{"id":147,"date":"2013-05-14T10:24:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T10:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/09c156e1-46e4-453d-839e-f0ee3e4991d5"},"modified":"2013-05-14T10:24:44","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T10:24:44","slug":"when-god-decided-to-invent-a-little-talk-on-a-poem-by-e-e-cummings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"When God Decided to Invent, A Little Talk on a Poem by E.E. Cummings"},"content":{"rendered":"

When God Decided to Invent<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

A Little Talk on a Poem by E.E.
\nCummings<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

By<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Joseph Anthony<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

I am not an
\nE.E. Cummings scholar.  I simply like
\nE.E. Cumming\u2019s poetry, as odd as it can be. 
\nWhen I read his poetry doors open, windows open, entire skies bloom in
\nan instant inside me. This post will be my meditative reflections that came
\nafter reading one of his poems.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the
\npoem.  It doesn\u2019t have an official title.
\n It was published in 1944.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\n


<\/font><\/p>\n

when
\ngod decided to invent <\/font>
\neverything he took one <\/font>
\nbreath bigger than a circustent <\/font>
\nand everything began<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

when man determined to destroy <\/font>
\nhimself he picked the was <\/font>
\nof shall and finding only why <\/font>
\nsmashed it into because <\/font><\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

First off, I
\nlove Cumming\u2019s joy at creation:<\/font><\/p>\n

              God takes
\none breath \u201cbigger than a circustent<\/i>.\u201d  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Those
\nunfamiliar with Cumming\u2019s poetry need to know that he does a lot of play with
\nwords\u2014completely throwing out conventionalities, spellings, word breaks, and so
\non.  Here he simply blends two words
\ntogether \u201ccircus<\/i>\u201d and \u201ctent<\/i>,\u201d and we are given an image of bigness\u2014fun
\nbigness\u2014extravagant bigness-playful bigness\u2014billowing bigness.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

And
\n\u201ceverything began<\/i>.\u201d  It began with
\nbreath.  Just like with us.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

If we are
\nseeking mental clarity, inner healing, peace of mind, and creativity, then we
\nneed to start at the beginning\u2014with breath. 
\n<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

The more we
\nlearn to consciously breathe\u2014big breaths (i.e. deep breaths)\u2014from the belly–full,
\nrich breaths, the clearer we become.  The
\nmore we can breathe and revel in the full funness of life, the deeper and more
\nnourishing our breaths will become. And the more we consciously breathe, the
\nmore everything begins\u2026again and again\u2026<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Yet there
\nare times we forget to breathe.  And when
\npeople can\u2019t breathe, they lash out\u2014they lose control, trying desperately to survive.  And desperate people do desperate things.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Some people
\nare suffocating their dreams, their hearts, and when that happens, things get
\nsmashed to bits.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Notice God
\nmakes the decision to invent.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

A decision
\nis final.  It is will blossoming into action,
\nand it is done.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Man, on the
\nother hand, according to this little poem, determines<\/i>, which literally means, \u201cto
\nset bounds or limits (Online Etymology Dictionary).\u201d  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

What do we
\nset limits to?  Our own beliefs\u2014our own
\nminds and hearts.  We carry limited
\nbeliefs within us that would knock down the circustent.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

These
\nlimited beliefs are in \u201cthe was of shall<\/i>.\u201d 
\n<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

And \u201cshall\u201d
\nmeans, in its roots, \u201cto owe (ibid).\u201d  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

So I look at
\nthese words, \u201cthe was of shall<\/i>,\u201d and interpret them to mean: <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

We set
\nboundaries on our beliefs due to unresolved memories and issues from our past.  There are amends to be made, forgiveness to
\ngive and forgiveness to seek.  We need to
\npay back what we owe.  Clean our side of
\nthe street.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

If we want
\nfreedom, we need to live in the consciousness of now and learn to transform
\npainful, limiting memories, into healing, creative big-top fun.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

In short, we
\nmust stop living and blaming the past.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

What happens
\nif we don\u2019t?  What happens if we stay
\nvictims and imprisoned by limited beliefs? 
\nWe sink deeper and deeper into the suffocating waters of looking for
\nanswers, into the \u201cwhy this and why that.\u201d 
\nAnd since we can never truly know all the whys, we smash everything up
\nwith justifications and rationalizations. 
\nWe smash it to bits and then, like any angry child does when asked why
\nhe or she did something destructive, we say: <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause.\u201d  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t
\nknow why (consciously) we do many things we do. 
\nAnd thus we stop breathing, and thus we become unconscious.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Sometimes we
\nknow why we feel angry, we might know why we feel afraid.  Sometimes it makes little difference in the end. Deep
\ndown we know time is ticking.  We\u2019re
\nthrowing away our dreams, and instead of making decisions, we set more and more boundaries
\nin (and on) our minds and hearts.  Our
\nminds shrink into prejudices and violently limiting ideologies\u2014about others, about
\npeople we judge, the world, and ourselves.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

The solution?
\nBreathe breaths as big as circustents<\/i>.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Invent
\nthings rather than destroy them.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Learn to
\nhave fun even in the work of becoming.  (Humanely)
\ntrain the animals in your circus (i.e. your passions and your shadowsides) to work for you and with you, and perhaps even, to do tricks.  Use any
\nodd talents and gifts you have, and shine.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Even when we
\nbecome aware of our limited beliefs, we needn\u2019t destroy or try to resist them,
\nwe can breathe through them with affirmations and positive actions of love
\ntowards self and others thus transforming them instead of waging war against
\nthem. <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

We can learn
\nto breathe with child-like joy; with the awe of a child at a circus.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

We can
\nsimply be and rejoice in the lavish play going on before (and within) us.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

So there you
\nhave it. <\/font><\/p>\n

My
\nreflections and inspirations <\/font><\/p>\n

after reading this little poem by E.E. Cummings.<\/font><\/p>\n

What comes to you?  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to hear.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Thanks for reading.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Peace and Light, Joseph<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When God Decided to Invent A Little Talk on a Poem by E.E. Cummings By Joseph Anthony   I am not an E.E. Cummings scholar.  I simply like E.E. Cumming\u2019s poetry, as odd as it can be.  When I read his poetry doors open, windows open, entire skies bloom in an instant inside me. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}