{"id":27516,"date":"2024-09-20T10:31:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T14:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=27516"},"modified":"2024-09-20T10:31:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T14:31:15","slug":"the-worlds-happy-to-answer-the-questions-you-dont-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/the-worlds-happy-to-answer-the-questions-you-dont-ask\/","title":{"rendered":"The World’s Happy to Answer the Questions You Don’t Ask"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

[Image: “Petaluma Ramble No. 2 (No Questions),” by John E. Simpson.\u00a0(Photo shared here under a Creative Commons License; for more information, see\u00a0this page<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<\/em>RAMH.)]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From whiskey river<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In the Mountains on a Summer Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gently I stir a white feather fan,
With open shirt sitting in a green wood.
I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone;
A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Li Bai, translated by Arthur Waley [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A Settlement
(excerpt)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I am walking out into all of this with nowhere to
go and no task undertaken but to turn the pages of
this beautiful world over and over, in the world of my
mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, dark past,
I’m about to do it.
I’m about to forgive you
for everything.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Mary Oliver [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n[Anthropologist Jaime] De Angulo goes on to say that wandering can lead to death, to hopelessness, to madness, to various forms of despair, or that it may lead to encounters with other powers in the remoter places a wanderer may go. He concludes, “When you have become quite wild, then perhaps some of the wild things will come to take a look at you, and one of them may perhaps take a fancy to you, not because you are suffering and cold, but simply because he happens to like your looks. When this happens, the wandering is over, and the Indian becomes a shaman.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Rebecca Solnit [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It’s meaning that is of no meaning. That paradox is the key to the meaning of meaning. To look for meaning—or the lack of it—in things is a game played by beings of limited consciousness. Behind everything in life is a process that is beyond<\/em> meaning. Not beyond understanding, mind you, but beyond meaning.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Tom Robbins [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Once there was a man of Chu\u2019u selling shields and halberds. In praising his shields he said, \u2018My shields are so solid that nothing can penetrate them.\u2019 Again, in praising his halberds, he said, \u2018My halberds are so sharp that they can penetrate anything.\u2019 In response to his words somebody asked, \u2018How about using your halberds to pierce through your shields?\u2019 To this the man could not give any reply. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Tim Bayne, quoting from Han Fei Tzu [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: “Petaluma Ramble No. 2 (No Questions),” by John E. Simpson.\u00a0(Photo shared here under a Creative Commons License; for more information, see\u00a0this page\u00a0at\u00a0RAMH.)] From whiskey river: In the Mountains on a Summer Day Gently I stir a white feather fan,With open shirt sitting in a green wood.I take off my cap and hang it on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Li Bai, Rebecca Solnit, Tom Robbins, et al.: 'The World's Happy to Answer the Questions You Don't Ask'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,4701,250,4878,251,4159],"tags":[595,2700,3884,4622,4623,5978,5979,5980,5981,5982,5983],"class_list":{"0":"post-27516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","9":"category-my-photography","10":"category-art","11":"category-fiction","12":"category-poetry-writing_cat","13":"category-essays","14":"tag-mary-oliver","15":"tag-tom-robbins","16":"tag-rebecca-solnit","17":"tag-questions","18":"tag-answers","19":"tag-tim-bayne","20":"tag-li-bai","21":"tag-arthur-waley","22":"tag-no-questions","23":"tag-no-answers","24":"tag-han-fei-tzu","25":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/petalumaramble2noquestions_johnesimpson_med.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-79O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27516"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27529,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27516\/revisions\/27529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}