The Stream

All things flow, nothing remains the same.

Heraclius
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Hello Ernie
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In ancient times one of the questions that occupied philosophers was about the stream. If you put your foot into a stream and then remove it. Is it the same stream or a different stream when you put your foot back into it? The shape of the stream, its banks and its bottom may be the same but the water is different because it flows. It was finally concluded that it is a different stream.

Every day someone's clock says high noon. But is it the same high noon as it was yesterday? Of course not. It's a new day, a different day.

I think it was John Cage who said that he didn't understand why people were frightened of new ideas, that he was frightened of the old ones.

There are those who expect and anticipate change. (I hope I am always one of those.) We know that things are going to change, that they are in fact changing all the time and that it's constant change that keeps life vigorous and interesting. There are those who know that things change and try to adapt to it even though they may not like the fact. There are those who resent and attempt to ignore the changes going on around them. There are those who adamantly try to prevent any change from happening. But worst of all are those who flagrantly refuse to accept the fact that things have changed. All things flow. The world must progress. If you try to stop it from progressing it will put a ring in your nose, attach a rope and yank you into the future.

There must be some government officials and large corporation officers who are bewildered and astonished at what is going on world wide with the Occupiers. I heard one American politician ask "What do they want?" The fact is if he doesn't know what they want then he has no right to be in a position to ask the question. Bill Moyers said "Sometimes standing up for your country means standing up to your government." John F. Kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." And that is precisely what Occupy Wall Street is all about.

It took over 100,000 people of all races to convince the muddy minded American Congress to write and pass Equal Rights legislation. How many millions will it take to convince the power holders of the world that the human race means business, that the sordid circumstances of our oppression are no longer acceptable, that new levels must be reached in the ever flowing affairs of the common man and that the world, as we have known it, is changing.

The Occupiers will be killed, beaten, tasered, tear gassed, arrested, tortured, infiltrated, lied to, lied about, scorned and humiliated. But they will keep coming back because "All things flow, nothing remains the same."

DB, Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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AUTUMN QUESTION

What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

Only 4 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I await your answers.
DB
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Tick Tock

The very bedrock we trust for stability is alive with change.

Wendy Johnson
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Hello Bamthang, Bhutan
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I'm glad my Google account is working again and I can post this entry. At least for now. We'll see what happens. Tomorrow is another day.
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What is yur bedrock? Is it your home, your family? Is it your business, the company you work for, your job? It could be your church or your community center. Maybe it's your nest egg, the chunk of money you saved up for yourself. Whatever it is you are 99.99% sure it's going to be there tomorrow, and you're probably right. There are many things we have come to rely on. But the one thing we can definitely rely on with no hesitation is that everything is changing.

Some changes are obvious. Time changes. We can see it change as we watch the seconds ticking away on the clock. The weather changes (Ho, does it ever). We can watch things grow. The tree outside your house puts out buds, then new leaves and they grow. Then the tree gradually and colorfully changes them into old leaves until they clutter up your sidewalk.

Other changes are hard to see. You can't see the rock that juts out of the sand on the beach, the rock you've enjoyed sitting on ever since you were a kid, slowly eroding. But it is. You can't see the pebbles on the beach slowly becoming grands of sand. but they are.

Even the money in your savings account is changing, because it's not measured in dollars and cents. The dollars and cents are changing in value, because values change.

The most remarkable change of all is the change in perception. We change more slowly than the leaves on the tree and faster than the pebbles on the beach, but we grow, and as we grow we change. Watch a favorite movie you haven't seen for a while and notice the things you never saw before. Or read a book you've read before. It will seem to be a different book. Best of all look at yourself in the mirror and see the changes that have taken place. I don't mean to look for wrinkles and gray hairs. Look yourself in the eye and seriously consider the person you are looking at. That is where the most profound change is taking place. The molecules are rushing madly about realigning themselves, reconnecting with other molecules. The conscious and unconscious thoughts are swimming and splashing around in the ocean of your being. Quickly or slowly the memories and hopes are constantly redesigning, reorganizing themselves.

Things change, times change, people change, changes change. Isn't it exciting?

DB - The Vagabond
never give up
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.

Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 6 answers so far

I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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Transitions

Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change,

Thomas Hardy
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With apologies to Ecclesiastes:

There is a time to think and a time stop thinking.
There is a time to pick up and a time to scatter.
There is a time to remember and a time to forget.
There is a time to wonder and a time to decide.
There is a time to get dressed and a time to get undressed.
There is a time to consider our responsibilities and a time to be irresponsible.
There is a time to wash the dishes and a time to leave them in the sink.
There is a time to hope and a time to feel hopeless.
There is a time to cut the hair and a time to let it grow.
There is a time to give up and a time to try again.
There is a time to diet and a time to eat that piece of cake.
There is a time to spend money and a time to save it.
There is a time to bow your head and a time to lift it up.
There is a time to laugh and a time to weep.
There is a time to do the laundry and a time to leave it where it is.
There is a time to ponder immortality and a time to take a nap.
There is a time to pray and a time to curse.
There is a time to walk and a time to sit still.
There is a time to know yourself and a time to be confused.
There is a time to frolic and a time to meditate.
There is a time to resist and a time to relent.
There is a time to learn and a time to unlearn.
There is a time to work and a time to rest.
There is a time to turn on the light and a time to turn it off.
There is a time to speak and a time to keep your mouth shut.
There is a time to tend your garden and a time to let nature do it.
There is a time to play your flute and a time to leave in it its case.
There is a time to plan your future and a time to live for the moment.
There is a time to see clearly and a time to be bewildered.
There is a time to sleep and a time to stay awake.
There is a time to go out and a time to stay at home.
There is a time to write and a time to stop writing.


The Vagabond
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.

Only 5 responses so far.

Answers will be published the first day of Summer.

dbdacoba@aol.com

DB - The Vagabond
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This Too Shall Pass

Change lies within the very nature of existence, its being is to perish, and development is its reality and truth.

Frederick Weiss
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Even though in my mind I have grown accustomed to the fact that things change, I'm still often surprised by the changes that take place. There are so many things I expect to remain the way they are, and, of course, they don't because nothing does.

Change seems to go through a cycle of three events, The first is decay and destruction. The second is reorganization and redesign. The third is appearance and ripening. There is usually no definite dividing line between one condition and another, but rather a melting or wedging from one into the other.

We know a seed has to come to rest on the earth, where it is acted upon by the forces of nature. We know that it decays and is destroyed, reduced down to its elemental parts before a new growth can emerge from it.

One day last Autumn I watched a large branch fall off a tree from high up and come crashing to the ground in front of me. The tree did not throw the branch to the ground in a fit of frustration. It simply let go of it when the last vestige of sap, of life, removed itself from the branch. The branch was no longer of any use to the tree, so the tree discarded it. It was gravity that brought it to the ground. The gravity was a different player in this natural drama.

It happened in a cemetery, appropriately. (No, nothing ghoulish, I pass it on my way to the market.) So a groundskeeper soon came and gathered up the branch. If it had happened in a forest the branch would have slowly disintegrated into a primordial dust and become earth itself, breeding ground for another tree.

It's strange but true that human relationships often follow the same patterns. We meet someone we like, we share interests and have a similar view point about things. It ripens into a friendship and over the years that friendship grows as we grow. Then one day something happens. An unexpected event occurs and a certain trust or respect falls away, the bond is broken, the friendship is changed or it's over. But the memories and experiences remain and develop into the ingredients for a new friendship with a different person.

If we fall in love we always think it's a forever thing. But that love affair is constantly being changed as it ripens. The early infatuation and desire for each other's company may develop into a partnership, a coordinated effort at living and finally a close friendship with mutual respect and admiration. Or it may not. It may last no longer than it was meant to last and falls into a state of decay or perhaps even death. At times we try to hold on to a disappearing condition of happiness, when it needs to dissolve into the earth to bring on the regeneration the world needs in our minds and hearts.

No where is the grasping and holding on more severe and dangerous than in the realm of theories and ideas about life. Given that everything is in a constant state of change why do we set up mental barricades against anything that challenges our religious or political beliefs? There is no growth in that behavior no development, no ripening. A scientist would be in a bad state if he jealously protected a theory even when the facts that seemed to confirm that theory were falling off the tree. Fortunately for the scientist and for the rest of us in this forest, we are adaptable.

Things are changing all the time. In our work places, our families, our personal relationships and in ourselves things are not today the way they were yesterday. We must first see where they are, then adapt. And that changes us.

DB - The Vagabond