Pulled Arthur Gordon off the Shelf Again, tonight.

 

 

It's his "5 gifts" that have long been the stellar chapters of his book. I like them because you can read them out of order---or in order. Usually, I read them out of order because it is like stepping stones that allow for a more clear understanding overall. Over the years, I've had some very amazing teachers like Neville Rodgers, who spent a lifetime translating the works of Shelley into other languages. Or, the way he got me so interested in Great Books, a Humanities Course in college that found me rather than me finding it. Those kinds of happenings have always been benchmarks for me in life. 

Today was another one of those days that felt like summertime. Lunch was at a table on a sidewalk. My enjoyment of those things comes from my early years growing up. The older that I get, the more enjoyment they bring to me like a long bucket list of patio's and porches or sidewalk tables. When in Brazil, lunch was overlooking the Atlantic as it was when in Maine: a distance of 4877 miles north of the outdoor patio lunch overlooking the isle of San Sabastiàne as locals vacationed, taking their cars over on a ferry. I still remember thinking how odd it was to have beautiful stained glass windows in a warehouse filled with Italian steel bars and bags of coffee or beautiful Brazilian wood.

Creative ideals have long flowed through my veins, but in a case of "I wonder what I am wondering when I wonder it" was the beginning when I started to see things with greater depth and vision than others. It even helped me to be more creative while seated before a 3-4-or 5 manual pipe organ trying to get the most colorful sounds from stops that some organs had never been pulled by organist in the past. About that time Arthur Gordon came to me from my oldest living friend that lived next door to me upon graduating. My wife's friend's grandmother owned the duplex and it is in that same property where the KP-tree was planted upon his birth and now stands 60 plus feet tall and under its bark is hard Maple wood. 

Life  does have its cycles. I've seen many various cycles through the years. Now, the cycles that matter most to me are the cycles of graphic image buyers.

Arthur Gordon Calls it: A Truly Memorable Encounter: A Luminous Encounter

 In his book, A Touch of Wonder, The chapter called, The Gift of Bright Encounters---Unlikely Friendships has long been memorable to me. Over the past two weeks, I have had two of those encounters. Normally, I might have one or two a year, let alone one a week back to back. Over the course of time since, a lot of thought has been given to those two encounters. One was sparked by the laid back, easy going young man who encountered me with a question: "What are you taking pictures of?" My reply was "chimneys". He went into the store where I was sitting on a bench outside. Quickly, he came back out and in a super-laid back way said, "I forgot my wallet" as he strolled down the sidewalk and  disappeared around the corner of the building. Shortly, he returned, "You got me thinking about chimneys. I've seen three around the corner." That was the day that I got up from the bench and was about to go around the opposite corner of the building to New York Sub, where the bench had given me a break to just think about architecture and the chimneys that I had been focusing on, when I looked up and saw the 6 contrails of high altitude commercial jets on vectors going east as the sun gleamed off the planes showing that they were traveling at about 5-mile separations, a standard for the FFA Traffic Centers. Also, unusual to see them at all in that formation. Generally, you see one here or one there or two crossing in an 'X' but never 6 side by side.

The second encounter happened this past Wednesday on my way to my ill fated doctors appointment that was scheduled by me a day before my doctor's office called me from last years notes the doctor had put into the system to schedule. My appointment was not until 3:15 had it gone as planned. I had planned to do some fall shooting before taking the bus from the train station that would take me to in front of the doctors office. The park was busy and filled with people being served a holiday meal near the train car of historic times. Others were looking at the City of Plano's Christmas Tree which was already up for the holidays below the gazebo and in front of the lake and fountains. I walked over the bridge to the other side of the lake and from the walk that winds it way through the park saw a young man in a black cowboy hat at a picnic table playing his guitar, singing. When I had entered the park from the train platform's access, I had heard music coming through the breezes, carried by a moderate, but pleasant autumn wind more like summer than fall with temps in the low 80s.

I walked over to him and ask if he would mind if I took a couple of pictures of him and his guitar and case on the picnic table as he kept doing what he had been doing. He said to me that he didn't mind and I walked around the edge of the lake and then walked up by the side from a distance and got a couple of angle shots that I felt fit the mood of the music that I was hearing. It was one of those encounters where I had explained to him that I have long ago started shooting images of musical instruments and artist out in the open rather than a concert. The exception was stage shots of artist at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival.

Both of these encounters I have written about in past daily post from those days but as a background to the story, Gordon, wrote that, "afterwards you know that you have learned something valuable---something that can't always be described exactly, or measured of explained,but something. When on of those luminous encounters take place, most people feel an impulse to preserve it, somehow". 

In these two encounters, something valuable was this: Encounter #1, the young man was very much like me in that he didn't get excited not having his wallet. He simply carried on to solve the problem and with the return letting me know that he had also learned something---chimneys were on the mind. He was even counting them. Encounter #2, the young man had written original music and published on You Tube. Its what I once called Space Music. It is soothing. Great to fall asleep to and relax. We later, through e-mail, talked about his music and how I have long considered music and photography to be the 'twins of creativity'. We now follow each other on social media. His being my blog and me being his You Tube channel: etherealfrequency. 

The October, 2019 Tornado Across No.Dallas and NE Dallas An apartment chimney is being rebuilt after the storm.

 

Lookout! Arthur Gordon Is Off The Shelf Again.

That's right. I took Arthur Gordon off the shelf again. It does seem that his writings have been thoughts to ponder. Both, in the past and in this period of uncertainty. We are now finding ourselves more confused that ever before. While my faith usually lights my path, sometimes, I'm looking for the more simple translations that theologians develop over time. Arthur Gordon has done that. Out side of the bible, Arthur's little book that came to me from a true friend many, many years ago. Alright, more specific, I've been marking the margins and ear cropping pages for 30 years in this copy. The original was copyrighted in 1974 and it has been picked up prior, though not from my own bookshelf. It's strange how things like that work out...you find something and like it and then through the movement of time, you are delivered to the point of re-discovering through the kindness of a friend. But, this time, you are not going to let it escape from your grasp. Hence, The on- and- off of the book shelf, this work continues after another third of a life time. 

Recently, during a discovery mission, I came across another maker of quotes. I like her style much like I like Arthur Gordon. The thing about these two is that one would seem to think that the both of them knew each other and wrote for each other. Now, I'm pretty sure that isn't the case, but the point here is that they run in parallel in some ways that seem to fit like a jigsaw puzzle. That second author is the former long time partner of Gore Vidal, Anaïs Nin. In fact, I just made a post about the Duchess of Sussex  that also reads Anaïs like me. Although, I have probably read Miss Nin for many more years than the Duchess. 

Chapter 6, "The" Gift of Awareness" is the source of much of this theme. Chapter 2, "The Gift of Shared Wisdom" is more dominant of the two chapters. In the chapter, there are four rare encounters Arthur writes about. But, don't miss the keystone of the chapter in the opening introduction page. Arthur wrote that, "In those rare encounters a spark would jump from another person to me." He continued, "Actually, I don't think the setting made any difference. The spark jumped, or it didn't. When it did, it left me changed".

Still in Chapter 6, is one of my most favorite quote, but I was ask by a great University in Israel  to take down the quote because it violated the Intellectual Property Rights of Albert Einstein. Image that. But, never being one to knowingly do that, as my images are also intellectual property, I took the quote down out of respect than any other reason.  But, I can and will continue to site Arthur Gordon's words and book because it is something that needs to spread, especially in a world  that we live in today. If I had a reverse action to Arthur Gordon using one of my images here and there, heck, I'd go shoot a book cover for him no questions ask. If it helps sell a few books for him along the way, I'm a team player here for sure. But, it is in this chapter, number six, that Arthur entitled, "The Deadly Art of Nonliving" that is today's lesson of wisdom.

Arthur Gordon starts out by saying, " Eccentricity has virtually vanished from the American scene." He continues by saying that ," Part of the blame, without much doubt, can be laid squarely on the doorstep of overprotective parents. In hundreds of thousands of homes, I'm convinced, well-meaning fathers and mothers blunt their children's eagerness and sense of adventure with endless barrage of don'ts "  And Arthur Gordon has hit that nail on the head once again. 

As he sums up,"Our ancestors were mercifully free from these merchants of doom.Nobody warned our grandparents that they had better watch every drink because one out of fifteen social drinkers becomes an alcoholic." Gordon goes on with other comparisons that help drive that nail right on the head in truth more than we know some three generations later that find our kids being hoovered over by parents who are afraid that their little snow flake is going to get the Corona by going to school but don't fear that a train load of mental health worries is more real by keeping the kids in home study. I know. There are always those that are going to miss the point outright but it took us three generations to get to this point and its going to take us four more generations to get out of it even if we start right now. Sad. Oh, so sad. 

But, in concluding, Arthur hits the nail squarely on the head once again. " How can I rouse my people make them yearn for something more than pleasant,socially acceptable ways of escaping from life? How can I make them want to thrust forward into the unknown, into the world of testing and trusting their own spirit? Oh, how I wish I knew!, There's only one answer, really. Each of us must be willing, at least sometimes, to chop wood instead of sitting by the fire."

 No, I haven't forgotten about Anaïs Nin. (long-time partner of Gore Vidal.)

#4: Each contact with a human is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it. 

#2: Each friend represent a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

You can see the source for Arthur Gordon's book on our web page under the tab marked Writings

Gordon, Arthur.

     A  touch of wonder

1.Meditations.    1. Title

BV4832.2     242    74-23794 

ISBN 8007-5172-8 (pbk)

Copyright                       1974 by Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, New Jersey

 

Soul Growing

When I am running around in my brain and I hit a stump, it's time to turn to my little book that will be 24-years old this 3rd of May. The pages are underlined, stared and  marginal notes abound. The white space about the chapter titles are filled with comments. Many pages have dog-ears. In short, it is well-worn!

From the Trees with Character Series

It's inspirational. It's common sense. It's wisdom seed already planted that grows in the strangest of places with the strangest of fruit pods, but fruit that feeds the soul from time to time with a dose of seasoned vitamins that have never left me feeling empty or hungry.

Some of you have read of, A Touch of Wonder. You have read about my love for this book, but more of how I am inspired by its author, Arthur Gordon. Gordon, not just doing it, but doing it on purpose. That always reminded me of the guy who just could not wait to get around you in traffic, but later, his rush had stopped him ahead. It might have been a radar cop. It might have been a funeral procession crossing in front, or even worse, a horrible accident itself.  But, for all those years, I had not thought about the other meaning found in the same chapter. That was until today. It is even amazing how Author Gordon viewed both to put into the chapter. Picking up on the one theme was right there. Yet, picking up on the second theme did not reveal itself to me for all those years until today. Perhaps I was not ready to discover it before today, or perhaps, it was purposeful pausing after all.


Originally, Gordon was on one of the classic liners that we all know so well today because of the Titanic movie. The cruise ships today are entirely a different class of service, for sure. But, he came across a portion of Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the ship's library. Stevenson had written: "Extreme busyness, whether at school, kirk (church) or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality." Robert Stevenson continued to say: "It is no good speaking to such folk: they can not be idle, their nature is not generous enough."

Never, has a man been so correct in his observations and I wonder today, what more he would have written of those people today? One thing is most likely. Robert Louis Stevenson and Arthur Gordon would have stopped their deficient vitality and fed their Soul. They both, knew the value of the Soul growing.

Ref:
Gordon, Arthur, A Touch of Wonder, 1974 Fleming H Revell Company, pp 210-18

31st Jan 2015 to update text

The Fickleness of Fettle

The title almost seems like an Arthur Gordon chapter title. Although it is not, I'll take credit for this one.
A morning that has already tickled the brain and tinkered with the memory.


Somewhere in time, I do remember who they were, but I can not tell you when or where in time I learned this fact.Probably as a child most likely. This morning, while reading articles and scanning the web for the state of the world affairs, I heard the names Caspar, Balthazar, Melchior. I'll come back to that later on.

On the Local Stage

Years ago, I spent a lot of time running around the office putting out fires. Someone would generate one here and there then set on it until it began to spread before coming to me and  telling me about the problem. I didn't enjoy those situations but along with the nice office came the firetruck, hose and nosels so to speak. The hat just morphed into what ever the situation was for the day. I was always glad when I could put that folder in the pile of closed problems.
However, that was then and this is now. Now, when Texas gets below 30 degrees F, I feel it even with a layer or two of clothing. And here is the fickled side of  human nature in that situation. I don't go out for the frosty sunrises and foggy mornings anymore. I blame it on the battery pack getting cold. Which it does, but is still a poor excuse to not go get those shots.

The Nations Struggles

We haven't found MH 370, have not totally cleared the flight that was shot down over the Ukraine.  Now there is another missing plane in the Java Sea to add to the list. But even more fickled in scope is how the world's number one retailer--Walmart-- could receive and sell PS4s filled with rocks rather than electronics when Walmart is known for its high-tech RIFD inventory scanners and in store wall of eyes everywhere but in the receiving area. Shrinkage starts at the distribution center level, continues down to the store receiving level, then to the in-store theft that goes out the front door. It can also go out the front door as a sold item, then the box is filled with weight and returned during the busy return season. All-in-all, it's another fine example of the Fickleness of Fettle. Inventory to and fro of boxed rocks. How fickle is that? I'll tell you. It's Fettled in Fickleness.

Have you come up with the answer to the three names yet? How about the names of the three Magi or Wise men of the East. Okay, a simple kiss my grits will do for the wise men of the East.

 Point with No Counterpoint

The point is..life will mix things up for those locked in their comfort zones. Never say never because it will come back on you. For those that prepare for that shift that will not come during this lifetime, it really didn't matter in the first place because when it comes around again, very few of us will ever be remembered in a hundred years. The preachers sermon or the commercial that brings a laugh about being careful what you ask for because you just might get it--from the good Lord or from a genie in a bottle-- is really a possibility of and/or in life. A million buck wish becomes a neighborhood of a million  reindeer bucks! The story about the guy who didn't like to fly and prayed he would never die in a plane crash retires and drives to Florida only to be hit and killed within the first hours of being there crossing a street.

 I see a younger generation growing up with their nose in a phone screen and I wonder what they will write about in their years when they look up from their screens and discover that life is just about to the final act because I really do not believe that they ever see that day in their future.

 There isn't an app for that. There isn't social media to bring back that lost time with family. There won't be a YouTube video that will draw six figure hits of the funeral director watching your casket settle into the vault and the lid being placed on before the grave diggers dump a load of dirt in on the vault lid. That's fettle my friends, nothing fickled about that.

Time to go eat some homemade vegetable and ham soup with a glass of red wine. I made it yesterday and it was good. Today it will have increased it flavor  10-fold. With the  first of three cold fronts already here, it's either chilli or soup time and I'm thinking soup to finish out 2014 and chilli in the new year. One thing about Texas is that we eat simple--but we eat good.

The was on the first day of Spring a couple of years back.

It's Time to Pull Arthur Gordon Off the Shelf Again

The Power in Purposeful Pausing

There's an old paperback on my bookshelves that was gifted to me in 1991 by a very dear friend. That book is a book filled with inspirational stories and graduation speeches over the years by the author, Arthur Gordon. There are two stories that I dearly love. One, is his meeting of Rudyard Kipling and the other is his meeting with Tom Watson. There are also quotes from Einstein, Stevenson  and Thoreau among others. In short, the little book is packed with inspiration and collected wisdom.

One of the chapters that I like in particular is, The Power in Purposeful Pausing. We have all heard the old cliché, take time to smell the roses. This chapter takes that to levels beyond. Art Linkletter said of Arthur Gordon that he" really knows how to make his reader fall in love with life."

So when my soul needs that little shot of vitamin to carry it alone, I reach to the shelves and pull down Arthur Gordon. I can't read a chapter without making more marginal notes. It's like having no  flour in the kitchen, no salt and pepper on the table. Sometimes, a good book that you can turn to is better than trips to the doctor and the pharmacy.

Here's a visual of how you feel after reading a chapter or two.

 

Books of Note and People That I Miss

The connection between Books of Note and People That I Miss is that the Ritter's have funded with their wealth,a library in Vermillion, Ohio, where George was born. He took note growing up that Andrew Carneige funded libraries but never put one in Vermillion.   

I just finished re-reading Arthur Gordon's " A Touch of Wonder ". The book was copyrighted in 1974 and it was given to me as a gift in 1991.  Some twenty-two years later, I am still reading it cover-to-cover, although you can read it by chapters in about any order. Yes, it is a book of spiritual inspiration but it's more like sitting on the front porch in a South Carolina beach house listening to a friend of many years telling stories. Gordon grew up in Georgia and that story telling craft  wasn't much different from the South Carolina's way.

My copy is so ear marked and annotated in it's margins that I recognize a particular story by my own markings faster than reading the index. In fact, I have re-indexed it by material. One of my favorite stories is when AG,as a young man, ask Thomas Watson to lunch at the Central Park Zoo. He had no ideal who Watson was but Watson pointed him into the direction of new thinking that: " On the Far Side of Failure ", was success.

While the Bill Gates or Michael Dell's of today are interesting people, the men that I grew up with were the real business tycoons that had learned from  people like Tom Watson, Henry and Edsel Ford, even  R.A. Stranahan,Sr. or Mr.George W. Ritter, Vice President and General Counsel of  the former Willy's Overland Motor Company. Today, we still know that company's product as the "Jeep".  Yes, that Jeep.

George Ritter and his wife Mary, were people that just seem to "stay with you" over the years. What I remember of George and Mary would be strange to some but that  encounter with them is something that I have cherished over the years knowing that a very few people have had the opportunity that
was afforded me by the Ritter's. The time frame as I recall was some time between 1965 and 1972. A few years before, they had built a private mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery-- not a mile as the crow flies from that beautiful piece of architecture know as the Headquarters of Willy's Overland. That HQ building has since been imploded to make way for what is now the I-475/ I-75  expressway,although, Chrysler does have a picture from 1948 showing the bottom half of the building with a full lineup of the Jeep products post war era and the grand staircase that marked the entry of the building.

 I was invited to tour the finished mausoleum with it's beautiful stained glass window. The marble was their favorite rose marble because they thought white marble aged dirty. The invitation came following one day when Mary, was trying to describe the rose marble to me and I said to her that I knew what it was because my grandfather (who was two years older than George) had a headstone in rose marble because my grandmother had rejected a white marble for the same reason. Mary smiled widely and didn't say another word. While I was afraid that I had offended her, the call came the following week to tour their mausoleum. The mausoleum is situated on an angle that points directly toward the Willy's Overland Plant from the banks of the stream that flows through the cemetery on the north end of the bridge's bank, almost in a triangle to the R. A. Stranahan mausoleum  and the Edward Drummond Libby mausoleum,guarded by the massive Spitzer mausoleum on the south end of the bridge. To this day, I still think that the Ritter's have the more desirable location for beauty and privacy.