Letters of Note: The Vision of Sin

Letters of Note: The Vision of Sin

I thought this was fascinating, it reminds me that we all see things through our own lens.
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In the 1840s, shortly after reading Alfred Tennyson's poem, "The Vision of Sin," mathematician and "father of the computer," Charles Babbage, wrote the following letter to the poet and suggested an alteration in the name of accuracy.

Sir:

In your otherwise beautiful poem "The Vision of Sin" there is a verse which reads – "Every moment dies a man, Every moment one is born." It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death.

I would suggest that in the next edition of your poem you have it read – "Every moment dies a man, Every moment 1 1/16 is born."

The actual figure is so long I cannot get it onto a line, but I believe the figure 1 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.

I am, Sir, yours, etc.,

Charles Babbage

Sink or Swim

We are all born with an obstacle to overcome, a way to find, a path to carve.  A fortunate few carry an extra burden on their journey, a cross to bear, or a chip on the shoulder, a constant voice whispering, or a hole inside.  These extras make all the difference in drowning or rising above the tide.

If used for fuel they can propel someone to greater heights than ever conceived.  If dwelled on they can bring even the mightiest to their knees, taking them to depths never before seen. 

We are born with a choice, to use adversity as fuel, or succumb to it's toxic fumes.  This is a choice for our hearts to make, a purely calibrated quest of the heart and soul is undeniable.  A yearning heart and soul is vulnerable to stop and take council in itself, wallow in the sheer weight of the load it carries, bringing it down ever further as it goes, if it can still move at all.  Our heart and soul controls our eyes and mind, heart and soul controls our eyes and mind.  We can either see clearly, or be enslaved to being blind.

The brilliance in this whole paradigm is the choice we have in this moment.  Burn the fuel or surrender to the load.  One creates new vistas, one is stuck in the road.

Life's journey offers no guarantee.  Make the most of this breath, or stay idle, floundering. 

With your whole heart grasp all that is dear, if it isn't clear search for it still.  Stop for a moment, take pause and know it.  Without this clear picture a person can be lost and grow panicked, clouding your vision more and more.  Stop for a moment, catch your breath, realize what fuels that heart beating in your chest.  Hold it, treasure it, let it fuel you one step, then the next.

Peril lies in lack of clarity.

Life's moments offer a single choice, live pure to your heart and soul's vision and you'll want no more.

Lose sight of the clear picture and struggle, desperation, and emptiness shall find you, wrapping their arms around your neck, seeking to choke you with it's grasp.

Choose with care as with this breath your life's direction waits, thrive or suffocate.

Strength lies in clarity of purpose, clutch dearly to this life force.  Any other way to hold this and all could be lost.  When your vision is clear shackle it to yourself and never let go, this is your life's richness, this is all you need to know.

The cowards failed to recognize it and the weak died searching for more, lost in a blur was their life's meaning, they didn’t want to, but they had nowhere to go.

Let this simple choice be not lost upon you, choose with this breath all that is crucial and you shall triumph every crucible.

Pay any cost to ensure that your treasure is secure, suffer any toll to make sure your life's meaning is clear.

Sink or swim.

Power of Song

It seems that over the last week or two I catch the same song on the radio.  It is Airplanes from B.O.B. and given that this is a rather popular song over the last year or so it isn’t a big surprise, but what is a surprise is it isn’t like I listen to the same station all the time, I scan constantly looking for a better song.  So I’ve been hearing this song a fair amount, enough to allow me to hear a verse that has caught my attention as I think it holds some really good insight.

I always liked the song, but these verses, the sentiment within it…..  Well, I was moved by it.

Take the concept of wishing on airplanes like they are shooting stars…  Or wishing on a shooting star in the first place…. I had to check in with myself to try and remember the last time I saw a shooting star, or was willing to believe enough to make a wish on one. 

While I was reflecting on this I realized that the only time wishing on a shooting star is real in my life is when looking at the sky with our children.  We don’t get to see the stars very often because they are often in bed before the stars are out.  But when it comes to wishes on shooting stars I recognize that this will only be something that we teach them is possible.  Meaning we will encourage our children to wish on shooting stars, because anything is possible and can come true.  But as adults do we believe that ourselves?  This caught me by surprise because the cynic in me knows that while it may be romantic to wish on a shooting star, I probably won’t be star gazing anytime soon. 

Why not wish on shooting stars and airplanes???? Anything is possible in life, right?  I realized that this was an important point for me to stay connected with, the innocence that it could be possible, and in that why not believe… I hope to do a better job with myself to keep this spirit alive, the innocence, the imagination, and the belief that anything can come true.

Now this was just my initial thought, the real substance came in the lines below.  I heard B.O.B. rap about going back to the days before this was a job, before I ever got paid, before it ever mattered what I had in my bank… Back when he was rapping for the hell of it… 

The first time I heard this after scanning through the radio channels, I thought, damn that was pretty good.  The next time I heard it, I stopped and thought about it a little more.

It amazed me that some things in my life that I once enjoyed because I was passionate about them, had become more like responsibilities and didn’t as closely connect as passion any more.  In some ways I recognized that things I once did for the joy of it, I had started doing because I should.  In that I realized that a key element of the activity needed to be reconnected to the action, more doing it for the passion and less doing it because it is a responsibility.  In many ways it is still about doing the same things, but from a different approach.

Initially this thought was connected to my work, but then I realized that elements of this show up all over my life.  As I inspected this idea, I realized that I had let myself come to this point and I could just as easily lift the veil and make it about the fun, about the passion again.

Ultimately it all came back to the same idea, being willing to be innocent enough to believe that anything is possible and connecting actions to passions and not responsibilities, to help anything become possible.

“Yeah, somebody take me back to the days

Before this was a job, before I got paid

Before it ever mattered what I had in my bank

Yeah, back when I was tryin' to get a tip at subway”

“And back when I was rappin' for the hell of it

But nowadays we rappin' to stay relevant

I'm guessin' that if we can make some wishes out of airplanes

Then maybe, oh, maybe I'll go back to the days”

“Before the politics that we call the rap game

And back when ain't nobody listened to my mix tape

And back before I tried to cover up my slang

But this is for the hater, what's up, Bobby Ray”

“So can I get a wish to end the politics?

And get back to the music that started this shit

So here I stand, and then again I say

I'm hopin' we can make some wishes out of airplanes”

Bearing Witness

This morning my wife called to talk about how things were going in her morning.  This morning, unlike most others offered her a chance to breathe, to see, to experience, and to reflect.  She had our baby boy with her which is an abnormally light load.  This afforded her the chance to look around and see life, to see energy, and see the people about her.  Normally our view of the world extends only to the back row of the car, or the cars in the lanes next to us, or the approaching stop light.  Life can be very busy when there is so much to do, and so little time in which to do it.

What was remarkable to me about the story she told me was that all around her she was able to bear witness to the happenings of others.  In that she was able to see the spirit of life in many forms, which I think can be rather awe inspiring.  From seeing the boy get off the bus, light his cigarette, and find the direction he wanted to go, then the guys driving by him staring him down.  Things happen all around us, all the time.

Often for me these things happen and I don’t pay them a second thought.  Which ultimately is a real shame; people’s lives are unfolding all the time around us, and if you’re like me you are only worried about what is happening in yours.

As she told me the stories of her morning, I couldn’t help but tell her that if I were to see those things I’d be inspired to write something about them.  In a way I already was, she saw through her eyes and in telling the stories to me, I was moved to write about them.

I find it remarkable the power that is created when we open ourselves to be impacted by others.  For me that is where the good comes from.

Through the experiences of my wife this morning I was reminded just how awesome it can be to be affected by others.  When we take the time to bear witness to the reality of others it can only serve to enrich our perspective.

What was even better than hearing her tell me the stories, was the sound of her voice while she was telling me them.  Her voice had a lightness that could carry me away while she told me about what she’d seen.  I love it when she sounds like that.

First Fight?

Yesterday we had our first soccer game.  It was nice because it was our son’s 5^th birthday and he loves soccer, so it was a good set up.  What I couldn’t have predicted was that I think he got into his first fight…

It sounds strange and I’m not sure what to call it, but the story goes something like this.

He had scored a goal and then a boy from the other team came up behind him and pushed him down.  The boy had something to say; apparently he wasn’t happy the goal was scored.  Our son got up and bounced back quickly, I don’t think any of us were sure what to make of it.

He kept playing and kept having fun.

Later the next thing I know the other little boy takes a swing at our son, who after being hit took a swing back.

I stood there not sure what to do or what to say.  The boys separated and I had our son get some water.  But I am pretty sure that was pretty much his first skirmish.

It ended up being a good teachable moment but in the back of my mind I know that if he is anything like his father, this is just the first of many confrontations with other boys.  

5 Years Old

5 years ago I sat holding our newborn son.  In my arms I knew I held the most precious of gifts.  I just couldn’t have known just how true that was.  When it comes to living life nothing compares to loving a child.

Before I knew it, I blinked and now that little baby boy is 5 years old.  Full of the wonder that only a 5 year old boy can possess, 4 parts wonder, 3 parts make believe, 2 ¾ parts anything is possible, 1 part can you help me, 5 parts I can do it by myself, and countless other parts making up all the rest.  He is growing so fast and learning so much. 

When I sit down and let it occur to me the rate that this is all happening, I am overwhelmed by the feelings I had when he was born.

I’ve been entrusted to be a father to the most precious of gifts.  Life couldn’t have been more generous to me, and I only hope I can repay that generosity.

One day not too far off, he will be reading this.

Son, I want to thank you for being such an amazing gift to us.  Since the day you were born you taught us just how beautiful life truly is.

Love

Remember that at any given moment
There are a thousand things
You can love.

~ David Levithan

Awareness

With awareness
(the ability to know what you are feeling)
and presence
(the ability to inhabit a feeling
while sensing
that which is bigger than the feeling),
it is possible to be with
what you believe will destroy you
without being destroyed.

~ Geneen Roth