What I hear, I do not name

I began my day on Friday with some quiet time, and I read from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton. Here's a passage:

XII

A certain brother went to Aboot Moses in Scete, 

and asked him for a good word. 

And the elder said to him: 

Go, sit in your cell, 

and your cell will teach you everything.

I have tried to meditate, to quiet my mind, to breath, and to let things come in and go out without judgement. This is excruciatingly difficult for me. My mind has gotten louder over the years. The conversations have risen to a din that is hard to silence, and my brain can multi-task and flit about from thing to thing.

Successful meditation is about focus. Some people focus on an object or a mantra or a prayer. I find that watching the birds out the window and trying to 'hear' their voices is a form of focus that works. To 'do it,' I have to quiet my mind so that I can hear them. It's like hearing the grandfather clock. Some days I only hear the half hour chime. A great exercise that I use periodically is to try to listen and determine how many different sounds I hear. The white noise of the day. What do I hear? The ticking of three clocks. My watch. The birds. The wind. Sometimes passing vehicles. House sounds.

On Saturday morning, I read from the Tao. I'm reading Wayne Dyer's book on the Tao. From the 2nd verse:

Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty,

only because there is ugliness

All can know good only because there is evil.

--

Being and nonbeing produce each other.

The difficult is born in the easy.

Long is defined by short,

the high by the low

Before and after go along with each other

...

It goes back to naming things. Labeling them. Giving them parameters. The moment you do it, the thing becomes bound. It is no longer free. It is restricted. How many times a day do we restrict? How can I listen to a bird's song and not think 'beauty' and just hear it. That is my challenge.

Below are some notes from the April 1st Project:

My 21st Century Collage

It occurs to me that this is my art form -- a collage.

Seth Godin: "You can only market to people who are willing participants."

I found a fortune from a cookie in my wallet. It says, "Never be less than your dreams." Dream big. I do.

P.S. The lucky numbers were 5, 12, 18, 32, 37, 45

I read a very interesting article in a back issue of the New Yorker about Santiago Calatrava. He's an artist disguised as an architect. Some others in his profession mentioned are Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid. I like them all. What was most interesting in the article was that it indicated that Calatrava and his wife speak to each other principally in German, his fifth language and her second. I'm clearly impressed that they have mastered German (and assuming all the other tongues) to such a degree that they can communicate complex and intimate thought.

ovoid - resembling an egg shape

Discovered Atomic Ranch Magazine - www.atomic-ranch.com. For all those like me who love mid century modern.

In an e-newsletter from Consulting Magazine, Bob Potter says, "In competitive markets you need to get to the client first even before they have decided to use the services that you and your competitors offer, and then escort that decision to become the preferred or sole provider. The idea is to engage clients earlier in their decision process and win the business before it becomes competitive. The best way to win in competition is to avoid competition."

The Tennessean ranked Pinot Noir and selected 2007 Rodney Strong Russian River Pinot Noir as their top pick.

Emailed from my friend Rita, a poem by Mary Oliver:

"Listen, are you breathing just a little,

and calling it a life?...

For how long will you continue to

listen to those dark shouters,

caution and prudence?

Fall in! Fall in!"

Liz Hurley is teaming up with Prince Charles to launch a range of organic foods in England, according to Specialty Food News. I think that's quite cool.

I rediscovered Oingo Boingo. "Just another day" popped into my head and would not leave. A nice reminder and a roadtrip back many years.

A photo:

April 1st Project, Day One

Pictures from my walk:

Launched: April 1st Project

So it begins - or at least it did yesterday - a catalog of sorts, a repository of ideas, web sites visited, images captured, quotes, useful and not so useful information, and whatever suits my fancy. A catalog to last an entire year. No set format. No rules. Let's just see what happens.

This is the 4/1/09 post:
New book: An Island in Greece: On the shores of Skopelos by Michael Carroll. Should be good. Must preorder.
www.mtyci.com More than you can imagine

Ate two eggs with Ciabatta bread at 9:30 a.m.

Trivia: Peter Sellers was the first male on the cover of Playboy. The year was 1964.

Chronicle mentions a new documentary: Pocket Full of Soul - about the harmonica. Did you know that Abe Lincoln carried one in his pocket? Huey Lewis (just saying his name makes me smile) narrates. Yes, I do believe in love!

At left: from my walk.

Two sites: createspace.com and booksurge.com

Signed up for Looking at Art

Celiac Disease - common to western Europeans and some around the Med. Hmmm.

From a New Yorker article titled Sole Sisters -- High heels weren't always a girl thing. In the 1500s, the 

riding shoes of French noblemen were fitted with raised heels so that their feet stayed put in the stirrups. Over the next few decades, heels inched higher on dress shoes, particularly among men of privelege. The term well healed came to mean a man who could afford such extravagances. 

Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll is coming to the Alley. Love his work.

virtue - interesting word today

trompe l'oeil - sounds like tromp louie - Webster says:

  1. a style of painting in which objects are depicted with photographically realistic detail

  2. a trope l'oeil painting or effect

  3. something that misleads or deceives: illusion

Like that last one

Some artists to consider: Francis Picabia, John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Ed Ruscha, Richard Prince -- all mentioned in another article

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros - celebrating 25 years