death, be not proud
This letter - or more precisely, Cary Tennis's powerful, poetical reply to it - made me start sobbing at work today.
'Think of evolution, our origins in the sea, our miraculous plankton brotherhood, our kinship with kelp that waves serenely in ancient seas. Think of the sand and how old it is; think of our cells and think of our options, how we could be plankton if need be, how we could be gas or liquid, how we could transubstantiate at a moment's notice if only the right force came along.'
I think the double-hit of Heath Ledger and too much Jose Saramago is really getting to me.
Or it might be just my hormones.
*
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) seems to have relieved me of, in three weeks of treatment, what Western medicine tells me is harmless and that I must endure (at least until I have kids), namely: menstrual pain. so_spiffed and I were just talking about traditional/alternative medicines, and a sudden interest in the topic (and in Taoism and Chinese philosophy in general) made me want to look further into it.
On Wikipedia I came across this statement:
'Chinese medicine treats humans while Western medicine treats diseases.'
It would be interesting to think of healing environmental "diseases" (or "imbalances" in the Chinese mode) along a similar analogy.
*
[DEATH BE NOT PROUD, THOUGH SOME HAVE CALLED THEE]
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
JOHN DONNE
'Think of evolution, our origins in the sea, our miraculous plankton brotherhood, our kinship with kelp that waves serenely in ancient seas. Think of the sand and how old it is; think of our cells and think of our options, how we could be plankton if need be, how we could be gas or liquid, how we could transubstantiate at a moment's notice if only the right force came along.'
I think the double-hit of Heath Ledger and too much Jose Saramago is really getting to me.
Or it might be just my hormones.
*
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) seems to have relieved me of, in three weeks of treatment, what Western medicine tells me is harmless and that I must endure (at least until I have kids), namely: menstrual pain. so_spiffed and I were just talking about traditional/alternative medicines, and a sudden interest in the topic (and in Taoism and Chinese philosophy in general) made me want to look further into it.
On Wikipedia I came across this statement:
'Chinese medicine treats humans while Western medicine treats diseases.'
It would be interesting to think of healing environmental "diseases" (or "imbalances" in the Chinese mode) along a similar analogy.
*
[DEATH BE NOT PROUD, THOUGH SOME HAVE CALLED THEE]
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
JOHN DONNE