There are other voices. There may be one true voice inside
of us that keeps calling to us yet, there are other voices outside of us competing
for our attention.
Many voices call to us.
Many voices pull at us. I wonder how much we listen to those other
voices.
Many of these voices are loud. Or, if not loud then, at
least convincing and powerful enough to take us off our true path. They “tug at
our ankles”, as Mary Oliver wrote, preventing us from continuing on our journey
or sometimes, even starting.
Voices, voices, voices, “Keep up with the Joneses”, “You’re worth it”. “You know what you want and you won’t settle
for anything else”. “You’re special”. “You can have it all and you can have it
now”, “You deserve a break today”, “You deserve to be happy”, “If it makes you feel good, do it”. “You are
entitled”, “The whole world belongs to you”.
There is voice to buy things. As Wendell Berry says in one of his poems, “When they want you to buy something they
will call you”. And, how often
“they” call to us. We can buy so quickly that we don’t even stop to
think what we are buying and if we even really want what we are buying. More
importantly, we rarely question who is calling us to buy. Who is the “they”?
Until we ask the question of, “Who is the one that calls”?
we might continue to just go along with those voices. The voices themselves will
get inside our heads and we will become convinced that they are a part of
us. The voices will no longer have to
shout. They will just whisper and we will conclude, “This is just me. This is
what I want; this is my life”.
But, then perhaps there can be no true calling or at least one we
might be able to hear.
In order to have a chance of getting out of this madness perhaps
we need another option. We have to utter a strong no to the main stream
cultures voices. If we hear even the
faintest whisper of that one true voice that we forgot (and that I so often
forget), but still recognize, we can begin again, and again on a new journey as we leave those other
voices behind. As, Mary Oliver says,
“But Little by little, as you left their voices behind, and the stars
began to burn through the sheets of clouds and there was a new voice which you
slowly recognized as your own and that kept you company as you strove deeper
and deeper into the world.”
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. One most of us have struggled with. My favorite part of Mary Oliver's poem says it all: "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice..." I've worked really hard at drowning out the voices assaulting us continually from our toxic culture. Even the influences over the years of parent, teachers, and other voices that uttered their "bad advice." I don't blame them; they are victims of the same voices we experience. I long for the day I can really tune in to my true inner voice. As Roderick MacIver states: "The quest to know yourself, to be yourself, to find the beauty inside yourself, and create out of it, to create there is a sacred journey, prone to setback. Always just beyond the next horizon, just beyond the next life lesson there exists an elusive destination." I believe our true inner voice is derived from our spirituality, and meditative prayer helps us to come near. Fly fishing sometimes brings me close to that point. And so the point of fly fishing often has nothing to do with the fish.
Well stated Ron. Yes, those are powerful words from the poem. Good to hear they speak to you. "One day". Even just those two words, "One day". And then, "One day you finally knew what you had to do". Wow!... "What you had to do" ( I like it that the true spiritual path places responsibility back on the individual and I think this is what you were also addressing when you said "I don't blame them". So hopefully, although at times, "It is already late", we end up doing what we have strangely known all along. And yes, hopefully we can "drown out" the "bad advice". Sometimes, I wonder if the more a person has to offer the more "bad advice" that will come. But you are right, we can't blame our passivity, our "stuck-ness" or any aspect of our lives on the bad advice. Each is accountable and responsible. And yes, the destination is elusive (like the trout) and some day we will see and know more clearly. Some folks have commented on the Odyssey, where Queen Penelope is home waiting for her husband, the king to come home from the war and draw a parallel. Her husband has been gone for years and so hundreds of suitors are camped out in her home "shouting their bad advice ", demanding that she choose one of them. There is something realistic about this parallel image. The suitors like the voices we often hear do not have our best interest at heart. In fact, they are quite nasty and often have an agenda. I love how the queen holds her ground. She has faith, "My husband, the King lives. Leave this home at once". She also resorts to the art of weaving which apparently helps her perhaps as fly fishing helps us as we await and discern the voices.
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