the Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.

From "Priapus And The Pool"
(Conrad Aiken)

This is the shape of the leaf, and this of the flower,
And this the pale bole of the tree
Which watches its boughs in a pool of unwavering water
In a land we never shall see.

The thrush on the bough is silent, the dew falls softly,
In the evening is hardly a sound.
And the three beautiful pilgrims who come here together
Touch lightly the dust of the ground,

Touch it with feet that trouble the dust but as wings do,
Come shyly together, are still,
Like dancers who wait, in a pause of the music, for music
The exquisite silence to fill.

This is the thought of the first, and this of the second,
And this the grave thought of the third:
"Linger we thus for a moment, palely expectant,
And silence will end, and the bird

"Sing the pure phrase, sweet phrase, clear phrase in the twilight
To fill the blue bell of the world;
And we, who on music so leaflike have drifted together,
Leaflike apart shall be whirled
Into what but the beauty of silence, silence forever?" . . .

. . . This is the shape of the tree,
And the flower, and the leaf, and the three pale beautiful pilgrims
This is what you are to me.

TROY/IRAQ

Wars are always complicated. The movie, Troy, while not a great flick, and whose directors were certainly not concerned about Homer, does show many of the motivations in play during a war - Agamemmnon with his lust for power and the extension of his empire, Menelaus and his desire for justice, really vengence, against Helen and Paris for their offence, Achilles, who believed in nothing but wanted fame and the immortality of a great warrior, Priam calling on his belief that the gods were on his side, and Hector, the noble warrior, defending his homeland, his family and children, and, for course, his dynasty. Odysseus, sort of along for the ride because he was a Greek and a clever one at that. Oops, I forgot Paris, who just blundered, thoughtlessly and egocentrically, into causing the whole thing.

We can see the same motivations in the newspaper articles about Iraq every day. Presidents speak of defence of the homeland against terrorism which seems to mean invading and extending American power wherever is necessary to protect American interests. Of course, leaders such as the president have to work through followers and leaders have to motivate followers by appealing to the motivations that will incite followers to follow. Presidents must create fear of the enemy so that followers will want to defend their homeland; presidents must talk of the glory of the "just war" and the glory of those who fall in war; presidents must talk of God and how God is on our side; and sometimes vengence is thrown in for good measure. Speaking the plain truth is hardly ever used.

Like the Trojan War wasn't really about Helen in Agamemmnon's eyes, Iraq is about something else too - oil. The American way of life is oil-dependent and Iraq has the second biggest reserves in the world. Subtract oil, and Iraq would just be a pile of sand to America. Granted the nasty habit of terrorism would still be a problem but perhaps America wouldn't have so many enemies if everyone didn't know that we will do whatever it takes to keep the oil pipelines open.

Of course, everybody has to have their SUV and working hard to reduce our dependence on oil is not a political priority. Just wait until everybody in China wants one!