A Thought for the New Year
I’d like to offer you a profound and provocative poem, with which to start this portentous New Year … this one is shaping up to be a year of both spiritual and political drama far beyond the norm. The world is more volatile than ever now…as if there’s an energy explosion in progress, bubbling up from some deep, hidden place in our unconscious, demanding to be set free to change, change, change the way we see our world and the way we act in it, too. There’s a revolutionary air about it all, reminiscent of the ’60s…a sense of urgency to end injustice, to rescue the planet from the greedy pillagers, and to give more of humanity the even break it deserves. It feels like an ending and a beginning, of some cosmic proportion we can’t yet comprehend… a time when we must be up to the challenge of the whirlwind and use all our resources to embody, in Gandhi’s words, the change we wish to see in the world.
A Shift in Time Consciousness
Time itself seems to be accelerating, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s the electronic revolution that now makes demands of us 24/7… maybe it’s a culture that’s increasingly superficial, lauding breadth of knowledge rather than depth… maybe it’s the depressing economy that allows little opportunity for genuine leisure. In a world full of tweeted hashtags, what time is there left for contemplation? Whatever the cause, we’re all feeling an awareness of Time’s escalating heartbeat and it’s enough to give anybody over 50 a case of the twitchies. After all, Time flies all too swiftly as it is, and too often leaves diminishment in its wake.
All of which brings me to why I love the poem that follows here. It speaks in such an impassioned voice about what we gain in return for the all too rapid passage of the years… it speaks of the bravery that life exacts of us and the courage it takes to grow up and grow older with a spirit that doesn’t just endure, but prevails. What better time than New Years, when we take inventory of what the old year has wrought and what the New Year can envision, to be reminded that the true legacy of the years is the totality of who we have become and who we may yet choose to be.
In this newborn year that has yet to tell us any of its intentions, I wish you the fluidity and power of the river…the elegant strength of the tiger… the wild intensity of the fire… and most of all, I wish you the full realization of the uniqueness you bring to the party of life. I hope this is the year when your most treasured dream comes true.
The River… The Tiger… The Fire
by Jorge Luis Borges
Time is the substance from which I am made.
Time is a river that carries me along,
but I am the river;
It is a tiger that devours me,
but I am the tiger;
It is a fire that consumes me,
but I am the fire.”
© Cathy Cash Spellman/The Wild Harp & Co. Inc
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Dear Cathy
At long last a way that i might be able to communicate my thanks to you for the buried treasures in your book, thank you for being a wayshower through some Interesting times, Louise
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Thank you for your lovely note…I’m sorry it has taken me so long to reply but this has been a difficult year for me. I’m happy to say I’ll be writing and blogging soon again.
Dear Cathy — I can NOT believe that 2014 is done and we are already at 2015. Why does time go faster and faster every year? Can we make it slow down a bit ?
Maybe the planet should have “no electronics” for a day. Thinking back to Super Storm Sandy, when the power was out, the days did not go by quickly, but I remember them well. We played checkers in front of the fireplace.
Dear Laura…you are so right! Electronic communications seems to have been the deathnell of leisure and contemplative time! I’m all for power outages and happy times by the fire!
I feel more and more like this poem every year that passes!! My mom would have loved this too! Thanks Cathy!
Hi Laura, so glad you liked the message of the poem. I know you’re right about your Mom, who was so wise about all life’s vicissitudes…she would certainly have understood and approved of the poet’s insight.
Thank you Cathy, it is wonderful poems like this one that really makes you stop and think, may your 2014 be every of what you would wish for.
Your sweet wishes for the New Year are much appreciated, Erica! I’m so happy this poem had meaning for you.
Love this poem, too! Wishing you a brilliant 2014!
So pleased you like the poem…hope 2014 turns out to be the best one yet!