I've been thinking about doing this
“blog” for a while now. I just haven't been ready for it.
Honestly, writing was something I
used to do all the time. In my teen years it seems like it was all I
ever did... but you grow up, and responsibilities pile on, and you
wonder where the time has run off to. Before long it's been months
before you sat down to write last, even though it's something you
love. Even though it's the best way you know how to communicate, to
mull things over, settle things in your mind.
Mostly, I am a poet, so this endeavor
will pose some challenges. My poetry is available on Allpoetry, but I
don't post much anymore. My account survives in a dusty corner of
that website, and I like it that way. I can look through my poems and
capture glimpses of my past self, add to them as the mood strikes me.
I write fiction as well, there are
always several ideas and stories knocking around in my head. I'm
currently working on a book I've been writing since I was 16. Truth
be told I've written, rewritten, revised, reordered, and reworked
that book so many times I've lost count. Always searching for my
voice, trying to evolve it, enrich it, craft the words to paint a
picture in the mind. It took a long time, but I finally found it.
Maybe one day I'll get that book finished, and try to get it
published.. but to be honest it's something so close to me it's hard
to let people read it, let alone submit it to an editor. Then again, I always imagine working
with an editor would be like when I would bring my work to my Father.
I'm not sure it was ever his intention, but he loved to rip apart and
rewrite any creative thing I'd written. One of the many problems we
have had in our twisted relationship.
As it is, this is the third time I've
rewritten this post. It's going to be an ongoing struggle to keep
this both personal, and public. I'm good at distance, I'm very good
putting that space between myself and the world. I'll do the best I
can though, and maybe in time it will get easier.
I am calling this blog, “My Path On
The World Tree.” The concept of a “World Tree” appears in many
mythologies, religions, and practices. My personal philosophy is that
all faiths, religions, beliefs, and paths are like trees in a great
forest, and most often people choose by whatever means which tree
they align themselves with. Rarely some people take branches from
other trees and graft ideas together to create their own, but the
choice is just as present, the tree just as much apart of the forest.
I have found that more often people
cannot seem to see the forest for the trees, but all those trees take
root in the same soil of the mind, and lead to the same places. I
just prefer to see the forest for what it is. Even as I align myself
willingly, wholeheartedly to the Yggdrasil, I watch and I listen for
what the forest can teach me.
Ideally life is about growth, it's
about becoming more than you were. More what, you get to decide.
Without growth there is death, and there are many many ways an
individual can die. I don't necessarily mean physical death, in my
way of believing death of the body is more of a rebirth. Death of the
mind, of the spirit, is more total.
This blog is a way to mark my own
growth, like marks on a wall or door-frame where parents mark the
passing years as their children grow. It is also an attempt to build a
bridge. Mostly a bridge from my mind to my community, something to
keep me honest, keep me moving in the direction I desire. Through
this bridge I intend to share my findings, my hopes, my failings, my
thoughts. It will be an interesting and sometimes difficult journey,
but it will be invaluable.
It is the early dawn hours, and as I
finish the last few sips of my tea before I head to bed I extend to
you, reader, a warm hello; and I thank you for commencing this
journey with me.
Song in my head:
All images used in this blog adhere to
the license agreements of the image owners.
I found these images of
my own, and gratefully list below the artists who's work I have
presented here.
Image 1 - Neil Howard: https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilsingapore/