10.23.2008

unformed and unknowing

i step back into the world and wonder what is ahead. again. i am beginning to think that i will experience multiple reincarnations over a single life span. every year there is a new thing to learn and an old thing to tackle, each day i am awash with glittering and multi-faceted doubts. realizations.

breathing.

breathing more.

so many wants and impulses rush through my veins, pushing through my pores, pressing against my tear ducts and making my throat ache. it's not constant but it is there, available at any time i let things slip. why is everything so turbulent beneath this surface?

do i even need to know why or analyze it?

a discussion last night:
- realizations about how far one person can actually go, actually reach from where we are...
- a feeling that the canvas will never be completely clear again...
- how do i use the errant strokes, how do i incorporate the things that feel like hindrance into something that goes forward?
- control
- it's not the same as self-discipline
- i don't have either, and desire only the latter, not the former

(do you remember when you first figured out the whole latter/former thing? it's still fun to use)

unformed and unknowing, i am thrust forth into the world... i was. some people really have their life all planned out, and seem to achieve each little goal on the way to wherever they're going. that scares me, but i also don't want to endlessly search, continually stab into the darkness, constantly wonder where the other options went... ugh. here's a word i loathe...

balance.

NPR informed me the other day (like it does) of the whole delightful concept: the universe is not symmetrical.

take that balance.

this pleased me in my own little cynical way. the universe isn't balanced, the world isn't balanced... it's tilted right? i'm not completely against symmetry - it has it's moments, but i've never felt completely symmetrical in my life.

well sure, there's a certain amount of pleasing "the circle is now complete" symmetry in my life, that is true... and i like acknowledging those moments with a knowing grin... i look forward to collecting those over a lifetime... but, at the same time - we need a little lopsided-ness, you know?

if everything was balanced and reasoned, i would still be in cincinnati... no wait, i'd have been an education major... no wait, i would never have dropped out of school... no wait.... well, you know.

and, i like my life even with its intensities and uncertainties... i think it forces me to cling and to know and then to see that i don't know, i don't control... and that i am not in the business of making the world's actions even out.

on a mildly different leg of this musing - realizations of late:

- God and i are getting better again.
- i am valuing my family (blood and otherwise) in ways i haven't before
- i am economically prone, and completely undisciplined financially
- there is no way i could not be a feminist, and i like that
- women's history, and anthropology make me happy happy happy
- eric is good. so good.
- i'm not sure what will happen next, but i am on the way to it, and i like how every thing is unfolding, even though some days are really difficult

and i just can't seem to control myself grammatically.

oh and:
- writing is good, so good, it feels good and... i want to do more of it

so, to sum up - the universe is asymmetrical, words and writing are beautiful, God gets that i'm stubborn and i love not knowing everything. yes.