In the words of E.B. White, “Be obscure, clearly.” This call encompasses the underbelly of everyday where great depth is found in obscure places filled with gray, places where black and white simply do not exist. To cast light on the obscure draws meaning up from this underbelly, from Emerson’s undersong. E.B. and Ralph are talking about the same place. So, go out and be obscure, clearly.

The theologian, Heather Murray Elkins, coined the phrase “to altar time.” If we “altar time” and allow our moments to become more intentional, to become more holy, our awareness of blessings expands, and we hear Emerson’s “undersong” flowing beneath us all, connecting, enlivening.

“Poetry is the language of indirection.” Robert Frost

In Japan, the language of indirection would be classified as ‘tatemai,‘ the around-the-bush method of communicating. In other words, read beneath the words. What is NOT being said. Feel the connection in the holes. Dive into subtle.

I think of my blood red beta fish named Adam Blue. If you look carefully, beneath his scales lies brilliant blue.
Indirection.

Thank you, Mr. Frost.

To paraphrase a monk: Solitude allows for the deepening of the present. Amen, Brother Thomas Merton, but to deepen the present one must be present. So often I find my mind wandering away from ‘here’ and ‘now’ to fret or plan or just simply swing from branch to branch. I simply am not present. Natalie Goldberg calls this “monkey mind.” Oh, to center and deepen the present. Not today, me thinks.