Source: School of Life “Know Yourself Prompt Cards” via swiss-miss.com
Tag: Passion
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.
— David Whyte, “Self Portrait” from Fire in the Earth
Source: Poem – Whiskey River. Photo: Precious Things
WaterPassion
Kerstin Kuntze, 50, is from Cologne, Germany. She is an artist who uses photography melded with graphic infusion. She explains in Saatchi Art:
“…and most of all it’s about passion. Picture making has always been an internal compulsion; my first urges began as a child, “I was always drawing” – these impulses continuing through to the present. My search for the internal brilliance of subject matter drives me. My artwork displays a wide range of emotions embodying colors from darkest black to fieriest red. I sincerely desire that my passion and the intensities of my emotion will be conveyed through visual creations touching you in a personal way. There are a myriad of reasons to create – this quest has become my life.
Don’t miss her entire series: WaterPassionº
When that happens, you do lose some of the white-hot intensity of your younger years
Ryan Avent has a lovely essay about the reasons modern professionals tend to put in such long hours. As he says, it’s not just drudgery: for many people work is satisfying, a source of a lot more than just money. It can, of course, also be a form of avoidance, a way to avoid the messiness of real life. But anyway, for those lucky enough to have the right kind of work, it’s much more than a paycheck.
I just thought I’d add a note from further down the pike, as someone who’s a quarter-century older than Avent: the nature of the reward from work does change as you get older, although it doesn’t necessarily go away. The phrase that runs through my mind is “the end of ambition.” At a certain point you realize that it’s not about winning another prize, literally or figuratively, getting a promotion, whatever. (And yes, it’s easier to reach that state of mind if you have been lucky enough to get all the prizes you wanted.) Instead, it becomes about the craft, the service, just doing well what you hope you do well. When that happens, you do lose some of the white-hot intensity of your younger years, and (in my case, at least) start trying to make up at least a bit for other things you didn’t do. (Music!) But there’s still plenty of work to do, and plenty of reasons to do it, with — maybe — some new-found serenity.
~ Paul Krugman speaks Truth in: Work, Life, and Everything
Notes:
- Referenced essay by Ryan Avent – “Why do we work so Hard” – The Economist
- Painting: KwangHo Shin (Untitled, Oil on Canvas)
Lightly child, lightly.
And did you feel it, in your heart,
how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
~ Mary Oliver, from “Swan,” Swan: Poems and Prose Poems.
Notes:
- Poem: Thank you The Vale of Soul Making. Be sure to check out his excellent WordPress blog.
- Photo: “Close your eyes” by Sergei Sukhovey via The Sensual Starfish
- Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”