How do you think about the Universe?
Searching for meaning and drowning in your insignificance.
My two greatest sources of calm are the starry night sky and the ocean. The vastness of these places helps me forget about myself. They cause me to wonder and to ponder on what is the Universe all about.
Sometimes all that space is overwhelming and I get disoriented. I feel myself falling into the pool of stars even as my feet remain planted on the ground and I begin to drown in the accumulation of my own insignificance.
That unpleasant sensation usually only lasts a short while.
You know that feeling when you’re underwater and you’ve been underwater longer than you should have been? Your lungs start to burn and you can feel yourself start to panic. But you know that you mustn’t panic. No. You must reach for the surface as swiftly as possible. Then you break through the water and flood your lungs with oxygen.
That ecstasy of breath is how I feel after I endure the weird feeling of falling into the sky.
How do you think about the Universe? Perhaps it’s just the universe to you. To me, the Universe is definitely capitalized. It’s God. It’s Creation. It’s the Unknowable. It’s something I must know.
Poetry Comics
Personal Update
The print proofs for Haiku Pop Volume 2 came today. After I make a few minor corrections, this month’s zine will be ready to launch. Its official publishing date is August 28th.
This past week I’ve been stuck while trying to work on Continuum, my book of non-haiku poetry comics. I have two kinds of stuck. I get stuck because I’m afraid to write what I must write and I get stuck because I am not writing what I’m supposed to be writing.
My issues with Continuum were both kids of stuck.
I have pushed Continuum aside and taken up work on what I’m calling Spiritual Not Religious for right now. This will be a collection of poetry comics that deal with my spiritual journey. I’m scared to death to finish writing it and even more afraid of publishing it. That’s how I know it’s what I have to do.
I would like to publish it in September, but I think an October publication date is more likely.
Today when doom-scrolling Twitter, I was reminded of the Madeleine L'Engle book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. It’s one of the sequels to A Wrinkle in Time. The book deals with news about a looming nuclear weapons showdown. I feel much like the children in that book. Helpless and hopeless. While I was a child when I read it, now I’m an adult and my children are looking to me for guidance.
The only thing I can offer them is my belief that even in horrible times there are small bits of hope and wonder. We must look for these bits, collect them, share them with everyone we can, and treasure them up into our souls to get us through until we discover the next bit of wonder and hope.
I’m offering you these comics today as my little bits of wonder and hope. Maybe they will help you make it through the next day.
Thanks for reading. Look for hope and wonder. Please share any that you find.
Be the weird you want to see in the world!
Thanks,
Jason