Idle reflection

Though I don’t typically adjudge myself superstitious, the mythical inclination is on occasion oddly spirited by effervescence, a contradiction which I can only relate to some broader vermin in one’s life. It’s almost a chastisement reminiscent of religious training. To be blunt, the chilling illusion of despondency is by peculiar irrationality never far removed from affecting moments of cheerfulness. Nonetheless I resist the putative elevation of hesitancy and so-called worldliness to contaminate a perfectly desirable circumstance.

Such indeed was my innocent conspiracy this afternoon with the fluffy white cumulus and soft blue sky above the vast stretches of verdant and abundant corn fields. My poetic ambition was bestirred by the bacchanalian texture of the world. The impression was impassioned and irresistible.

My inner translation of this appetite for electrifying stimulants was shamefully specific. Upon the evolution of my seventh decade I unabashedly accept the communication of the most detailed prescription. As so often occurs in matters of exactitude there is an associated element of minutiae as though the particularity were by virtue of its simplicity or impression peripheral. By contrast my reasoning is that the subtleties enable me to enlarge what might otherwise be discredited or ignored.

And what besides is the fault of simplicity? There may even be an argument in favour of narrowness as a vehicle of intelligence. Naturally I prefer to distinguish my personal avidity by relating it not to rampant greed but rather mild artistic appeal. Time and again I purposively content myself with the aggregate of artistic expression – paintings, music, literature and ornaments. I am always conscious to acknowledge the absorption of humanity within that ethereal atmosphere. The singular reaction is the challenge to confront a seemingly limitless breeziness in a world which by any reflection is littered with mess and misfortune. It is perhaps the refusal to submit to that sobering presence which withholds the clue to dynamism.

In some respects we have disinherited ourselves from the benefits of life. Limitation is by some assessment unfavourable. Increasingly however the attraction of reason outweighs that of the more recognizable inducements.