Some images just speak for themselves. This is the current cloud cover and sunlit portions of the earth at 2248 PDT today. The World Sunlight Map website updates this image every time you check it.
Thanks to KIPlog for the link.
I am learning Taekwondo. Tuesday was my first class, and as I tied my white belt on for the first time, I had that old Suzuki quote in my mind:
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
I have forgotten what it is like to learn something about which I know nothing. As I have moved through my life, I realize that I have focused on learning things for which there is at least some foundation. More often I find myself in learning situations where I don’t challenge my ignorance, as my ego intrudes in my ability to learn something. We all have a need to seem like we know what we are doing.
So it is with some glee that I have abandoned myself to taekwondo. I know nothing of fighting, have only flirted with martial arts in the past through an introduction to ta’i chi, and my body is, at 35, becoming stiff and less supple as I enter middle age. Today, as I get ready for my second ever class, my hamstrings are tight, my back is aching and there are sore ligaments in my arms that I never knew I had. And yet, the activity is exhilarating.
What I cherished from my first class is the focus that reminds me of what it’s like to play music and be in the groove, the workout, and the teaching. My teacher, Master Kook, is a former Canadian team member and a brilliant teacher. He is young, kind and demanding, and he teaches with care and precision.
I think now that the real value in all of this is both the physical exercise and the mental challenge of doing something completely strange to me. It’s good practice for the ego, letting go of having to be an expert, and surrendering to the joy of being a beginner.
Michael Herman has left Bowen Island, recuperated in Chicago for a wekk and is now in Nepal. His blog, the more and more aptly named “Global Chicago” is being maintained at the Global Chicago Wiki, in a place called GlobalChicago: PracticingInNepal. Saves on bandwidth and dialup charges.
His journey to Asia promises to be worth keeping tabs on.
Moon and Mars together
Photo by Allan Gould
This is a photo of Mars out beyond the limb of the Moon. It took me years of looking into the sky to convince my mind that when I look up there I am not seeing a two dimensional surface. Sometimes it helps to really focus on the moon as a sphere, and then it becomes clear, once one astronomical body has depth, that everything else lies in a field that extends away from us.
I think we are somehow conditioned to see the sky as a roof, a sensation that cathedral architects have played with for centuries. It’s a strangely liberating feeling when you realize that the objects in the sky are not “up there” but rather “out there.” This photo is a nice reminder of that perspective.
Oh my goodness…the folks at BlogsCanada have included Parking Lot in their list of top Canadian blogs for this month. I am truly flattered.
Go visit the list for some great Canadian reading.
Thanks to judges Jay Currie and Jim Elves, and all of you anonymous folks who nominated this humble scratch pad.