Question 2

[Carol]

Question 2. I found this book to be much more philosophical than I thought it would be. What were some of the ideas that were new to you or ones that inspired you in new ways.

[Lauren]

I very much enjoyed this comment towards the end of the book:

"Because we cannot deal with the complexity of the present, we often over-ride it and live in a simplified dream of the future. Because we cannot solve our own problems right here at home, we talk about the problems out there in the world. An escape process goes on from the intolerable burden we have placed upon ourselves."

Two thoughts:
- I love the imagery of the present / past, because don't we all do that occasionally? 'Once I get x done, then y will be easier.'
- Isn't part of gossip a way to look at other people's mistakes and say 'well, I may not be perfect, but at least I haven't done that.'

What parts stuck out to you, Carol?

[Carol]

"No, no dredging of the sea-bottom here. That would defeat one's purpose. The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea."

"One cannot dance well unless one is completely in time with the music, not leaning back to the last step or pressing forward to the next one, but poised directly on the present step as it comes. Perfect poise on the beat is what gives good dancing its sense of ease, of timelessness, of the external. It is what Blake was speaking of when he wrote:

He who bends to himself a job
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise.

The dancers who are perfectly in time never destroy "the winged life" in each other or in themselves."

I have more, will reflect in other questions.