13,126. RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,068

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,068

('if only we let it')

I'm no longer running in place.

I guess I'm getting somewhere.

Else? How's that again? Else?

I have found, over time and as

I've aged, a key to something:

To be successful, any effort

must be single-minded and

done strongly. That may seem

an easy task, but it's not. Today's

world  -  well, I guess any day's

world : even medievalists were

probably distracted by marbles

or coin  -  offers too many

notable distractions and currents,

same as did the years 1340 or 1430.

-

Hard to fathom, all that. But a

one-minded devotion to matters 

at hand makes all the difference.

I've noticed that, without such, a

cobbler isn't much of a shoemaker,

nor a horse-trainer much of a

horse-trainer. And that's just to

name two random activities. For

the quest or Art or Writing, it

gets even weirder because all of

those 'outside' activities, whatever

they may be, are in essence the

raw material and the fodder for

Creativity and all it brings forth.

I used to be out walking all those

NYCity streets, picking up found

objects, any material useful for

inclusion, and mostly that was my

single-minded devotion - pursuing

the steps of Art. I had one or two

others, yes : Avoiding the maurauding

draft-board agents: avoiding those

hippie crowd-scenes and revels; and

just generally keeping clean of the

debris that sought-out sluggos such

as me. It never was easy.

-

What did any of that teach me?

To stay on task, as it's often called;

but nowadays you never much hear

that. Once-sound advice, now seen

as trite  -  as a phone or an Internet

keep people multi-tasked and busy

at all times with hydra-headed calls

for attention and detail, and they

never think twice, while thinking

they are thinking about thinking.

The ideal world revolved around

the concept of One. Still today, If

a person can hone the skill of doing 

'one' thing at a time, with attention

to detail and crevice, design and

operation, so much more can

come; so much more of that

'wonder,' and the nice surprises 

of 'living,' can be found. They 

come right to the surface as 

the mind is finally focused. Not

just that either  -  every facet of

light, sound, awareness, and the

visual take their rightful place,

and Life becomes Awe.

-

If only we let it.

-

Recently, in one of those 

moments of going through a 

hundred old things for moving 

and re-packaging (a meditative

and singular task in itself), I

came across an old 'child's toy'

from, probably, about 1958 or

1960. It was an early version,

in heavier metal, and real rubber

tires, of what later became known,

I guess, as a 'slot'car  -  a sort of

racing track for small cars that

was a momentary fad of sorts

in the later 1970's. Small cars,

by then micro-relayed and

transistorized or whatever any

of that is called, which clung

to the track layout upon which

they were spun  -  at high rates

of movement, and with some

great banks and curves in the

track design. Most or all of it,

by then, was plastic of one sort

or another. Anyway, this old

version of same almost took my

breath away  -  as I carefully

inspected it. Deep, strong, red

paint, an underbody that was

heavy and hellish, with the

the slot-guide in place, looking

like a shark fin, perhaps. It had

some real heft, a tiny little clear

windshield, not plasticene in any

way. Breathtaking and timeless,

it seemed to me  -  as if that ONE.

deep moment of inspection and

observation had, for me, stopped

all other clocks and movements. 

Deep within it, I peered to see the

tightly wound, coiled brass-colored

wire of the, I guess, electric-motor

generating system. Even if it was,

back then, machine-made and spun,

this small piece of evidence was

like looking at an archaeological 

find which spoke back to me from 

some other place and era, one I'd 

sought or stumbled upon, indeed. 

And I finally for once, I had so little 

to say back  -  except of the wonder and
the satisfaction, with my momentary

oneness   -  of what I'd found and

noticed. l sought, and I listened so.

-
All life ought to be like that:
if only we'd let it.