Our Highest Truths

Our highest truths are but half-truths.

Think not to settle down forever in any truth.

Make use of it as a tent in which to pass a summer's night,

But build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.

When you first have an inkling of its insufficiency

And begin to descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond,

Then weep not, but give thanks,

It is the Lord's voice whispering: "Take up thy bed and walk"

J. J. Balfour

Joyce sent me this quote after my 1990 divorce. It sat in front of me on my cubicle wall at work till I changed jobs in 2003. Now it sits in front of me here at home. From time to time, it kick-starts my stalled engine, just when I need it.

Gathering Wisdom

Gathering Wisdom, a bronze by Mark Hopkins, is the closest thing in our house that reminds me of La Loba, the wild Wolf Woman. Gathering wisdom, I guess, is the same thing as collecting the bones and singing over them, a la Women Who Run With the Wolves from my last post.

My Soul longs for this gathering and collecting. If you wish psychoanalytic advice, Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, "Go gather bones."