Can't get that sailing trip out of my head.
I'm here doing my work, hanging out with my family and all of the sudden, I'll be looking off into the distance, thinking about sailing. I am undone by the experience.
I'm fascinated with the idea that to make forward movement, a sailor has to position himself at 45 degree angles. 45 degrees, then catch the momentum of the wind. Then, position oneself at 45 degrees in the other direction, catch the momentum, move forward.
It seems cumbersome and unprecise. No wonder sailing gave way to the speedboat.
But some people believe that sailing is the one of the cleanest and most self-sufficient sports there is. You can travel virtually anywhere in a sailboat (harbors). And as long as you like seafood, you can live on what you catch.
And yet, to move forward you have to almost double back.
This is a foreign concept to many of us -- OK, honestly? It's a foreign concept to me, card carrying high-wired, type A, get- it- done- today -certified member. I know that I have to move forward, point a to point b. Making progress, getting it done.
But those sails! They are powerful. The speed is incredible. Is moving forward really a series of doubling back?
45 degrees is half of 90 which is half of 180. That means, that moving forward in sailing is like an almost-almost turn.
I've only begun to really understand this idea and it fascinates me. Because my life is a series of zig zags. Frustrating turns. Dead ends. Get a bill paid, another one arrives in the mail. Get a realationship on track, another one crashes. Get something accomplished, more work arrives in the "in" box. I think I'm making progress, only to be sucked in by a gale. Zig zags are what make life...life.
What if zig zags ARE life? What if our lives are not meant to be hurly burly, running to catch up, get there before anybody else? What if our lives are meant instead to be a series of meandering and precise cuts on top of life's sea? What if making progress is actually catching the wind and allowing it to direct you? And what do we learn in the zig zags? What wisdom, what hope, what inspiration rain upon us while we untangle our nets, straighten our sails, position ourselves forward?
That's what I'm thinking about.
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1 comment:
It is an interesting idea, Maurie! Imagine something else...what if we all lived in the now, as all the new-age (or is it the NEW new age) gurus are always trying to suggest? If we treated time as inconsequential and handled that which was in front of us, what would happen to the concept of moving in any direction at all? Direction and time are related, I think. We only move "forward" or "back" if we're talking about time or physical space. God, Einstein was so damn smart. So if what was most important were what is happening now, it would all be perfect. Or imperfect, depending on how you think.
I love the way your mind works.
J
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