Tuesday, September 2, 2014

All the questions and answers



















In the last analysis, it is our conception of death which decides our answers to all the questions that life puts to us.

-- quote from Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961)

All I know from my limited experience is that many of the questions that life's diverse teachers have put to me are kōans, beginning with these questions from one of my earliest teachers:





Some answers in the wind, from the album, "The Wind," 2003, Warren Zevon (January 27, 1947 - September 7, 2003):



Now and then when I get an idea for a picture, I think, how ordinary. Why paint that old rock?  Why not go for a walk instead? (am's italics). But then I realize that to someone else it may not seem so ordinary.

When I think of death, I only regret that I will not be able to see this beautiful country anymore ... unless the Indians are right and my spirit will walk here after I'm gone.

-- quotes from Georgia O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 - March 6, 1986)

Q:  Is this worth posting on my blog? Why write this down? Why not go for a walk instead?
A:  Something moves me to spend this time working on this blog post. What can it be?

("Person with Questions,"watercolor, gouache, and pastel on paper, early 1984, by am)

2 comments:

Sabine said...

Surely, there cannot be a question of what is worth posting on your very own blog? I know, we all have our reasons but underneath them all, as varied as they may be, is the freedom to feel and be moved by whatever and to express it in our unique ways. For ourselves alone.

And yet, we touch each other, make each other think about ways and ideas we may never have considered. But still, this is coincidence. Life.

You made me think about many things today. Thank you.

am said...

You're welcome. That's so true what you wrote. When we write something down for a blog post, it lives in a different way than it lives inside our mind and connects us to others who write things down in blogs. It's a process that is dear to me. Including times of self-doubt. Yes. Life.