The Good Given
In Paralandra, a world new with life, like our own was a one time, the Lady of the land comes to realize the existance of unaquired desire.
"What you have made me see," answered the Lady, "is as plain as the sky, but I never saw it before. Yet it has happened every day. One goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one's mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and other is given. But this I had never noticed before-- That the very moment of the finding there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back, or setting aside. The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment, before you. And if you wished-- if it were possible to wish-- you could keep it there. You could send you soul after the food you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make tht real fruit tast insipid by thinking of the other... It is I, I myself, who turn from the good expected to the given good. Out of my own heart I do it. One can conceive of a heart which did not: which clung to the good it had first thought of and turned the good which was given it into no good."
How often in my life do I turn from the good that is given for that which I expected...
How do we avoid turning down the good that is given for another good that may be more illusive? I think that the choice makes it difficult. If you have a good job and no other jobs are avalible, then even if the position you got is not what you had expected to be doing, yes, enjoy it because that was given to you. The choice in that situation seems to be more about attitude and less about whether you take the job or not. But imagine that you have just bought your first home and you are in the market for a print to hang above your sofa. Since childhood, you had loved black and white photography. You are saving your money for something like this:
But as a house warming gift, you get this:
Both are beautiful. Neither are necessary. Do you turn from the good desired for the the good that is given?
Lyrics such as, "you gotta know when to hold 'um and know when to fold 'um" and "love the one your with" come to mind. How much truth is there in classic rock, anyway??
"What you have made me see," answered the Lady, "is as plain as the sky, but I never saw it before. Yet it has happened every day. One goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one's mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and not the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and other is given. But this I had never noticed before-- That the very moment of the finding there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back, or setting aside. The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment, before you. And if you wished-- if it were possible to wish-- you could keep it there. You could send you soul after the food you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make tht real fruit tast insipid by thinking of the other... It is I, I myself, who turn from the good expected to the given good. Out of my own heart I do it. One can conceive of a heart which did not: which clung to the good it had first thought of and turned the good which was given it into no good."
How often in my life do I turn from the good that is given for that which I expected...
How do we avoid turning down the good that is given for another good that may be more illusive? I think that the choice makes it difficult. If you have a good job and no other jobs are avalible, then even if the position you got is not what you had expected to be doing, yes, enjoy it because that was given to you. The choice in that situation seems to be more about attitude and less about whether you take the job or not. But imagine that you have just bought your first home and you are in the market for a print to hang above your sofa. Since childhood, you had loved black and white photography. You are saving your money for something like this:
But as a house warming gift, you get this:
Both are beautiful. Neither are necessary. Do you turn from the good desired for the the good that is given?
Lyrics such as, "you gotta know when to hold 'um and know when to fold 'um" and "love the one your with" come to mind. How much truth is there in classic rock, anyway??
posted by laura kathlyn | 9:54 AM
|
1 comments
