A chill campervan morning. It’s still dark, but the birds are already busy. Calls I don’t recognise coming from trees and bushes, yet to take shape in the light. A nearby road rumbles on, early morning commuter tyres on unforgiving concrete cloud the air. A small breeze bites at fingers and face. It’s not that early, but the morning is yet to give away clues as to how it’s going to unfold. The sky is a palette of oranges and pinks, heavily sedated by dark grey clouds, to the point where it’s soon extinguished. Four mallards lift off from a small stream, calling warnings as they go. Clouds of crows and then starling cross the sky. It’s busy this morning. The roads hum increase as time moves on. A posting in two halves this morning. An early rise and later thoughts, the connectivity disappeared, which seems quite apt really.
A day yesterday spent amongst throngs of people, which was a challenge, watching shopping unfold and consumerism at its height.
“ Often people devote their time to the factors of their situation, to their work, to their status. Most of their energy goes into their doing “ John O’Donohue.
And there was lots of doing going on yesterday, it was so easy to get caught up in it. Fromm once wrote ;
“ If other people do not understand our behavior—so what? Their request that we must only do what they understand is an attempt to dictate to us. “
And we appear to be surrounded by dictators. So there was a loss yesterday as I got caught up in the doing. Fromm goes onto explain :
“ How many lives have been ruined by this need to "explain," which usually implies that the explanation be "understood," i.e. approved. Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds, your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself—to his reason and his conscience—and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation.”
This morning connectivity was lost and the doing was lost so a chance to try and be came along. I finish this morning with the wonderful existentialist Rollo May, another of my counselling gurus. Lovely days people.
" Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men. ... One person with indigenous inner strength exercises a great calming effect on panic among people around him. This is what our society needs — not new ideas and inventions; important as these are, and not geniuses and supermen, but persons who can "be", that is, persons who have a center of strength within themselves.” Rollo May.
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