181 of 365 : Politics -the usual tone is aggressive. From Thomas Hobbes to Simon Critchley, Marx to Cheney, anger is a core emotion. Injustice cries out, outrages. Selfishness generates fear -provides a securing backlash. War is life. But -and here I am out on a limb- although anger has its place (it most certainly does), I would like to make room for "melting". Thoughtfulness softens people -not everyone, no, of course not, but many. And how does it do that? Here, politics, like the difference between professionalism and vocation, is more a poetic-human sensibility that keeps a familiar world close by, and rounds our edges like trips back to childhood (those lucky to have had good ones), to a place where hard defenses melt as maturity emerges in loose recognition of our tasks. Environmentalists might consider some such tack. Fear and anger are a hard habit.
182 of 365 (half way): Last night, I slept next to a pond with many bullfrogs around it. We left the door open, and I heard them all night long. I had dreams, many dreams, hopping about, energetic and calm at once.
183 / 365 : What have I learned so far, doing this exercise? That I like conforming myself to a meaning larger than my life, which is the condition on my life. "Conforming" has bad connotations in our individualistic culture. But it means, literally, forming-with. It is relational forming, forming `a deux.
