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Oh, to be like Thoreau...

12/6/2010

2 Comments

 
Picture
This morning's magnificent view.
    
            Sometimes in a summer morning…I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and hickories and sumacs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness. Thoreau

       Oh, to be like Thoreau and sit all morning in undisturbed solitude and stillness watching nature unfold in front of me. This morning I tried my own version of being in the moment, but as always I found it extremely difficult. No, lets face it, I flunked, in spite of a magnificent view from my cottage “deck”, and no immediate demands from anyone.
        My attempt at Thoreau’s rapt reverie went something like this. I began by looking at the clouds, breathing in, breathing out, thinking cloud…cloud…cloud, more or less as a mantra. Fine for a moment, but my eyes didn’t (couldn’t ?) sustain the gaze. Rather they flitted about the entire vista, and before I knew it, they had darted from clouds to the water, to the mergansers, to a sea gull and then back to clouds. Once those eyes started flitting about, my mind wasn’t far behind.
       Practice, practice, practice, I tell myself. For the next few days I’m going to practice being in the moment with the clouds, the waves, the gulls.. The challenge is to breath in and out along with my new friends. I have a long way to go before I pass Concentration 101, but I'm determined to stick with the course.


2 Comments
Sarah
12/7/2010 06:35:58 pm

I read and reread your entry and question the purpose of being like Thoroeu. Don't you want to obtain silence, solitude and simplicity in a way that suits you, your personal make up, your inner being? I wonder if Thoreau's ability to be in silence came from his individualized personal make up as a human being? As I have understood from your posts, he made this sound easy and natural? Is this true? Or did he struggle with this too? I admire you for your determination to be silent and to be purposeful about your solitude. I simply question how you (or anyone) will know when they have found something similar to the state of body and mind Thoreau described in his writing.

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Linda
12/11/2010 05:19:07 am

I agree with Sarah's comments above. don't try to force it too much. Find what pleases you. If letting your gaze go away from the clouds to water and birds and sand is what your mind wants to do then maybe you should go there. All of that can still be part of quiet and solitude.

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