Questions

I am here and home after my short time in hospital. Such is the wonder of modern medicine and keyhole surgery. It will be some time before I can run and even be pain free. But time and nature are wonderful healers. Before this horrible episode happened I wrote a poem on here with one of my artworks. I was overwhelmed by the comments made, and yes I did agree that it was rough in places. I have never claimed to be a wordsmith or a poet, for that matter an artist either. This blog was never set up to make any of those claims just to share my thoughts and feelings with one or two people and have some feedback.


Just before the pain hit and became quickly unbearable two things occurred. Susan encouraged me to consider some of my other art and to share in poem the thinking behind it. I said to her I did not think I possessed the needed skills but she encouraged me to try. The next day or so Barbra showed a beautiful picture on her blog and I could not resist writing about it. We posted a joint venture, her picture my words and the comments have warmed my healing. It was not so long ago she drew one of my pictures. Is it not amazing how this world of blogging allows such ventures. Maybe we should be seeking more collaborative happenings?

I am not sure I will be able to post every day this one has taken a bit of time to put together. Sitting for any length gets very painful. I will post when I can and comment on other blogs as and when I can.

Can I once again thank you one and all for your support, words and concern. It has made the whole thing bearable, well more so.

I will post the picture here above and on my other blog will simply post the thoughts that lie behind it and why I painted it.

It is a painting I enjoyed doing and I hope the words tell you why. I still have it as it remains unsold.

This blog is linked to my other where I will share the thoughts and words of this artwork.

Questions

A Tale for Kay

It seems that yesterdays post struck one or two chords. There were so many comments that moved me to think deeply. Having read the story that Kay related I feel that today I have to share a similar tale. I cannot tell you the name of the person so I will just say that he was a very close relative.


He was married and had a family, and yet he was abusing alcohol to such an extent he was spending everything he had in its pursuit. Every thought he had was related to this pursuit. If you asked him what time it was he would tell you it was so many minutes from closing time, or how much money he had, he would answer by saying how many drinks he could afford.

On the 23rd of December one year, I got a phone call from his wife telling me he had taken all her jewellery. She wanted me to go and find him and bring him home. I had done this in the past. After much thought, I decided this time I was going to the police. I told them what had happened and was able to direct them to the pawn shop where he would have sold the jewellery, and also where he would be spending the money.

He was arrested and charged with theft and held in custody. That night I was on a date with the girl who was to later become my wife. We went to the cinema, I cannot remember a thing about it, and all I could think about was that this person was to spend Christmas in prison till the courts opened on Boxing Day.

For years after that this person never ever spoke to me, but it was a life changing event in his life. He has never drunk alcohol again and is very involved in AA. Once when I was a guest speaker at an AGM of the organisation I heard him stand up and say to the assembled people that I was the person who had turned his life around. Do we speak today? Not very often. There was a time I questioned and questioned this but no more.

There is a story of the Zen master who was attending a social event. There was a psychiatrist also present, who decided to ask him a question that had been on his mind.

"Exactly how do you help people?" he inquired.

"I get them to where they can't ask any more questions," the Master answered.

There are times in life we have to just accept that we acted in what we believed to be the best we could and not question ourselves to death thereafter.

This is the way of the Tao.

This blog is linked to my other where I discuss the artwork used here:- Rain Along the Coastal Path

The answer is in our own hands.

A young student on day caught a beautiful bird and held it is his hands. As he looked at the bird an idea came into his mind how he might catch his teacher with a question he could never answer correctly. He went to his master teacher and held the bird behind his back. He told his teacher that he held the bird in his hands and asked him, “Sir is the bird alive or is the bird dead?” He thought, if the teacher says it is dead he will simply open his hands at it will fly away and the master will be proven wrong. On the other hand if the master said that the bird was alive he would simply wring its neck and produce the dead bird.


The teacher on being asked the question stood still and thought for a moment. “The answer is in your own hands,” he said.

The stickleback was swimming in the river this way and that, with the current and against it. As he swam the water rat saw him and thought here was an opportunity to cause some disturbance. He swam over and said to the stickleback, “If you do not find water quickly you will surely die.” The stickleback in panic swam up and down searching for help for he did not wish to die. He came across the water vole and asked him where he might find water. “Why do you ask that?” said the vole. The stickleback told the vole what had been said to him by the water rat. The vole saw the joke and decided to continue it. “I have not got a clue,” he said. “But find it you must.”

The poor stickleback panicked and rushed here and there. He then saw the wise owl sitting watching him from the bank. He swam over and asked the owl if he knew where he could find water. The owl looked at him and smiled. “What do you find funny?” asked the stickleback. The owl said, “You are in the water. It is the water you live and move in, it is the water that gives you existence; it is all around you moment by moment.

So often we spend so much time seeking answers, seeking inspiration wondering where and what. So often the answer lies in our own hands. That which we seek is there within us all the time.



This blog is linked to my other which can be see at:- Splintered Dreams