GROWTH DOES NOT RESIDE IN A PLACE CALLED COMFORTABLE .....
"In times of change
the learners
will inherit the earth
while the knowers,
will find themselves
beautifully equipped
to deal with a world
that no longer exists."
(Eric Hoffer)
I have been very very poor at responding to people's posts and even questions asked from my own - for that I apologise - the dialogue, the openness of many people who stop by is deep and I should treat it with more tenderness than I have of late. Will aim to remedy that...
One of the questions asked of me by Blue Mountain Mama was what do I mean when I talk of level 5. Well, it's a term concerning communication - different levels have varying consequences for our growth and relationships. Pip is the Godfather of L5 communication, a deep and tender soul whose high in life is loving people (particularly the unloved) and peeling their layers to find their innermost beauty...I once remember him saying that every morning he didn't go to work, he went to love - wow! I nicked this illustration from his blog - me thinks I will be forgiven
tragically this is the only picture I can find of the two us...
Speaking of Level 5, I re-read C.S. Lewis' 'The Great Divorce' yesterday - where Lewis, through fable and allegory, finds himself in a bus which travels between Hell and Heaven - it's the genesis of an extraordinary meditation upon good and evil which takes issue with William Blake's 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'.
A remarkable book which asks big level 5 questions if we embrace them - the first one came in the preface - so much so, I had to stop reading and look deep into my own troubled soul for some time:
"You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys; on one journey your right hand and your right eye may be among the things you leave behind. We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two you must make a decision. Even on the biological level life is not like a river but like a tree. it does not move towards unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good as it ripens becomes more continually more different not only from evil but from other good."
that last line particularly still has me reeling, as I said to a friend last night, carpe diem is an onion....
15 comments:
This gives me MUCH to think about today....
just right where I am and have been praying to be and fighting against being...
there is nothing more powerful than reading or listening to words which somehow pierce the very core of where our personal growth resides.....particularly when we are in a place of uncomfortable learning.
Does that make sense? I'm listening to fiddle music while typing and it does something to the lyrics in my thinking :) Oh, it also makes me want to DANCE....
there have been a couple of times recently when I have read a piece which I had read a long time ago, and the impact on me was SO different....much more relevant, much more heartfelt.
Sometimes we can read something, sitting comfortable and happy and content and secure and it just floats by......the lessons don't seem to hitch on......BUT then, you can find some stillness in the middle of "discomfort" and reread the words only to find them jump out and bite you on the nose....they can send you reeling with a sense of AHA! and AWE!
I like the onion peeling analogy.
The photo of you and Pip......Love it.......the hand holding the beer? Me........... :)
bjk, to be thought of as part of an answer to a heartfelt prayer is rather humbling - i guess in the end everything in heaven comes apart - i pray you well in the fight
dana, amen....i liked the onion too
ps, if you make it over that hand holding the London Pride could be......
'carpe diem is an onion' is the best thing i've heard in ages. makes me want very much to chat with you again sometime.
HI Paul, love your new layout (so much easier on the eye) and I love THe Great Divorce too, one of my all-time favourites. Great post.
Lovely writing...so much to ponder. And those beautiful pictures. Thank you for your thoughts - and for sharing them.
I am such an onion! Unfortunately I have been called worse (not recently thank God)! I truly treasure people who take the time to peel through my layers. It isn't for the cowardly...
:)
Thanks Paul for this post. I love the picture of the tree....it is wonderful.
Cool I like your new look!! I wanna meet level 5s where do they hang out?
Jules.
hey, tumnus - i liked that too - inspired moment. it's now become a tritle chapter in this damn book i am writing
looking forward to my next sojourn to the city 'fast for that conversation....
thanks maggi - it is easier to read, granted - pics not quite the same, but hey...what's a boy to do - question, which Lewis book should i re-visit next?
hey Kathryn, have stumbled by your blog occasionally and liked what i have read - thank you for our kind words, i will pop by more often - shalom
anna, i like that you are an onion - great compliment - the tree was beautiful, and english oak, solid and sure....
hi jules, the jury is still out for me, but think i am warming to it - where do they hang out? Greenbelt...............................
Ooh...I know you were asking Maggi, but I'm sure she won't mind if I jump in too...I always, always feel better after re-reading the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy,- though you could just cut straight to The Last Battle and more onions..."world within world, Narnia within Narnia"
You've sent me back to The Great Divorce.
hi again - I agree with Kathryn that the trilogy is great, but have you read "Till we have faces"? My step mother lent it to me some years ago, and it's stunning.
kathryn and maggi, thanks for the tip - i will be another year older in a couple of weeks and seeing as i have read not one of your suggestions i know what to ask for.....
merci, and here's to onions.....
Harbour, thanks for posting the explanation of L5! (I was one of the ones asking about it a few posts back, too.)
I love love love this idea of L5. Thanks for sharing that you think my site qualifies. :) I always want to be an L5 person. I find myself most frustrated when in relationship with people who won't "go there." Why not? Why not be real and raw and a beautiful mess all at the same time?
By the way, my personal recommendation on the Lewis reading is the book of essays called "Weight of Glory." AWESOME (in the real sense of the word, as in, awe-inspiring).
Blessings, and happy birthday.
hey christianne
your sight is worthy, no doubting that - thanks too for the tip - not my birthday for a couple of weeks but will be sure to add that to my list
thanks for answering my question! :)
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