What's that sound?

"As ice expands, it causes stresses through its depth and across its breadth. These stresses cause ice to crack. The sounds of these cracks are transmitted through the ice and can get boisterously loud. The colder the temperature, the faster the ice grows and the more frequent the stress cracks develop. The larger the lake, the bigger the stress cracks."

From The Road Less Trammeled

by Steven T. Rider


Lately, it's been noisy in my life. Lots of groans and moans, the sort of sounds your hear in old wooden houses when the wind blows fiercely.  Or sometimes a lot of cracks and pops, like when you walk on a frozen lake.

As you can imagine, it is rather disconcerting.  I, myself, like peace and quiet. 

I like it when all goes as planned, and I can easily line up what is with what was - or maybe with what should be.  But, like it or not, life seems to rarely work this way.  Instead, what is - is what is.  I find that I am rarely consulted by the powers that be when the world unfolds. 

And, as I think about it, it's easy to take offense at this. Why shouldn't I be consulted?  It's my life, after all, isn't it?  As I look around, it's easy to see others whose life seems to be going just as they've planned. Right?  

Ah, but then I see the homeless man selling papers for a dollar, and remember what I should never forget.

Life and death are born together
Difficult and easy
Long and short
High and low - all these exist together.
Tao 2

Sometimes you're ahead and other times behind 
Sometimes you're strong and other times weak
Sometimes you're with people and other times alone
To the wise one, all of life is a movement towards perfection. 
Tao 29        

This process of becoming is not easy. This process of changing what was - into what will be - is messy.  If we are growing, the home that we are is in a state of constant renovation, and it is tricky to live in the house while it's being remodeled. 

As the writer says, "The colder the temperature, the faster the ice grows and the more frequent the stress cracks develop."

So, maybe, all that noise is just the sound of deepening - of becoming something more than I am today.  

And if I can remember this, then, I will recognize those sounds as the beautiful melodies that they are.

dg

7/17/10         
Sent from my iPad

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