Saturday, June 9th, 2012
I heard Joel Grey say on KUSC that tomorrow he will be Eighty! When asked where he derives the energy to perform six times a week now at 80 in a Broadway show, he said, "It's what I love to do. When I don't like it anymore, I'll quit." I feel the same way about a lot of things that I do every single day, especially tending my garden. Tending garden is both an art and a dharma for me. Tending is actually caring; what the existentialists like Heidegger call "Sorge"----tending; care for, concern for in the face of universal mortality. I find a great joy in doing what I like to do, having the energy and intentionality to do it. Intentionality comes from the word "tend." Grey is one of the most brilliant artists, and he has given us all so much. What Grey did in "Cabaret" is the same as what George Gershwin did in "Rhapsody in Blue", an uncompromising caring. What wonderful artists to be proud of, and Americans at that! We would be abject, impoverished, without them or their work. Which leads me to the observation that each of us doesn't have to be a great anything (whatever that is). John Keats said it best---it is not important to be a great writer, but to be a Writer! Love the art, and do it with the best that one is. That is enough.
The late Saturday afternoon air is ambiant with gently, cool breezes from the sea now. The Light is lovely but fading ever so slowly.There is that quality of afternoon light (composed of light and darkness in shadows, actually) so glowing and rich, one could almost eat it. It makes one weep to see it on buildings and trees as James McLaughlin once said on his wonderful NPR music program, St Paul Sunday.
Very good advice! Thank you for this entry.
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