[A Litany for Meditation]
“I don’t know anything, but I do know that everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough.” (203)
- Richard Feynman
The
Pleasure of Finding Things Out (1999)
The poet I am delights in the motions
of molecules, the beautiful behavior of atoms, the modulation of life on every
level_ the oscillations of primary particles; I am fascinated with the movement
of all-that-is_ in being in becoming!
Change in every dimension of Earth
& Cosmos; in myself, in distant stars, in the very geological foundations
of continents_ drives me to my knees in wonder!
REALITY IS A DANCE,
_the Dance of All That Is!
Everything is changing_
PANTA
REI!
All matter; from the microorganisms beneath
my feet to the cosmic dance of stars and galaxies above our heads_ reflected in
the stellar matter of which I am composed_ and the genetic dance within each of
us; within every living thing—is continually changing; swirling you_ and me_
toward ever new futures; new possibilities.
Delight in change, for change is
constant. Germination_ Fertilization_
Growth_ Fermentation_Maturation. Aging and Diminishing. Death and Decomposition; returning to the Earth.
We are continually being changed
and reconstructed through our genetics, out biology and by our environments!
I
revel in the Ballet of Evolution, which dances within the ever-widening Tango of
Cosmological Expansion! The story of
life – stretching back over 3.5 billion years – is the Epic Tale of our
Existence; a powerful source of inspiration for meaning and revelation in the
ongoing play that is daily life! Life is
a dance of genetic forces interacting with the dance of our planet’s
environments.
REALITY IS A DANCE,
_the Dance of All That Is!
Everything is changing_
PANTA REI!
To meditate on all of this motion is to
become enthralled with the Dance of the
World itself. Phase changes and
chemical reactions – these permeate the environment in which we exist, live and
dream. I am not merely ‘alive’ (in some
static, idealized way). To be alive is
to be in a ‘state’ that is akin to a dance!
I AM A
DANCE, DANCING.
All of the molecules in my body are in
motion—in flesh, in bone and fluids and at the cellular level. There is electrical energy being generated by
my body, by its cells, and by the circulation of blood. At the macro level I can see motion with my
own eyes; sense it with my other senses.
And I know that I am in motion; even at rest—for I am on a planet
swirling around a star_ in a solar system swirling around a galactic hub_ in a
galactic community moving with the expansion of the cosmos itself.
I AM A DANCE
Within a DANCE,
Within another DANCE_
And another—
And on and on and
on!
This dance that I am can be described in
empirical terms, quantitatively, as well as in existential terms, poetically
and philosophically. As such, it is in
this metaphor of a dance that the poetry of our truest selves can be rooted.
REALITY IS A DANCE,
_the Dance of All That Is!
Everything is changing_
PANTA
REI!
Chemical reactions, entropy and the
interplay of thermodynamics & metastable states – all this fascinates me; for it describes us! We are a sum of physical
matter in motion; at both the micro and macro levels.
The mystery of what we are is
elucidated by chemistry, physics and biology, ecology, evolution and
evolutionary psychology. There is
nothing else; no meta-physical or supernatural x that science has missed (that
we know of—not that we know anything about.)
Science reveals earthen runes so rich and fascinating that we need never again be seduced by supposed ‘supernatural’
revelations.
So be it.
PANTA
REI!
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