Saturday 7 April 2012

WHY

Why is such a tricky question.

Maybe even the trickiest.

There are times when it is so completely not useful to ask why.


The resistance-filled why, which takes me into self-interrogation and blame.

But there is also the helpful why.


The one that is loving, curious and receptive.



"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."
 ~Friedrich Nietzsche


"Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?"
~~ Leonardo da Vinci


This beautiful monarch butterfly landed on my hand in Christchurch, New Zealand  when we went to the City Museum in February 2012.  Such a wonderful sensation.

12 comments:

Tammy@T's Daily Treasures said...

Hey Peggy! Hope all is well in your little corner of the world. I can always count on great music when I visit here, along with thought provoking posts. I am so sorry to hear of the passing of your lovely friend, Dianne. Wishing you a blessed and beautiful day. Tammy

Christine said...

I like the curious 'why'...beautiful quotes!

Mike Smith said...

Why? A question I've been asked a few times recently - by one person in particular...

Hope you're well, Peggy - big hugs frae Scotland!

McMGrad89 said...

What a beautiful butterfly. I have stopped asking why for now. I don't want to know.

HappyOrganist said...

mm.. and why not? ^^


hehehe
Ah, just to make you laugh Peggy.
Have a good day :)

Good and plenty said...

This post made me think of two things - the stage when a young child asks a series of whys - wanting to know more and more and a quote from a movie where Bill Cosby (I think) asks "why me, brother?" and Richard Pryor answers, "why not you?"
Good post. Thanks.

Cinderella said...

I agree with you. I used to ask 'why" when I wanted to find a reason for asomeone being a jerk, or when I refused to accept the logic of the universe because I thought my way was better.

Now I don't care why. I either see the perfection, the lesson, the opportunity to see with new eyes or simply the fact that I have a chance to respond in a way that works for me and then let go -- or that doesn't work for me and understand why I am attached to that habit.

((hugs))

Cameron said...

Why is a loaded question, certainly....but sometimes the answer is as simple as Why not?!

:)

Roban said...

And sometimes we may never know the answer. But I think there are reasons there somewhere.... Just not for us to see at the moment.

Hope you're well! Beautiful butterfly photograph. The beauty of nature so often stops me in my tracks.

Bill Lisleman said...

"Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that." George Carlin

We should always be curious and ask why. What often is a total waste of time is the "what if" questioning of past actions.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photo Peggy!

I have pondered 'why' for many years. Here are a few of my words on it:

"Though its motives are pure,
it is powerless.
It cannot change the past or even
offer the hope of a better future."

So you see I'm pretty 'anti' why. But I like your second point of the more useful 'why' - the friendly enquiring 'why'.

Lilly said...

Oh I am with Cinderella. I used to ask, Why me? Why did that happen? for a long time. It got me nowhere. Now I am just more accepting of the way life rolls. I opened up my arms to the Universe and said, Whatever, I accept I cannot control everything or everyone. What will be, will be and in the mean time I will live in the now and not focus on what has happen or what will happen. Its a hard discipline to master but far more rewarding.