Years ago, I was stranded on a train headed for St. Louis. We crawled along a siding in the Illinois countryside, past a field of some verdant crop. There was no human sign in the view; only raw nature. I stared out the window at all those shining leaves: a sea of green blades, numbing in its monotony. Yet each leaf was, I knew, slightly different from its neighbor, and from the leaf beyond that, and the one beyond that …
I recall with sharp distaste the unnerving realization I had: that that field—the whole county—all the land, entire!—was carpeted with such stupefying variety. The world—all of nature—was a welter of difference in the guise of similarity. I thought of the grains of sand in a beach. The field of midnight stars. The universe as a great boiling madness, too vast for my mind to compass …
Pollock was onto something, but it was inhuman. Order is our poor answer to chaos, but chaos will win, in the end. It must suffice to put a rectangle around these tiny fractions of the madness, to give our simple wills some rest. And then some wind will blow all the leaves away.
ginab: Oh, geez--who's gonna be able to follow that?
I'll give it a try. Having grown up among such verdant fields, I respond to the image with joy, contentment, and gratitude for the abundance of our dear world. Numbing monotony? Never.
It's way too early in the morning for me to find big words.
J, Ginab and Vanda: Besides the fact that the three of you worked in concert to create a perfect 1-2-punch joke, those are all good reasons, and they're all the reasons I posted this, and they're all better said than I could have said them.
Look closely and maybe see bluish gray, greenish gray, orangeish gray. Then again, just gray. Also, Jackson Pollack's signature was dribbled in the gray. Or is that J+P?
Me too. But I was pretty exhausted after my morning in Hahamongna,and would have been impressed if you'd had the energy to write about it that afternoon. Perhaps you're saving it for Zen Monday?
PA You've brought back horrible memories of lost contact lenses and the searches for them.
This does kinda look like my kitchen wallpaper, Chieftess.
Nature's signature, Speedway.
I had a Hahamongna post ready, PA, but I had to gather a few tidbits of information so that post will go up mid-week, Tuesday or Wednesday.
It was tiring, Bellis, and I had a bunch of other stuff on yesterday's agenda, too, so perhaps it's best I didn't try to write a lengthy (incoherent) post.
I shot this photo alongside the Altadena Crest Trail, Chieftess, somewhere west of Eaton Canyon.
I so wish I was blessed with a KB brain that finds patterns, organizes random things & events! One which starts each morning & you know reliably what to expect.
Sadly, I think I was "blessed" with a brain in name only, or maybe was someone else's installed by mistake.
Btw P, I see your 15,649 fotos in this pic. You have my sympathy.
I thought this was one of those "magic eye" designs so I crossed my eyes and tried to find the hidden message. Or your earring. No such luck. Cool image though!
19 comments:
Years ago, I was stranded on a train headed for St. Louis. We crawled along a siding in the Illinois countryside, past a field of some verdant crop. There was no human sign in the view; only raw nature. I stared out the window at all those shining leaves: a sea of green blades, numbing in its monotony. Yet each leaf was, I knew, slightly different from its neighbor, and from the leaf beyond that, and the one beyond that …
I recall with sharp distaste the unnerving realization I had: that that field—the whole county—all the land, entire!—was carpeted with such stupefying variety. The world—all of nature—was a welter of difference in the guise of similarity. I thought of the grains of sand in a beach. The field of midnight stars. The universe as a great boiling madness, too vast for my mind to compass …
Pollock was onto something, but it was inhuman. Order is our poor answer to chaos, but chaos will win, in the end. It must suffice to put a rectangle around these tiny fractions of the madness, to give our simple wills some rest. And then some wind will blow all the leaves away.
ginab:
Oh, geez--who's gonna be able to follow that?
I'll give it a try. Having grown up among such verdant fields, I respond to the image with joy, contentment, and gratitude for the abundance of our dear world. Numbing monotony? Never.
It's way too early in the morning for me to find big words.
I think you should forget about that earring.
J, Ginab and Vanda:
Besides the fact that the three of you worked in concert to create a perfect 1-2-punch joke, those are all good reasons, and they're all the reasons I posted this, and they're all better said than I could have said them.
I can see the earring!
An earring? Oh... have you found it afterwards? I keep losing earrings myself and I can't find them! :-S
I like the picture... it's hypnotizing!
I think Bellis is kidding me about the earring, daisy. At least I hope so.
One of my Facebook friends says he sighted the Virgin May in the photo...
Because you've been asked to design wall paper???
Look closely and maybe see bluish gray, greenish gray, orangeish gray. Then again, just gray. Also, Jackson Pollack's signature was dribbled in the gray. Or is that J+P?
I have three lines
A. I prefer early Pollock
or
B. at least it's not your contact lens
or
C. I was expecting Hahamongna
Me too. But I was pretty exhausted after my morning in Hahamongna,and would have been impressed if you'd had the energy to write about it that afternoon. Perhaps you're saving it for Zen Monday?
PA You've brought back horrible memories of lost contact lenses and the searches for them.
Perhaps this IS Hahamonga PA!?!
This does kinda look like my kitchen wallpaper, Chieftess.
Nature's signature, Speedway.
I had a Hahamongna post ready, PA, but I had to gather a few tidbits of information so that post will go up mid-week, Tuesday or Wednesday.
It was tiring, Bellis, and I had a bunch of other stuff on yesterday's agenda, too, so perhaps it's best I didn't try to write a lengthy (incoherent) post.
I shot this photo alongside the Altadena Crest Trail, Chieftess, somewhere west of Eaton Canyon.
Because our brain is programmed to find patterns, organize random things, events. I'm hard-pressed to find a pattern here, although I do see a fish.
I so wish I was blessed with a KB brain that finds patterns, organizes random things & events! One which starts each morning & you know reliably what to expect.
Sadly, I think I was "blessed" with a brain in name only, or maybe was someone else's installed by mistake.
Btw P, I see your 15,649 fotos in this pic. You have my sympathy.
Millions of minnows.
I thought this was one of those "magic eye" designs so I crossed my eyes and tried to find the hidden message. Or your earring. No such luck. Cool image though!
I pondered the picture before I noticed the title. I used to have a Pollock print that looked just like this, but in bright colors.
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