Spin
We live in a world of such frenzied activity.
It seems we were placed on this spinning globe to continue our own spin through life while that circular constant, the clock, fluidly moves endlessly around and around organizing and compartmentalizing our spin through the day. I am thankful for the ordinary moments – the ones of predictable regularity that follow our man-made construct of time – things like plane and train and work and retail schedules. Stores that are open when I expect them to be. Life takes on a rhythm, a pace. As we leave childhood we feel the pull into the great chugging spin and grind of cogs and wheels – the machinery of the world. We jump in to a particular place of movement and help to keep it all going.
But what of artists? Of thinkers? Ones who set ideas and words to prose or poetry or song? Those who are interpreting the machine of this life from all angles. Those who draw it, capture it, reflect on it, and reimagine it.
Mary Oliver states it this way in an essay called “Of Power and Time” where she says:
‘In creative work – creative work of all kinds – those who are the world’s working artists are not trying to help the world go around, but forward. Which is something altogether different from the ordinary. Such work does not refute the ordinary. It is, simply, something else. This labor requires a different outlook—a different set of priorities. Certainly there is within each of us a self that is neither a child, nor a servant of the hours. It is a third self, occasional in some of us, tyrant in others. This self is out of love with the ordinary; it is out of love with time. It has a hunger for eternity.’
There are moments when anyone can feel the ‘hunger for eternity’ and the ability to do some ‘forward thinking’. These are the moments when regular spin has ceased, when constraints of the ever moving hands of time loosen or are ignored. The mind becomes unfettered from its familiar mooring allowing possibility to creep into our consciousness. Moments of feet buried in sand, of face upturned to soak in the warmth and light of the sun, when hungry eyes are capturing and reveling in a glorious view, when body is unearthed from the pull of gravity and is floating in turquoise water. Often these are moments of pause. Of solitude. Serenity. Peace. The spin has stopped. What comes in the place of industry? Gratitude. Calm. Perspective. Clarity. There is a relaxing into ourselves, perhaps allowing buried dreams to climb to the surface, or opportunity to notice the nudges from awakening passions. New thoughts, new stories for us to live. We may gain new energy and ability to solve some issues that have been racing in circles around our minds, an untangling of the thoughts - maybe even making some sense of the ‘spin’ of the day, of the ever-bombarding media. In trying to decipher our world we know that all systems contain cogs that fit the shape and place of their wheel. We must understand that and seek out the information and ideas that were discarded or omitted – not because of inerrancy – but for their lack of fit into the wheel. Spin. It’s everywhere and unavoidable. Time to reflect allows the search for the other – other ideas, facts that help to create a larger whole, a wider view giving a more complete picture to help us understand.
Once we have taken these moments of cessation and contemplation, then thoughts and ideas can have opportunity to move forward in understanding instead of endlessly around and around the same story. Interesting how moments away from routine provide time for more artistic indulgences – movies, books, theatre, concerts, and documentaries – an entering into thoughts and ideas not our own and often of things timeless and true. Lost in a book, lost in the wonder of nature, caught up in the melody and lyric and feel of a song – we are free – no longer spinning but dancing!
I experience a beautiful paradox as I paddle on my paddle board at sunset. I participate in the unfolding display of movement and colour and I am enraptured by the beauty and nuanced play of light and shadow on cloud, sky, and water. I am enveloped and immersed in this glorious event as colours wash over and surround me. I see before my eyes the surprisingly fast descent of the glowing fiery orb as it dips silently into the horizon – paradoxically showing me the speed at which this earth is spinning yet simultaneously leaving me feeling like I am suspended on the cusp of eternity. I feel the pull of infinity and its unhurried existence. It is a balm to my spirit; an affirmation of connection and love and goodness of the creator and the joy of my very being on this magnificent spinning globe.
