What why when where who whither ten-thousand things?
(H)o-keh, for me, it was twenty-thousand things. 20,000 instances and occurences this life I’d do over, if I could.
I checked the Tao Te Ching again, and, apparently, my memory was faulty. There are references not to “the 20,000” but to the “10,000 things” occasionally through-out the text. And …
And why 10,000? THAT is the number, the amount of discrete separate things in the world, a huge, almost impossible-to-conceive number the writer(s) of the Tao Te Ching used when elaborating about all the phenomena in the world.
The 10,000 things.
You never feel sorry for yourself, or guilty about things, right? I try not to. But, sometimes … and I think: there are “10,000 things” I’d either not do, or re-do, or un-do, or do differently given the second-time around this life.
Actually, that number may not be enough.
I hate to confess, but I have been a little (?) reckless a time or three or more when driving. Not attentive enough, sometimes. And that’s a conservative estimate for any given month!
I’ve thought ill of others. I’ve said bad things (though sometimes true) about others. I’ve been a little (?) impatient with dogs and cats. I don’t think I ever lost it with the turtle, though. (Well, yeah, I’ve been real annoyed with the tortoise, but we never thought a tort could be “potty-trained.”)
Going back, in my memory, earliest me(s)mories of childhood. I should have turned right, instead of left. Could have/should have, refrained from joining the class in picking on somebody. Better yet, rare as this is, been the 1st- or 2nd- or 3rd-grader who went against the grain and stood up for the oppressed.
Thought twice before many responses. Not given in to “negative” inclinations (mis)guiding actions which do not result in making the yooniverse a better place.
And let’s not even get started on what seems to be an innocuous malfeasance — that of ‘wasting time’ … you know: instead of hours playing computer-card-solitaire, I could be out saving the world! or something …
And some day I can only hope to be spiritually and emotionally and psychically and mentally advanced enough to forgive everybody, everything. And in that regard, someday do something even more difficult — forgive myself. I think THAT’ll be the toughest. I am nowhere near even considering beginning to do that, just yet.
Yes, it seems a cop-out (don’t it?) but I frequently think about the next life. As we all know, the karma from our identified-with-actions will have to be contended with.
Yes, it IS a “cop out.” Right now. Today. Soon. Before Christmas. Yeah. Whenever.
I pay lip-service to THE SECRET, but all of us know it.
And, to quote Paul Simon, “I’ll continue to continue
to pretend, my life will never end, and
flowers never bend, with the rainfall.”
(Whatever that means!) Heh!
Hugh (Rachel’s cat) finds himself in the next, adjoining dimension. Perhaps THAT is a problem for many of us — whether being stuck there and not liking it, or
being stuck here (not liking it) and wanting to go “there.”
Sort of. How I envision (or do I “grok”?) my elusive gurlfren, Naggy … uh, naggy sumbuddy, wahl?
b e t u n a d a 
Esta me parece una entrada especial , con recuerdos y propósitos….
Eres una gran persona, Rosco , let me say It !
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querido setenta-seis: muchas gracias , pero me avergüenzan – esto era / es un ejercicio de autoflagelación !
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You shouldn’t walk around looking backwards like that. You’ll fall in a hole. Now that you’ve spent some time regretting this and that, the only way to be completely fair is to spend an equal amount of time thinking about the things you don’t regret. Did you ever make a “wrong turn” that resulted in meeting someone who became a dear friend? Butterflies’ wings and all that…
Really nice photos! I love the snow-sparkles in the photo of your dogs and your B&W Inuk-thingies photo is sweet! That waterfall shot is amazing – was the sky really that color?
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seriously, you DO propose a change of perspective and focus i hadn’t really considered before (hmmm). well, there’s the Tao itself, you know.
and (seriously) the water-fall shot was NOT tweaked! the road up the west side of “the mesa” (called Land’s End) goes directly below the ‘fall, and at 10,000 feet on a non-forest-fire day, the sky WILL look like that.
now … the photos you mentioned … i “cheat” and use some of my favorite photos more than once. (don’t tell anyone!)
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i should have said to Ann right out: this is YOM KIPPUR time of the year. that should? explain the “backwards looking” — one day a year. one hungry day …
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I can get thoroughly lost in all things philosophically related, and prefer to get my best answers to life’s most deeply pressing and confusing questions from children. Their minds are sparkling clean, uncluttered with rifraf, and they are natural philosophers who are usually willing to spill their thoughts on most any subject.
And I also figure there’s precious little energy I’m willing to donate to past regrets simply because I have come to the necessary conclusion that I did the best I could for who I was at the time with the knowledge and experience I possessed. Yes, we’ve all made bucketloads of mistakes, but I’m going to go out on a limb here, Betunada, and guess that you’re not an inherently evil person, nor do you derive pleasure from the pain and suffering of others, therefore it’s pretty safe to assume the mistakes you made were ones that seemed like “right choices” at the moment.
So many lessons to learn in life. Most of them come from our whoopsie poos.
Lovely blog post, my friend. And stunning photos as usual.
Cheers :)
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ah, heck, you DID succeed in trying to cheer me up! i’m trying to be all those nice things you mentioned — but that was not aways the case. hence the “look backward.” (i hope it’s somewhat obvious i don’t spend a lot of time doing that ~~ just sometimes)
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You make me think and dwell in those thoughts of yours…but as Ann also mentioned it is time to start thinking about why you made choices that you made before as we humans want and try to make the best of any situation we are at any time with all the resources we have at that particular time and as per the emotions that we are surrounded at that point. Hence I think no need to regret anything…Eveyrthing happens for a reason I believe and that makes me who I am and it gets better if we learn from past and make new choices in life and not get stuck thinking nothing can change any more. We can and we do make changes in our lives every living moment and I am sure you are making the best choices of your ability now :)
Have a wonderful day my friend! Hugs and warm regards from Sydney.
– Kavita Joshi
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