So I just posted my last post and then read a poem by Mary Oliver. I really love her poetry and then realize I am juxtaposing my bleak entry about evil next to her paean to nature and I feel like I’m a complete dark angel only fit for the bad news of the world.
Not so best beloved. Not so. I see beauty too. I hear the wild cry of the heron, the yips of the coyotes and the birdy scrum around my feeder every morning. I know the earth has much beauty.
But, the world is very harsh. I see the world as Manichean*—half dark, half light, and always, the one side battles against the other. We need to be “woke” ladies and gentleman. But there’s woke and then there’s fit to be tied. You guys don’t need to be fit to be tied.
As Aunt Francis said to me in her last letter:
“Cool off bonkyhead.”
*Mani, a Persian, from whom we get Manicheaism, attempted to pull together all the religions in the world into one coherent belief system. I love that there was a Persian philosopher named Manny. Some names never get old.
Anyway…
This was in early AD. Roughly, he believed that matter (that is our earthly bodies) are dross and evil, and our spirit comes from God, all good and illuminated. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Aunt Francis just said “shit, girl, I already knew that. ” She’s so smart, that Franny. Here’s her picture if you’ve forgotten what she looks like:
Wait a minute. I just realized Mani rhymes with Franny. Coincidence???
I don’t think so.
Hello. Yes, this is Dog 