Richer, stouter, and no happier

The BBC News reports on the Worldwatch Institute’s State Of The World 2004: "More people are adopting a lifestyle that leaves them dissatisfied and the Earth impoverished, US researchers say." (Via Cassandra Pages.) I can personally vouch for 2 1/2 years of underemployment changing one's consumption patterns and values. I'm also reminded of the article in the NY Times Sunday Magazine from September, "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness." However, I do enjoy my new laptop. :-)

Update: See also the report on the happiest people in the world and the "path to happiness"!

1:25:06 PM      trackback [] 

Go P-p-p-pats!

12:46:11 PM      trackback [] 

Experience as Visitation

This was today's poem of the day at Poetry Daily. Something in the meter reminds me of Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha - that drumbeat. It also reminds me of the post yesterday about love as a "sudden unexpected taking to the air," almost as a visitation.

Experience as Visitation

That which comes unwilled comes shining —
    Pulls up the sun from out dark waters —
Moves through mist, a mind in motion —
    (There is a harbor there, within you).

(Comes unwilled,comes shining) —
    Wolves lift their heads to ghost-sound —
The bird inside the box, calling —
    (Rose, birdcall, wind—come shining).

Comes of nothing comes, unbidden —
    The lunar and the mutual mission—
The mutual order and the lack —
    (Every ruptured and unclaimed fact).

That which comes unbidden comes directly —
    (Comes unleashed, uncharted and — comes shining).

Jane Mead
The Iowa Review
Volume 33, Number 3
Winter 2003/2004

12:16:08 PM      trackback []