I ask for strange things. I can offer only my own thoughts, my own feelings, my own perceptions. I have my eyes to see things differently, I have my knowledge of how to make things work better, howe to get people to work together more easily. I have my hands that can create art, sometimes, when I’m in the right place. I have all the creature comforts I need, and can provide some to others. I ask for a ranch, not too large, but large enough for all the golden retrievers I want to raise, so they can help others as I give them away to those who need them. I want to travel and return – with strange things, with old things. I want to learn Japanese, renew my knowledge of German, maybe other languages. I want to taste foods I’ve never tasted, see all the places I’ve only imagined, stay healthy enough to travel far and see much. I want to journal my travels, with peotry, with art, with words and pictures.
I want to be always coming home.
Please Bring Strange Things (Ursula K. Le Guin)
Please bring strange things.
Please come bringing new things.
Let very old things come into your hands.
Let what you do not know come into your eyes.
Let desert sand harden your feet.
Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.
Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps
And the ways you go be the lines of your palms.
Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing
And your outbreath be the shining of ice.
May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.
May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.
May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.
May your soul be at home where there are no houses.
Walk carefully, well-loved one,
Walk mindfully, well-loved one,
Walk fearlessly, well-loved one.
Return with us, return to us,
Be always coming home.– Ursula K. Le Guin
“Enlightenment–that magnificent escape from anguish and ignorance–never happens by accident. It results from the brave and sometimes lonely battle of one person against his own weaknesses.”
-Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
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