Just A Dandelion
We'll arrive time and again at the juncture between fertile awe or dull certainty.
Just A Dandelion after Sufi teacher Netanel Miles-Yepez, who shared this story during a lecture There's a story of a little child who sees a dandelion for the first time. They can't contain their excitement and call out to their parents – look what I found! What is it? What is it!? You've heard of the fork in the road and the path least taken. You've heard of the glass half empty, half full. You've heard of projection and perception. Of the world is what you make it. Oh honey, one parent might say, that's just a dandelion. In another world the parent crouches down beside them. It's beautiful, isn't it? They study the petals, discuss the color. Lightly touch the tips of their fingers to the stem. Place their nose to its center. Lay on the ground and look up, look sideways, gently blow. This is a flower honey. Some people call it a dandelion. You can siphon wonder because you have none, or you can build it choice by choice. We'll arrive time and again at the juncture between fertile awe or dull certainty. Just a world or the nameless mystery? Just a life or the possibility of existence? Just another day or the gift of another day? And even if just just, even if we arrive at only a dandelion, might it still contain an element of wonder? Could we take for granted the intricate beauty of this made world while never forgetting how little we know about it, kneeling the gift of our ignorance in humble praise.
"You can siphon wonder because you have none, or you / can build it choice by choice."
This quote reminds me of the work I am both blessed with and challenged by. Blessed challenges, where I grieve the loss of something, especially what I've never known-- like a certain kind of upbringing or a land indigenously alive with native plants-- AND choose to build back up what once was for a future time I might surely never see with these eyes.
Thank you.