Free

Weary am I of the tumult, sick of the staring crowd,
Pining for wild sea places where the soul may think aloud.
Fled is the glamour of cities, dead as the ghost of a dream,
While I pine anew for the tint of blue on the breast of the old Gulf Stream.

I have had my dance with Folly, nor do I shirk the blame;
I have sipped the so-called Wine of Life and paid the price of shame;
But I know that I shall find surcease, the rest my spirit craves,
Where the rainbows play in the flying spray,
'Mid the keen salt kiss of the waves.

Then it's ho! for the plunging deck of a bark, the hoarse song of the crew,
With never a thought of those we left or what we are going to do;
Nor heed the old ship's burning, but break the shackles of care
And at last be free, on the open sea, with the trade wind in our hair.

A poem by Eugene O Neil.

Openness

I was talking to a friend the other day about being around people that challenge our own egos. How sometimes it is difficult to sustain a level of politeness and awareness, with certain personality types, in situations such as these. It sometimes can be easy to block these people from our agendas, making sure that we wont have to confront them and their stories. But we should welcome them and their issues with acceptance. Because this is what is really needed if we intend to grow. Most often if we are feeling uncomfortable in a situation, it is us doing the feeling. Opposition makes us look within. It challenges us to let go of the need that our ego demands and embrace the other person as we want to be embraced. There is an old saying I heard a long time ago that reminds me of the need to be out there, to be open. The adage says

'Ships weren't built to stay in the harbor.'

I guess to me, it says that 'dont be afraid to get out there and mix it up with people'...dont be too closed off to receive someone else. You really never know in life who you can find common ground with despite their flaws or differences. More importantly, only when we feel others' flaws, only when we feel others' differences, can we go inside and work on stilling our mind. Don't shy away from challenges. Be brave, and put yourself out there without any preconceived notions of how the scenario might play out. Rest in that openness.



This is an excerpt from D.H. Lawrence. From Lawrence's "Studies in Classic American Literature",I found it to be along the same line I am speaking of.

When I meet another man, and he is just himself - even if he is an ignorant Mexican pitted with small-pox - then there is no question between us of superiority or inferiority. He is a man and I am a man. We are ourselves. There is no question between us.

But let a question arise, let there be a challenge, and then I feel he should do reverence to the gods in me, because they are more than the gods in him. And he should give reverence to the very me, because it is more at one with the gods than is his very self.

If this is conceit, I am sorry. But it's the gods in me that matter. And in other men.

As for me, I am so glad to salute the brave, reckless gods in another man. So glad to meet a man who will abide by his very self.

Ideas! Ideals! All this paper between us. What a weariness.

If only people would meet in their very selves, without wanting to put some idea over one another, or some ideal.

Damn all ideas and all ideals. Damn all the false stress, and the pins.

I am I. Here am I. Where are you ?

Ah, there you are! Now, damn the consequences, we have met.

That's my idea of democracy, if you can call it an idea.