Betwixt the Between

Betwixt the Between

We all know the frustration of not living up to the standards we would wish for.  The lines below point to, and wrestle with, the paradoxes of our lives.  Some say, especially those looking to Jungian writings, that we cannot accept paradox until we come to the second half of our life.  In my own Christian Tradition, the Apostle Paul, lamented that he did not do what he wished, but did what he did not want.  These words are for all of us who feel the exasperation of the times we just don’t believe we measure up.  To be taken, of course, with a good laugh!

(i)

Hot and cold

Driven and despondent

Loving and lustful

Peaceful and agitated

Tender and aggressive

Committed and scatty

Centred and distracted.

Our seesaw

Up

Then

Down.

We step

Forward

Slide

Back.

Our lives are

A collection

Or scattering

Of opposites

Inconsistencies

Paradoxes

Contradictions.

Integrity and hypocrisy

Stamina and inconstancy.

We are absolutely relative

And

Relatively absolute!

Betwixt the between.

Splinter in another’s eyes

Plank in our own.

Welcome

To

Humanity.

Oh how we wish

It were not so!

(ii)

We stray

But

We re-join

The path.

Knowing others

Fall

With us

Beside us

And

Rise with us

And step on.

Many have gone

Before us

Gaining great ground

And falling

P

L

U

M

M

E

T

I

N

G

From their heights

Of self righteousness.

Standing

By who

We are

In our imperfect paradox

We begin to behold

Where our shadow

Adds tones

To the refraction

Of our light

Not condemning us

But refining the consistency

Of a beautiful brokenness

An artwork emerging.

Simon C.J. Falk 15 June 2015

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