Ides of March: moods and meals

Ides of March & stories read or told

Neither that imaginative nor that artistic to put it to use, I didn’t need “calligram” from Anu Garg this morning, but his “thought” is even more intriguing than usual

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Beware of the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world. -Ben Okri, poet and novelist (b. 15 Mar 1959) 

because I read or tell lots of stories. Generally not fiction, though I enjoy some, including short stories such as recently David Constantine’s “In Another Country”. Mostly both fanciful religious and true personal reminiscences of real people. Besides my biblical trove that gets better and better as I read and re-read, three storybooks especially come to mind. A book of autobiographical sketches, essays, by an author who grew up in Wyoming and whose life has been even bigger a joy and a mess than mine. Another book is the same format of essays, memoirs, also autobiographical, by a professional film critic. Third, a biography of a favorite professor, storyteller, and rather rough, and I think naive, theologian, a book I love so much that I started it last September and am still reading slowly, bit by bit, piece at a time lest it come to an end. True stories about true people. What have I found besides them and me? That everybody else’s life is a soap opera too.

Seriously, what do I find in them, in the stories? Well, myself actually in many ways, better understanding of myself, my personality, my tentative relationships with others, whom and how I love and have loved, my being, my worldview and cosmic-view,  bits of theology, doubt, anguish and laughs. Others’ stories have helped me see that I’m fairly mainstream and not all that peripheral after all. Not entirely on the up side, I’m still dealing with how better knowing myself affects, deepens or improves bouts of joy and melancholy, occasional depression and manic of aging. When you are seventeen or thirty-nine but look in the mirror and see a grizzled eighty-year-old man, perhaps you may understand. I don’t, but a psychiatrist might have a field day making mincemeat.

Bible Seminar this morning: more stories. Luke’s passion narrative, Luke’s last supper, Luke’s visit with Herod, Luke’s scene at the cross.

DThos+ in +Time+

Top: sunrise 20160315
Middle: lunch on the porch yesterday
Bottom: sunset 20160314