We’ve been following graphs and curves for months, and here in British Columbia we’ve flattened the Covid-19 curve (for now), so I’m proposing a new data set, for another area of measurement. Zenith, anyone?
Wikipedia says: The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e. the direction in which gravity pulls, is toward the nadir. The zenith is the "highest" point on the celestial sphere.
Some days I’m aware we are hitting a deep low - in mood, in options, physically or economically. Each of us has our own graph, and mine went a fair ways down a couple of weeks ago. (Hmm - does that explain my interest in the deep pits discovered near Stonehenge?) For me, if those past days were the nadir, then it’s only up from here. Time to go all out and reach the zenith.
I see from the wikipedia chart that even looking straight out at the astronomical horizon can give a broader view. And as they draw the relationship to the zenith, it looks for all the world like meditation instructions. So from this I conclude that with my feet on the ground, looking down from time to time to be aware of the true horizon, I can look straight out at the astronomical horizon and wave hello, while keeping in contact with both heaven and earth. (That is, if I am in the form of a blue man.)
Googling for tennis, anyone images, I saw this shareworthy one. Not only are all those little blue people frolicking, leaping over spikes, and tossing long sticks, but it looks to me like the tennis player is wearing a mask, as we all should this summer, fall, and maybe longer.
Weekly Conditions
I committed to send this out to you every week, but always hesitate to say all that is in my heart as I face the conditions of our times every week. Like you, each week I’m more embedded in this change we’re all experiencing. Sometimes, when writing to you I feel I should be commenting on current events, even though you know all about them already. The news of the day, the intensities of our shared media weather, the conditions or circumstances totally colour the shape and feel of our days. Virus, revolution, protest - all those are conditions that have their powerful influence, but I can’t let them define everything.
This is the way I discover some distance from the extreme news cycle, without hiding from it. Somehow each week I try to use those currents and winds to sail forward. I won’t allow them to still my voice, but use them to refine it. This is my exercise, my practice. If I’m going anywhere with this, I can’t be completely dependent on the external waves and winds to get me there. These conditions aren’t to be denied or omitted, they are part of the expression. In responding to them, I feel out the many ways of their influence.
Do my personal impressions matter? What I have to say may not always be a contribution to the conversation of the moment, and could seem to be more an irrelevant non sequitur. I do it anyway. And then there are other times when my personal life feels subsumed in waves from the great collective, in a crushing of self. Well, as Inayat Khan said, “When my heart was crushed a thousand times, I began to see my soul.”
Looking for a Distraction?
Check out this clip from a French Sci-Fi vision of the future. “A small extract from an absolutely exceptional # INA video! In 1947, in a film by René Barjavel, we imagine a portable TV device strangely resembling our current smartphones ...”
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