manifesto monday: still

yesterday afternoon i sat on my bed and looked out the window to watch the wind. i rarely look out my bedroom window...usually the blinds stay closed because, for some unknown reason, i am paranoid that someone will see me from outside. i don't know why i am somewhat comfortable with people seeing me in my living room or in my kitchen...but i'm nervous about them seeing me in my bedroom...
but yesterday i had a bit of courage. because i wanted to watch the wind blow the trees. the wind makes the trees do strange things. it blows the branches and its leafy appendages all in one direction on a strong exhale, but then quickly takes a giant inhale sending the branches blowing in all directions, making it impossible to tell which way the wind is blowing. i wondered at how i had never noticed this before...i always assumed the wind blew in one direction, and everything in its path would follow that direction. but with the simple rhythm of inhaling and exhaling the wind sends everything in all directions at once.
i noticed all this movement when i was sitting. still. i noticed that i was quite content with watching the effects of this invisible element. there was indeed a dance going on. i could see only one of the dancers...the other i will never see. but i can feel it. i can feel it dance and spiral around me. if i just stay still. this i believe.

at the still point of the turning world.
neither flesh nor fleshless.
neither from nor towards,
at the still point,
there the dance is.
where past and future are gathered.
neither movement from nor towards,
neither ascent nor decline.
except for the point, the still point.
-t.s. eliot

photo by me. inverness, august 2009.