Craig Snyder

Morning Find

2010-08-14T08:38:00.005-04:00

Mothra appears
on garden wall.
Godzilla recedes.

On Being Human

2010-08-03T10:04:00.002-04:00

Recently, while reading a book of essays called The Practice of the Wild, by poet, essayist, lecturer Gary Snyder, I came across this thought-provoking passage:

A young white woman asked me:... "If we have made such good use of animals, eating them, singing about them, drawing them, riding them, and dreaming about them, what do they get back from us?"

A little further on Gary states:

The Ainu say that the deer, salmon and bear like our music and are fascinated by our languages. So we sing to the fish or the game, speak words to them, say grace. Periodically we dance for them. A song for your supper: performance is the currency in the deep world's gift economy. The other creatures probably do find us a bit frivolous: we keep changing our outfits, and we eat too many different things. Nonhuman nature, I cannot help feeling, is well inclined toward humanity and only wishes modern people were more reciprocal, not so bloody.

Certainly some food for thought, wouldn't you say?

Mud Flap Philosophy

2010-08-01T10:49:00.004-04:00

During a recent journey I was passed by a speeding truck and its mud flaps caught my eye. They read:

Think Safe
Act Safe
Be Safe

What struck me was not any loose gravel but the simple formula of “think, act, be” and that it could be applied to anything. What came to my mind first and foremost was consciousness, a quality that we humans have but one which is often sadly lacking. Some regard our species as the highest beings on this planet, yet we often think, act and behave as if we were the lowliest of God's creatures.

Animals, in my humble opinion, are the greatest embodiment of God because they never intentionally harm others, go out of their way to harm anyone, or even think harmfully of anyone. They exist in the purity of their being and do what they merely do. A duck is always a duck in the morning, afternoon and evening. It is never anything else, pretends to be anything else, nor wants to be anything else (as far as I know). There is no duality and no ego. A duck, unlike a human, lives in perfect harmony with itself, with others and with its surroundings.

Think conscious, act conscious, be conscious. That’s what those mud flaps said to me. Our problem is we think too much. Our gift is also our poison.

Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
— unknown

Or, it becomes your fate. Fate is the result of our actions if we do nothing, while destiny is actually the result of actions if we take an active role in the piloting of our ship, or in some cases, semi-trailer truck. As it was once said, God gave us all a boat, but if we want to keep away from the rocks we have to start rowing.

[photo: unknown]