lessons

Hello again everyone. As many of you know I have a preoccupation with the subject of rust in my photos. More than a few of my photos feature rust in some form. Today is no different. I’ve been thinking about why I find rust to be such a dynamic subject. Part of it is (as I’ve written on my previous blog) the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic; Finding beauty in the imperfect, the flawed and discarded. But it also goes beyond that. I think rust has many lessons to teach us. No only about the inevitable end of all things but also how we can come to terms with the inevitable end. Rust is strong. It’s strength does not lie in speed, or the forceful blow to its subject. Rust is gentle. It does not seek to hide – it is visible in its destruction. Rust takes it’s time; the object of its affection is coaxed into its corrosive embrace.

The Way Out Is Through

You and me like all things must end. It is the nature of things. We are mortal. That means we will not live forever no matter how hard we try to extend the time we have. I don’t care how fit you are, how free of disease you have been, your physical fitness, or your emotional health. You will die. In fact, you might say you are already dying. And that’s okay. There is beauty in the process. What? Yes, there is beauty in the process of dying = it’s all in how you look at it. You can approach it with grace and appreciation for the time you have and the inevitable end or you can fight it every single step of the way. I once heard a woman say, “I do not plan to grow old gracefully, I plan to fight it every step of the way”. I’ve always found that viewpoint rather tragic. But that is the prevailing viewpoint in western society. In fact the exception in western culture is that you must fight it and with medical and technological advances you can fight aging, disease etc. But that is all a delusion. In the west we have become masters of delusion and self-deception.

Why do we find Autumn to be one of the most beautiful times of the year? Autumn is the season of dying. The leaves on trees are the most colorful just before they die and fall to the ground. And this change seems to happen rather fast but the change actually started at the point the leaf first came out and reached maturity on its branch back in the Spring. Our lives are the same way. It’s not just the newborn and young that are beautiful. Beauty is enhanced through experiences that are both good and bad. Rust is like that; it is one of those experiences that may seem to hasten the demise of something but it does not know that. It just is. It is a part of nature. A part of life experience just like disease, physical and emotional discomfort. Those things exist to add to our beauty.

Catacombs In Rust

You find me
Slowly you Change my life
I love you

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I feel your presence
your corrosion adds beauty
glory of Autumn

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Your rough embrace
Enhances my life through change
I welcome you

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The color of love
Textures the smooth beauty of life
Open arms tremble

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Sing a song of rust
A slow ballad of decay
Autumns dying love

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Sound of slow scraping
Crippled dry dusty fingers
Wabi-Sabi world

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Illusions of age
You teach strength through weakness
Beauty in Frailty

Face The Colour Of Your Fears

Your music moment provided by a band I recently discovered and had to buy all their albums – Do Make Say Think – A TENDER HISTORY IN RUST from their album You, You’re A History In Rust.

Album version

Alternate version

****Hey! if you have short form poem or haiku about rust and the ideas I’ve written about, please feel free to post in your comment. 😉

I just heard this new song called LEARN IT ALL AGAIN TOMORROW by Ben and his mother Ellen Harper. It is from a new folk music album they recorded together titled Childhood Home.

This song reminds me about how many times I’ve had to re-learn the lessons in life – how often I’ve had to “learn it all again tomorrow”. Lessons in decency, kindness, compassion & understanding. The lessons may be spiritual, mental, behavioral or physical. The physical lessons are the ones we easily remember and are able to advance from – for example, walking. Once you learn how to walk you don’t need to relearn (unless some medical reason or accident forces you to). Muscle memory allows you to continue walking without thinking about it. You can then “mature” and learn something new or move to the next level by learning jogging and running. Even spiritual lessons tend to be more knowledge based and once that knowledge is gained it is not necessary to relearn the same thing. But behavioral/mental lessons are a whole different ballgame because they deal with behaviors and being in a way that requires flexibility. Each situation is different and each individual is different so flexibility is the key and this is why we often have to relearn the same lessons in different situations.

The bad and the beautiful:
So many people think of themselves as deeply flawed for having to relearn life’s lessons. Or as many Christians would say, “It’s because we are born sinners”. But I would like to point out that no one is a “born sinner” our weaknesses of character, and bad behaviors are learned/nurtured from our culture and surroundings. And many people go on acting as they’ve always acted – badly – without any recognition or thought of “Why do I…?” or “Should I…?”

Once a lesson is learned you will be “doing” what you’re supposed to be doing. You will have an awareness, or what Buddhists call Mindfulness, about yourself and others and be able to respond appropriately – if not initially; then, as a corrective measure – Whether it is compassion, understanding, peace-making, tolerance, etc – you will be doing it and others will learn from your example. They will see the change in you.

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Here’s the good news. We should not think badly of ourselves for having to relearn life’s lessons as new situations arise. You and I are not bad, flawed or weak for having to relearn things like compassion, decency, respect, etc. When you were formed/created/born – just like the story of creation in the Bible – God said, “It is good.” You were born innocent and good. That innocence and goodness still resides within you and me. We should be grateful for the opportunities we have to relearn those lessons we need in order to be more adaptable. I am. It isn’t easy because whenever we interact with someone new their responses will be different so we will have a new opportunity to relearn a positive way interact with (and react to) them.