being

Well maybe I couldn't be a brain surgeon, but I could prob. be some sort of doctor or highly respected individual. In Japan potters are valued as much as lawyers and businessman. Here we are hardly noticed by society as a whole. Pots don't have the history and importance here like they do in the East. The Japanese eat differently than Americans do to. They eat as much with their eyes as they do their mouths. There are all kinds of pots for food in Japan, and of course the tea ceremony prizes the ceramics used. Us Americans are happy with food wrapped in foil and tea served in styrofoam cups. We are often in a hurry, eating in the car or in front of the television. Cultures in the East have a deeper sense of what beauty is all about too I think. Maybe it's a connection with nature or just the way the world is viewed. It's fairly early for me to be going on about all this. Something to think on for the day though. Maybe I'll get back with more insight later. I think the whole issue of beauty would be good to talk about. Look around today, what do you see as beautiful in your surroundings? Is is possible to slow down enough and appreciate the scent and sight of a flower in bloom, or the clouds in the sky? Can we see the beauty in one another, in children, animals, insects? There's beauty to be found in the crack in the sidewalk or the paint peeling off of side of a door.

Here's another experiment, eat in silence today, one meal, no conversation, no tv, no newspaper. just you and your food. Be present, taste it, what's it like? what are you thinking about as you eat? food or work? maybe draw your lunch before you eat it. Experience your lunch; think about where each component of the food came from, who grew it, who harvested it, packaged it, transported it, prepared it, served it. Think about the rain, soil, sunlight it took to grow it, about the clothes the farmer wore when he planted the seeds, about the fuel his machinery used, where that fuel came from. You get the idea.

Have fun today. Be present. I'm gonna be a potter.