Archive for the ‘Pensées’ Category

Not Just Accessories

January 2nd, 2009

Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies.

And, fortunately, when there aren’t any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.

And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true.

Start at the 3:50 mark

Happy New Year

December 31st, 2008

The thing we desperately need is to face the way it is.

-Theresa Mancuso

It’s A Magical World, There Is Treasure Everywhere.

December 23rd, 2008

there_s_treasure_everywhere1

ch951231

Throw Me A Rope

December 22nd, 2008

Cause everything’s easier when you’re beside me,
Come back and find me cause I feel alone.

-KT Tunstall

A Day Without Sunshine

November 24th, 2008

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

-Steve Martin

How Far We’ve Come

November 20th, 2008

Waking up at the start of the end of the world,
But it’s feeling just like every other morning before,
Now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it’s gone,
The cars are moving like a half a mile an hour
And I started staring at the passengers who’re waving goodbye
Can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?

I believe the world is burning to the ground
Oh well I guess we’re gonna find out
Let’s see how far we’ve come

- Matchbox Twenty

Waiting In Vain

November 18th, 2008

From the very first time I blessed my eyes on you, girl
My heart says follow t’rough
But I know, now, that I’m way down on your line
But the waitin’ feel is fine
So don’t treat me like a puppet on a string
Cause I know I have to do my thing
Don’t talk to me as if you think I’m dumb
I wanna know when you’re gonna come – soon

I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love
I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love

-Bob Marley

Two Step

October 31st, 2008

Celebrate we will
Because life is short but sweet for certain

-Dave Matthews Band

Better Together

October 29th, 2008

There’s no combination of words I can put on the back of a postcard
no song that i can sing, but I can try for your heart. 
Our dreams and they are made out of real things,
like a shoebox of photographs, some sepia tone loving.
love is the answer at least, to  most of the questions in my heart,
why are we here and where do we go and how come its so hard.
Its not always easy as sometimes life can be deceiving,
ill tell you one thing its always better when we’re together.

-Jack Johnson

Every Day Do Something That Won’t Compute

October 26th, 2008

One of my favorite poems of all time is one by Wendell Berry:

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

 

This Week I'm Thinking About: