On Acting in Unknowing

07/22/2006 7:15 AM – 7:39 AM

It is quite possible that in the future you will come to believe that what you believe right now is wrong. But that does not relieve you of the responsibility of acting in accordance with the dictates of your conscience. The honest man must recognize that he will never have enough data to know what is absolutely right and wrong, but still, you must do what is right, right now.

Forget desire quickly. But what is forgetting? What constitutes desire? How long is quickly? You can’t answer some of the questions. The low clouds outside make me think of Bilbo. When we went out on the porch to smoke, the smell of dust rose with the rain. Always. Enough with knowing. Sometimes, it’s time to stop researching and start acting. Or, it’s time to do both, since you seem never to be able to let go of the former. Time to act, though that act may seem foolish in just a few months. It’s what you have right now and the you that you value needs proof of itself. So. So get up and write. Get up and draw. Get up and clean. Do something and let it not weigh anymore than that glass in the evening.

It’s just a story. It’s just words. Don’t let the flash thought of the future stop you. But, if it helps you, use it. When it’s over, let it go. Buy the cheap thing and treasure it as the expensive option. Value is assigned by a valuer, it is not inherent. If it all burns down, remember that it was the cheap thing and then go out and buy another. All that we have was given to us, but what we make of it is our own. When making, it is yours. When finished, yours. When gone, it was God’s in the first place. Naked we come, naked we will go. But lots of fun things in the middle. Silliness of sillinesses, all is silliness. The only good on noticing the weight is if it gets the cart to roll. If it stops the cart, stop noticing. Look! Man walking down the street! Look! Car driving down the road! Look! Light in the window! Look! Bilbo clouds! And then look! There is the story! It’s right there in two dozen pieces, scattered about your mind. Now, stop and sit and put them together. Means nothing. Means everything. Wrong question. Let it go. Sit. Forget. Write. Draw. Tell me a story. This is right now.