We live in an old chaos of the sun...
Wallace Stevens
...I’m dogsitting this week...which means I have no choice to go on long walks with my good friend Bella...and, sometimes, get lost...like last night...
...as an adolescent read practically nothing but science fiction and fantasy...certainly didn’t read much that was assigned as homework...kinda burned out on it midway through college, though...too many space wars...too many elves...barely touched the stuff since...then, just recently, visiting mom’s house, decided to dig out the Foundation Trilogy...which is probably more interesting now than back in eighth grade when my eyes likely drifted over pages, waiting for old Isaac A. to cut the philosophy and break out the laser beams...
....one thing occurred to me, though, in reading all that about planets and stars and galaxies...I hadn’t seen the night sky in quite some time...not really...couldn’t remember the last time I paid attention to the stars or moon....partly, no doubt, the result of living in the city for two years...so, late last night, hopelessly lost with Bella the dog in a suburban neighborhood, spent a good amount of time looking up...
...some people look at the vastness of the universe and see proof of the existence of God...since how else can you explain something so awesome...others see quite the opposite...since how else can you explain something large and yet so empty...
...all I know is that we were lost for hours late at night...but it didn’t seem to bother the dog...so I didn’t let it bother me, either...
Wallace Stevens
...I’m dogsitting this week...which means I have no choice to go on long walks with my good friend Bella...and, sometimes, get lost...like last night...
...as an adolescent read practically nothing but science fiction and fantasy...certainly didn’t read much that was assigned as homework...kinda burned out on it midway through college, though...too many space wars...too many elves...barely touched the stuff since...then, just recently, visiting mom’s house, decided to dig out the Foundation Trilogy...which is probably more interesting now than back in eighth grade when my eyes likely drifted over pages, waiting for old Isaac A. to cut the philosophy and break out the laser beams...
....one thing occurred to me, though, in reading all that about planets and stars and galaxies...I hadn’t seen the night sky in quite some time...not really...couldn’t remember the last time I paid attention to the stars or moon....partly, no doubt, the result of living in the city for two years...so, late last night, hopelessly lost with Bella the dog in a suburban neighborhood, spent a good amount of time looking up...
...some people look at the vastness of the universe and see proof of the existence of God...since how else can you explain something so awesome...others see quite the opposite...since how else can you explain something large and yet so empty...
...all I know is that we were lost for hours late at night...but it didn’t seem to bother the dog...so I didn’t let it bother me, either...
13 comments:
I remember pictures of Bella some time ago. I like the kind of dog that you can get lost with and then feel safe enough with to wander around head turned up studying the stars. I had a dog like that when I was a young alcoholic in Portland. I was lost. She wasn't. I sometimes saw stars even when I was indoors. She guarded me (actually I credit her with saving my life a few times that year...)
Walking a dog is for the dog any other benefit found from it is purely accidental...but good accidents happen all the time eh?
I love the night sky- and it's also one thing I miss from living in my tiny home-village. the vastness of stars. I used to be able to pick out constellations, the milky way, my favourite star vs planet.
now, I see the stars when I drive outside of the city at night- like tiny desperate glimpses of connection you know?
I'm envious. Getting lost at night is one of the finest pleasures and I don't know when I last did it. But living where I do, I think I need a dog to do it safely. I need a dog! May you have many more wonderful night time strolls with Bella :)
What an awe-some post Dr. Jay! I am filled with gladness and heart-warmth reading it. We don't have to 'splain the sky... It's beyond all that.
What a lovely post. It touched so many notes. I've not thought about Isaac Asimov in many a year but loved his books. I too have since left science fiction but those authors left something of a wonderer in me.
Nice to just see the stars at night. It is one of the simple joys of getting out of the city now and then. Hope the peace of the walk stays with you. My best to Bella.
Could be the makings of a good book here: "A Random Walk Down What Street".
Not as a technical critique of one who sees the opposite, but the skies are anything but empty. It is vast and chock full of phenomena beyond the naked eye.
That sounds like it would've been quite the walk to experience.
Hi drjay,
What better conditions under which to be lost than with a dog beneath a star-filled sky. I bet Bella is having the time of her life on her sleep-over. She is joining in with the yoga, right?
Once Emma and I got lost on a walk in daylight under blazing sun with no water...poor girl. She was such a trooper and didn't hold it against me, although she should have. I had us lost within a mile of our own home...got all confused in one of those crazy neighborhoods with a lot of cul de sacs.
I remember seeing a picture of Fargo, but not one of Bella ... *hint*
Lucy sends Bella a she-bark!
my dog walks me
and the night skies are indeed vast
here in northern VT
just did my Bikram
just read a bunch of your posts
feeling good...
thanks
xox - eb.
Passing along to you some blog awards I've received...I've enjoyed reading your thoughts!
http://mytruth0812.blogspot.com/2009/07/awards-coming-out-waa-zoo.html
wonderfully written,ah the luxury of getting lost..would it be available to modern men ,
yet with talking cars and gps and google maps its harder and harder to get lost.
as to nature..I sometimes stare at the river where I live and see a placid haven for myriad creatures, a shimmering, beautiful, but below its surface there is a game of brutal survival... one creature preying on another in pursuit of sustenance.
So here I see god..proof that there is no dichotomy.just
just the yin and yang of nature
dovetailing in its perfection ..glorious , deadly and laying claim to all.
I love looking at the moon, the stars. I see the Universe as looking "up" to something far more powerful and vast than our planet or us humans and animals.
The Universe speaks to us....known to me as a "Higher power" that I feel we most definitely are connected to...but if only more will "look up"...instead, when others see us looking up at the night sky they ask us the same ole "question" "What are you looking at"???? I've lost count of how many times I"ve been asked that.
I hope some of what I said above made sense. I just reread it and it looked a bit odd..oh well.
Rhi
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