"I went to the blog because I wished to live deliberately..."
--Henry David Thoreau
I hope to create a place here on this blog which documents my work at paying attention to the world around me, a spiritual work that's hard for me.
Several years ago, I spent several days as a colleague of the poet Julia Kasdorf. As we drove down a winding mountain road in Oregon, as I stared blankly out the window, she was almost startled by beauty of the purple of the wild heather along the road. I had driven that road many times and never really noticed it. From that moment I realized part of me was unconscious, and I wanted to be fully awake.
I'm also an avid reader of Simone Weil, who has been teaching me for years to try to be present and to love what is, even when "what is" is not beautiful at all.
So here goes.

"North Country" by Mary Oliver
In the North Country now it is spring and there
is a certain celebration. The thrush
has come home. He is shy and likes the
evening best, also the hour just before
morning; in that blue and gritty light he
climbs to his own branch, or smoothly
sails there. It is okay to know only
one somy if it is this one. Hear it
rise and fall; the very elements of your soul
shiver nicely. What would spring be
without it? Mostly frogs. But don't worry, he

arrives, year after year, humble and obedient
and gorgeous. You listen and you now
you could live a better life than you do, be
softer, kinder. And maybe this year you will
be able to do it. Hear how his voice
rises and falls. There is no way to be
sufficiently grateful for the gifts we are
given, no way to speak the Lord's name
often enough, though we do try, and

especially now, as that dappled breast
breathes in the pines and heaven's
windows in the north country, now spring has come,
are opened wide.