faith will see me through my expectations. (See what I did there—used all those synonyms to create a sentence – talk about patting yourself on the back!)

I am not sure that I have risen to the occasion of the “tagging” but I have given it a shot, and I think that is all Heidi expected.

Anything Is Possible

Flickr Chinese Dragon Year Statue (Photo credit: epSos.de)

According to the Chinese horoscopes for 2012, it is the Year of the Dragon. But, if you are under the sign of the dragon, the year does not look all that great. You are warned to drive carefully, and are apparently “prone to accidents, small ailments, losses in gambling and speculations.” You are supposed to avoid partnerships, and romance is unstable—so much so that it is not a good year for a dragon to get married. Your Chinese horoscope is based on the year you were born—so if you were born in 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 or the year 2000 you are a dragon.

I was born in the year of the snake, and after reading my Chinese horoscope (in the Toronto Star) for 2012 was feeling quite disappointed until I read the dragon’s plight for this year. Then a thought occurred to me—I am not Chinese, thus the whole thing is moot. I am going to stick with being a Taurus, on the cusp of Aries—so whichever sign is supposed to be having a good day, I adopt that sign for the day. Truth be told though, I do not put much faith in horoscopes.

I heard a wonderful definition of faith on the program “Big Ideas” a few weeks ago. It seems in this sometimes secular age we are not supposed to admit that we have faith in something—but this definition, by  a Jewish scholar and Rabbi wrapped it up quite neatly for me. Rabbi Sacks said that “Faith is the defeat of probability by the power of possibility.” I love that. We are capable of believing this, no matter what our particular belief system is. The Rabbi also stated that “nothing interesting is probable.”

The word probable is defined as “appearing to be true or accurate” in my new book called “The Thinker’s Thesaurus” by Peter E. Meltzer. The book was a Christmas present from a friend, and I have to say I was very complimented that she thought of me as a “thinker”—at least that is how I am going to take it—rather than someone who needs help in this area. My computer’s thesaurus comes up with a few more pithy synonyms for probable, such as: likely, credible, feasible, and plausible. In other words, probable has its feet firmly planted on terra firma, but still wants to hedge its bets. As an adjective, the Encarta Dictionary says that it means “likely to be true, although evidence is insufficient to prove or predict it.”

On the other hand, to me, the word “possibility” does not seem to have hard and fast perimeters. And that wonderful if hackneyed saying “anything is possible” has so many delightful derivatives. Here are just a few, from the wise to the famous to the scientific:

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – Dalia Lama

Anything is possible as long as you have the passion. –Guy Forget
Anything is possible in this world. I really believe that. –Liza Minelli
Here’s proof that if you live long enough, anything is possible. –Barry Manilow
If you believe in yourself anything is possible.-Miley Cyrus
Never let life impede on your ability to manifest your dreams. Dig deeper into your dreams and deeper into yourself and believe that anything is possible, and make it happen. – Corin Nemec
The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible. –Ray Bradbury

With self-discipline most anything is possible. –Theodore Roosevelt

Try changing the word possible to probable in any of the quotes above, and the meaning is just not the same, and not nearly as inspiring.

Possibility’s synonyms reek of hope and aspiration with words like option, opportunity, potential and leeway, with a little risk and chance thrown in for good measure. You cannot quantify possibility; you just have to believe in it.