BIKE WHISTLE POW!: Meditation

I normally pooh-pooh bike trails. Springfield’s trails are set up on the edges of our city, and designed to be driven to, as biking is viewed as a purely recreational activity. My bike is my main mode of transportation, and I admit, after risking my life biking to the chain store to get milk for my kid, I feel a bit galled seeing bike trial maintenance workers with their industrial-size vacuum, cleaning up the little sticks and such.

The trail itself is built on an old railroad grade. It’s five miles long, and is wooded for nearly the length of the trail. For an urbanite without access to much in the way of nature, it’s a pleasant change. I decided to ride a trail rather than ride around town for a couple of reasons. One is the basic necessity of being able to enjoy a ride without risking my life. That’s nice. Another is that, due to my compulsive anal retentiveness, I can’t merely ride in psychological comfort without a destination. I love doing bike errands, because it gives me a purpose in riding. Unfortunately, bike errands also seem to induce spending money, which I try to avoid as well. And so it was with reservation that I hopped on my bike and headed for the Lost Bridge Trail.

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WHAT IS BIRTH ON THIS VERNAL EQUINOX? by Annie Reveler

Children. The decision to bring them into the world. A world. This world. Our personal avatars into the future.

Avatars, earthly incarnations of gods and goddesses. Or, virtual representations, or alter-ego.

This world, the Anthropocene Era: systems beginning to fail, great die-out of species, climactic shifts, even the seasons, the great rhythm, put in chaos.

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MY WABI-SABI LIFE

Nature's chaotic abundance takes root in an abandoned flower pot.

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that does not translate well to English, but using a thousand words, perhaps we shall begin to understand.  Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, but now reflects a meaning more of rustic simplicity, freshness, or quietness.  Wabi also refers to the quirks and imperfections that arise during the creation process.  Sabi refers to the beauty which comes into being as something ages.  According to wikipedia, “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”  Also, wabi-sabi “nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

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