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| "Arthur and the Triplets Waiting for a Letter from the Mailman." (from the Babar stories) |
Patience, more a virtue than ever. The willingness to wait for whatever is desired but not yet here seems to appeal to very few. We wait for so much. Mostly I feel as though I wait for myself.
I wait for guidance, for information, for clarity. I've stopped hurrying. I allow matters to unfold in quiet and calm, if possible. If my inner wisdom is not a shrieking, "DO IT NOW, " I will do it later. There was an article this week - somewhere - about procrastination not being only the refuge of slackers and layabouts. The article suggested there was wisdom at work when decisions were postponed, immediate action deferred.
(From the album, "The 2,000 Year Old Man" by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks)
Carl: Sir, could you give us the secret of your longevity? Mel: Well, the major thing, the major thing is that I never, ever touch fried food. I don't eat it, I wouldn't look at it, and I
don't touch it. And I never run for a bus. There'll always be
another. Even if you're late for work, you know, I never run
for a bus. I never ran. I just strolled, jaunty-jolly, walking
to the bus stop.
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It seems the popularly-held belief is that we miss so much by delaying, delaying anything. I don't understand how this can be a universal truth. Since we have no way of knowing what even the next moment holds, how can we be certain that not taking the trip, not seeing the movie, not rushing out in pursuit of 12 seemingly essential activities will cause us lifelong regret. I have no "bucket list" and the name itself gives me hives. We can be led astray by our wants, just as we can be inspired by them.
I am not one of the universe's bold children, I never have been. Yes, I've done rash and foolish things, been incautious in dangerous ways. The luck of fools or an army of guardian angels. Haste is not my ally. Answers DO come, or if they don't I assume there is no answer. Rilke's* urging that we live the questions is my norm. At times it seems to be only questions held loosely together by gravity. Wait, is what I interpret him saying. Wait.
* “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
2 comments:
Did you see Carl Reiner on Sunday Morning? Interesting insights can come out of comedy, as related by Mel Brooks and the 2,000-year-old man.
I used to be very rash and impatient in my early years, wanting immediate results. Now when I come to some repair or design element that isn't working, if I leave it for a day or more, I come back to it with renewed interest and insight.
Kass - No, I didn't see Carl Reiner. I've savored the comedy from that album for however long it's existed. My first husband and I had a copy we practically memorized. I have become very accustomed to waiting. Some things come, some things don't. Either of those choices is acceptable. When it really, really matters - to us or the universe on our behalf, and who can tell the difference - guidance always appears. I consider that grace and find it miraculous. xo
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