Subtitle: The Human, The Orchid and The Octopus
'The visions science bestows us can guide us into a bright new age. But first . . .
we must stop using the powers of science to threaten other nations and begin
using them to heal our global divisions. We must finally learn that one nation's
turning against another is like a hand turning against a heart, two living elements
of one living body, trying to damage its own parts and thereby destroying its whole. 1'
-Jacques Yves Cousteau
For years, I've treated inspiration like a commodity - there when
I need it but never enough to really power me through and make
me so sick of it as I work at it in slaving mind salivation.
I believe that inspiration is partially divine and partially human -
there is no way that humans can take full credit for something
that seemingly materializes out of thin air and makes us want to
take action.
In a work co-written by Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein
(entitled 'The Human, The Orchid and The Octopus'), Cousteau
gets partly auto-biographical in the analysis of arguably the most
complex vertebrate and the most complex plant. I've read
snippets online but I really want to get the whole book as I hear
its as challenging as they come. Apparently, his readers expected
another Cousteau-esque offering complete with visions and
colourful images and documentation of unknown sea creatures
but were disappointed when Cousteau actually became
philosophical and a tad existential in his writings.
We should never be afraid to venture forth beyond what we
are known to do.
I relate very closely to this truth even just in the context of
this blog. I've been doing it in a way that I know how - in a way
that makes me feel warm, secure and comfortable. The real
agents of positive change in this life, though, rarely stick with
doing what is warm and secure. I'm not talking about massive
life changes and all of us flying to Iraq tomorrow - I'm talking
about the little things in our own backyard.
North Americans.
Christians.
Buddhists.
Sikhs.
Nihilists.
Hylozoists.
Let's get it done. Let's go, Cousteau.
The winter of our discontent has gone on for far too long.
Thanks for being with me. 365 days of blogging ends now.
Let us continue to dissect the orchid, understand the
octopus and...
...usher in the spring.
