Loose Ends

Experience is never limited, and it is never complete.

Henry James
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Life is unfinished business. I used to be one who liked to have things tidy up into nice neat bundles. Experiences I wanted curled up into simple rules for living. I wished to draw the line at what was useful to me and easily understood. I wanted life in a box, gift wrapped with a pretty ribbon around it. Then one day I saw the light.

It is curiously comforting to me to know that there is always something to do, something more to learn and something more to be made out of all the experiences I've had. People I've known for a long time intrigue me by occasionally revealing new facets of themselves. It takes me a long time to read a book because I keep going back over it to find the things that have a new meaning for me. It's the same with the music I find the most interesting and the poetry.

The corner one must be careful of is categorizing. While categories are useful for science and other things, when it comes to people it's a useless endeavor. I don't categorize myself and I don't want anyone else to do it. I call myself a vagabond which implies that I don't fit into any particular mold. Neither does my life. People, things and experiences can be identified without drawing lines around them.

People are sometimes surprised, shocked, appalled when they meet me. I am surprised on the rare occasions when I meet myself. Will I ever understand myself? I doubt it.

"Discover" is a better use of one's mind than "categorize" in my opinion. There are always new ways of doing things, new roads to find, new purposes to investigate, new experiences to enjoy, new facets of ourselves to uncover. As it says in my profile, no rituals, no rules, no summations. I prefer it that way.

DB
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