"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."--President John F. Kennedy

I do not celebrate the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving day, just as I do not celebrate other days declared holidays by governments or organized religious leaders... I do my best to avoid hypocrisy in my own choices and activities, which leaves me on the fringe of most cultural activities in this world... one more reason there is much alone time for writing in this life for me... anyway, this entry is being written mostly because I am catching up on the past umpteen days and did not write an entry this day in real time, so I found an easy way to give you an entry for this date/day by selecting some of the quotes that the amazing hamiltonian accumulates... between ham, kilowatt, squirrelx, I have more quotes in my mind each week than I can read most weeks and I do appreciate them and so many of you (my thanksgiving entries appear several times a year in different ways, ya know)... of course, these entries reflecting on cultural holidays can sometimes be revealing...

and since the quote has a capital Her, in case you didn't know already (religion is bound to come up in the next few weeks, aye?), in my mind I do give credibility to the possibility of a Goddess just as much as I give credibility to the possibility of a God... I accept infinite possibilities for those things we can not experience with our physical senses and respect any way that does not harm or attempt to negatively effect any other way... personally, I see religion as a path for those who need it... I don't...

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

the word spirit (or concept Spirit, as an entity) is interchangeable, for me, with hope, god, anima, karma, love, energy, and lots of other words that cultures and languages provide to describe the theoretical possibility (I'd go as far as accepting there is a probability) of there being some sort of connective energy that gives some sort of relationship to all things in the physical universe as we know it and whatever might be beyond the realm of our physical senses and knowledge... it brings me some comfort (perhaps only, or at least mostly, because it allows me some acceptance and credibility in this world and I want to share with somebody in this world, if the reasoning in this parentheses makes any sense to you) to believe in a universal energy that balances everything (whether it has consciousness or intention or not)... the concept is not the focus of this life for me, as I do my best to focus on living in the physical moment...

when I consider the possibility of eternity, I would much rather believe it is an emotion we can feel, love, that bridges the path between this physical life and whatever may be beyond this life... if you truly believe your god to be pure love and not some personification of a parental figure with it's own desires or issues that is in some way responsible for your choices or circumstances in this life, then we may come closer to sharing a spiritual belief... O don't need the whole heaven and hell, light-dark, good vs. evil trip, but I appreciation and want to believe in an eternity of love as expressed in "it's amazing Molly, the love inside, you take it with you" (name the film?)... infinite hope in infinite love, that's all I need to be happy...

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." ~ Marcel Proust

the word gardener is a word I chose early on in this life to define relationships for me... when I felt there relationships closer than friend or lover, I realized there was no words other than family words and they not only can lead to confusion and misunderstanding, but over the last few generations words like brother and sister have been overused and gained many connotations, such as a cause, belief, or social movement, that I do not wish to add to such closer than friend or lover relationships...

it was mostly a literary choice... I've been writing since I could first hold a crayon and have perceived words as living things without movement of their own, as flowers and most life in plant kingdom of biological classifications can be seen... and I see writers as gardeners as we arrange the words in patterns that are hopefully pleasing to the eye/mind or in some cases, meaningful in ways that please the eye with insight or inspiration (even if that is not always a positive inspiration, as some write to provoke or incite others)...

in relationships, I use the word gardener to identify those (and if we are lucky, we might find more than one in a lifetime) who nurture our hopes and dreams, those who care to take the time to get to know who we are and how we feel, those who come close enough to learn and pay attention to the details, those who earn as close to unconditional trust as is possible... gardeners are in physical space relationships, though long distance gardeners can be possible, it is still a large leap of faith and not actual life sharing that creates such a bond... and time, much time...

Proust appears to use the word gardener in a lighter vein above, but I still like the quote as there are many levels to happiness... a stranger on the street can inspire happiness in me simply by smiling or doing something kind (for me or for someone else)... an actor can inspire my happiness in a work of fiction... as much as the specific external person, place, thing, or experience, it is a matter of how much I am willing to relate to and absorb from any situation or stimulation that determines my reaction...

a lot of words to explain such a simple concept, huh?...

simply, a gardener is a friend or lover who chooses to nurture the positivity inside of us more consistently, more permanently, more meaningfully than friends or lovers usually do... it is one step away from the closest relationship of all in my language, soulmate... a soulmate is a gardener who is willing to go all the way towards sharing everything in every way possible that harms nothing and no one... one who actualizes unconditional trust in the physical world and any others as much as possible because that is the fulfillment of the most precious highest most powerful desire one can feel...

if you can grasp the meaning of this last quote, then you may know why I see writers as gardeners... it is not that Thich Nhat Hanh created the perfect statement or the most beautiful phrasings or even the most profound literary concept ever, it is the simple beauty and truth I find in the way the words came together before my eyes... just as no garden is the perfect garden, no arrangement of flowers is the perfect bouquet, not group of trees is the perfect forest... each is a thing of beauty unto itself... each a miracle of creativity in life when see through the eyes of love, not blinded by love, but opened by love... opened to infinite hope that leads to intinite positive possibilities...

this is the appreciation I strive for every moment of every day... so today I give thanks as I do all the time, for you for being out there, for everyone who cares, for the hope that everyone might care enough to live honestly in love someday so all the harm done by confusion and insecurity and fear can be a thing of the past... today, as every day, thanks for the possibilities and the hope that dreams can come true...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)