‘Jeff, why the heck are you telling me about a burrito-selling rabbit?’
I like telling stories. I want to get better at telling stories.
Too much growth information does you no good. You need time to put stuff into practice. Think about the last two things you read in TREE that really stood out to you. Are they a habitual part of your life yet? If not, maybe revisit them and do that work.
This paragraph by Rick Rubin: ‘We don't need to make a point of making a point. It will appear when it appears. The true point is already made in the innocent act of perception and creation. Knowing this is liberating. It lifts some of the pressure. We can worry less about understanding why it works, or if others will understand where we are coming from. We are free to be present and allow the material to come through us, and free to stay out of its way when it does come through.’ (The Creative Act, p.179, Cannongate, 2023)
This paragraph from Alan Watts: ‘A Chinese philosophical work called The Secret of the Golden Flower says that “when purpose has been used to achieve purposelessness, the thing has been grasped.” For a society surviving to no purpose is one that makes no provision for purposeless behavior – that is, for actions not directly aimed at survival, which fulfill themselves in being done in the present and do not necessarily imply some future reward. But indirectly and unintentionally, such behavior is useful for survival because it gives a point to surviving – not, however, when pursued for that reason. To play so as to be relaxed and refreshed for work is not to play, and no work is well and finely done unless it, too, is a form of play.’ (The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, p.114, Johnathan Cape, 1969)
The idea behind TREE is to give folks something that will get their brains thinking first thing in the morning. To me, What’s important is that you are thinking creatively. I’m not too bothered about what you are thinking. Sometimes stories (and art and music) do a better job of starting up the thinker than shoving a specific thought into someone’s head.
It’s fun. If you’re having half the fun reading this as I am writing it, we’re onto a winner.
Here’s Caroline Polachek doing an excellent job of being Caroline Polachek. (Spotify).
We’ll be hanging out with Bernice and her burritos for about two more weeks.
Grow slowly
Jeff
While in an imposed rest, I am still. In the stillness I am having fun. A little work but I make as much play out of it as I can squeeze out. I love burritos 🌯 Arriba, arriba!🌯🌯
I am hooked on the story of the burrito selling bunny!
I especially like point 4 on this post. I have made time for purposeless pursuits, but they have also become so fulfilling. A family I had the privilege of being friends with while I was in my teens understood this. They worked with a fervor that inspired it in others, but also played with that same intensity just for the joy of it.