Telling Things
I remarked to a friend recently that standing on this side of the book is giving me some different perspectives on my methods and motives, on what must have stood at the root of the writing those days in which I was "at sea" and convinced there was no direction to the morning exercises. I haven't come far in this new understanding, but have begun. One of Rebecca Blood's questions gave me an opportunity to say a bit about one of these "hidden things" I had been thinking about, related to some of those larger and deeper "telling things" that unconsciously guide our ships across open seas. I hope someday to say more.
Rebecca asked: What is the most telling thing about you?
Fred replied: Telling? Meaning a small but apparent feature in one's personal makeup that points to a larger and deeper truth about who and what they are all about?
One characteristic about me that is more or less evident on the blog and the book is that I am readily amazed and often in awe of nature, human and otherwise. This reflects a genuine and life-long sense of wonder--a trait that has made me, at times, a successful biology teacher and which sustains me as a nature-and-place blogger and writer. And what this state of mind tells about who I am on a deeper level is that, since I was very young, I've had the haunting conviction that what we see, think, hear, and "know" is a shadow world; that there are layers and layers of reality and truth below the surface. Along with C.S. Lewis and other Christian mystics, I hold the sense that the physical world of nature is not accidentally laden with true metaphor, nesting dolls of meaning or beauty to which we are often blind or indifferent. Someone long ago said that, in wonder, is the beginning of wisdom. To quote one of my favorite authors...
We have so little time in the present and there is so very much to take in and share. There are wonders all around. From our everyday lives, these familiar things may seem unremarkable to us. But in these precious instants in time, if we keep our eyes open and our hearts ready to know it, there is nothing ordinary.
From the Author's Note, Slow Road Home ~ A Blue Ridge Book of Days, by Fred First
Comments
I love that you ref. C.S. Lewis. I believe that what we see is a mere shadow of what really exists; that what we see is a mere representation of an ideal, which exists elsewhere.
Posted by: kenju | May 23, 2006 9:39 AM
i look forward to reading more about some of those "hidden things" when you have a chance to expound on them. my dad really instilled in me that awe and wonder for nature- not something to be worshipped and revered in itself, but how it speaks to deeper levels of self and points to something greater. our society, in general, has lost that connection with the land. hopefully that will change.
Posted by: Amy F. | May 23, 2006 12:15 PM
So would you define yourself as a Platonist?
Posted by: pablo | May 23, 2006 3:53 PM
>Fred replied: Telling? Meaning a small but apparent feature in one's personal makeup that points to a larger and deeper truth about who and what they are all about?
LOL!
Posted by: BJ | May 27, 2006 12:58 PM