The beginning of the new calendar year is a time when we are encouraged to look back, and to look forward and assess. Most of us are familiar with the image of the Greek god Janus, after which the month is named, who can see both timelines.
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| Detail of from the ceiling in Waltham Abbey by Steve Day via Flickr 2007 |
When I see this image, I can't help but think that this two-way sight is limited and should be a symbol for strict behaviorists, who look only to the past in order to see the future. The by-word of this stance would seem to be "but".
"But" is based on past outcomes to predict future outcomes. "But" thinks it knows what has happened and what is going to happen. "But" says, "this has always happened, so that can never happen." Or, conversely, "that has never happened before, so this will always be the same." If the devil is in the details, then the word "but" is what he likes to kick around the most.
"But" is a condition placed upon ideas. Any idea that comes up is smacked down with "yes, but…", and the possibilities of the present are foreclosed. "But" doesn't allow for reframing or creativity. It is a turning point along a road that urges us to turn back before it's too late. It can also be an ending point of an idea, truncated by the fearful head of an angry bull with the stubborn backside of an ass. "But" can be a deception at the least, and at the worst it can kill devotion.
Devotion is the "and" of a beginning, middle and end. "And" can handle more than two. Devotion agrees with the hopes and the disappointments, the accomplishments and the forgotten moments. It lets them all in, and then lets them all go. It keeps this and it lays down that. It doesn't say, I feel, but… I think, but… I want, but… I do, but… It reminds us that our thoughts, feelings and intentions are true and are necessary for full consideration. "And" adds the possibility of "how"? At least it asks, "how could it be?" and lets the question breathe before it is strangled. "And" makes allowances, even if choices and actions are reduced to a few or even one. The selections and eliminations, actions or non-actions can contain all that is true within "and", rather than rejected without room by "but's" peremptory exit sign. While "and" may not bring the same certainty as "but", it does bring a degree of peace.
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| Statue in marble of Shiva on tirtanaga.com |
If I may borrow another image of a god, here is the Hindu god, Shiva, who appears to be in a neverending stance of balancing all of the arms of "and", whether or not they are acted upon. He seems to be part of the spirit of Emily Dickinson, one of the most un-godlike creatures to find the courage to say, now famously, "I dwell in possibility."
Poem LXVII
A DEED knocks first at thought,
And then it knocks at will.
That is the manufacturing spot,
And will at home and well.
It then goes out an act,
Or is entombed so still
That only to the ear of God
Its doom is audible.
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| Playbill of videotaped production starring Julie Harris in 1976, following 116 performances at the Longacre Theater, New York. Harris won the 1977 Tony Award for Drama. I can only imagine Emily's shock and discomfiture that anyone would have noticed the small details of her very secluded life, turning it into such acclaim. |
