{"id":1540,"date":"2017-03-26T16:56:53","date_gmt":"2017-03-26T23:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sd41blogs.ca\/gaitensp\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2017-03-26T16:58:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T23:58:00","slug":"the-divers-clothes-lying-empty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sd41blogs.ca\/gaitensp\/2017\/03\/26\/the-divers-clothes-lying-empty\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we wade into Term Three (already? How did that happen??), it is important to focus back on the notion of mindset.  A lot of your work this term will be independent and require a kind of depth and attention to detail that can only emerge from Lynda Barry’s “calm and friendly” place: we will have open work blocks most days and it will be up to you to organize yourself and your mind to focus and get things done during those blocks (with my help – if you need it, ask!  Remember: asking for help is a sign of strength – it means you have come up against your own limits and you might just need a little push or reorientation in order to move farther and deeper; there is no virtue in staying stuck).<\/p>\n

In preparation for this work, please visit the revamped Mindset tab<\/a><\/strong> on the navigation bar of this site, and also explore the two poems below.  Think about how you can apply these ideas to your work and to your life.  We will discuss!  (The video and music link are incidental – but can you make connections? These might be worth points for the Connections Game…)<\/p>\n

The Diver\u2019s Clothes Lying Empty<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You are sitting here with us,
\nbut you are also out walking in a field at dawn.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are yourself the animal we hunt
\nwhen you come with us on the hunt.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are in your body
\nlike a plant is solid in the ground,
\nyet you are wind.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are the diver\u2019s clothes
\nlying empty on the beach.
\nYou are the fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the ocean are many bright strands
\nand many dark strands like veins that are seen
\nwhen a wing is lifted up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your hidden self is blood in those,
\nthose veins that are lute strings
\nthat make ocean music,
\nnot the sad edge of surf
\nbut the sound of no shore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Into a soul absolutely free
\nFrom thoughts and emotions,
\nEven the tiger finds no room
\nTo insert its fierce claws.<\/p>\n

One and the same breeze passes
\nOver the pines on the mountain
\nAnd the oak trees in the valley;
\nAnd why do they give different notes?<\/p>\n

No thinking, no reflecting,
\nPerfect emptiness;
\nYet therein something moves,
\nFollowing its own course.<\/p>\n

The eye sees it,
\nBut no hands can take hold of it —
\nThe moon in the stream.<\/p>\n

Clouds and mists,
\nThey are midair transformations;
\nAbove them eternally shine the sun and the moon.<\/p>\n

Victory is for the one,
\nEven before the combat,
\nWho has no thought of himself,
\nAbiding the no-mind-ness of Great Origin.<\/p>\n

A Taoist Priest, as quoted in <\/em>Tao of Jeet Kun Do<\/strong><\/em>, by Bruce Lee<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n