{"id":12729,"date":"2019-10-15T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=12729"},"modified":"2019-10-15T08:20:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T15:20:33","slug":"existence-and-basic-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2019\/10\/15\/existence-and-basic-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"“Existence” and Basic Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve read a number of great books this year. Often they’re from Anne’s shelf. When it’s a Pulitzer winner you’re pretty sure the reward will be there. I just re-read a two-paragraph passage in a recent one, Gilead<\/em>, a novel by Marilynne Robinson, one that reads like poetry but easier in its flowing prose. It’s a light touch on the wonder of life.<\/p>\n

Here’s how it starts:<\/p>\n

“I have been thinking about existence lately. In fact, I have been so full of admiration for existence that I have hardly been able to enjoy it properly.”<\/span><\/p>\n

For context, the voice is that of an aged reverend who, knowing his days are numbered, is writing his reflections to his son (7) to be read in the son’s adulthood. He’s just been out walking, noticing the changing of the trees and wondering at the beauty of it all.\u00a0 He continues:<\/p>\n

“I feel sometimes as if I were a child who opens its eyes on the world once and sees amazing things it will never know any names for and then has to close its eyes again. I know this is all mere apparition compared to what awaits us, but it is only lovelier for that. There is a human beauty in it. And I can’t believe that, when we have all been changed and put on incorruptibility, we will forget our fantastic condition of mortality and impermanence, the great bright dream of procreating and perishing that meant the whole world to us. In eternity this world will be Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets. Because I don’t imagine any reality putting this one in the shade entirely, and I think piety forbids me to try.”<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time I finished that book (and moved onto the next) I’d marked many passages. But this one stands out, especially about our being like a child who opens his eyes once, sees amazing things he’ll never know the names of, and closes them again. That, and though there’s a better world coming, this one is overwhelmingly sufficient.<\/p>\n

Talk about the wonder of nature and a brief look, such was our trip to Maine and Vermont and Montreal.\u00a0 (See the\u00a0blog\u00a0<\/a>about Anne’s artwork on clothing if you missed it.) Now, after two weeks at home we’re off to another, work related, in Ojai, California, also a place to wonder, of trees, of humanity, and God.<\/p>\n

Always grateful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A morning in Vermont from our lodgings. We were there just before the storied changing of the colors, but still overflowing for the eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a quote worth turning over in the brain as we race along, seldom considering the race we’re in . . . or part of. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12729"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12867,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12729\/revisions\/12867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}