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\nSo many of us have been taught to flatten our imaginations, and in the space that is left we so easily feel as if we somehow have to magnify our experiences of life, always striving for something more intense or more meaningful or more vibrant. And, while there are times for that, we wonder what would happen if we allowed ourselves to kindle our radical amazement (itself an imaginative act) with what or who is right here with us in this moment. What new wonder could we then find gazing into the eyes of a friend, lover or child; or mopping the kitchen floor; or allowing ourselves to be playful in the midst of the ordinary every-day?
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\nThis week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.
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\nTurning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.\xa0 Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.
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\nHere's our source for this week:
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\nMAGNIFIES AN OBJECT TEN TIMES
\nis what it clearly said
\non the handle of the magnifying glass
\nmy father received on his fifth birthday.
\nHe took it as a warning; the birthday gift
\nwould only work its magic ten times
\nand no more, becoming, after that,
\njust a small round window with no miracle,
\ntoy giant\u2019s monocle, a circle of simple glass.
\nAnd so he went about his days with curious thrift,
\nweighing how much he needed to see any part
\nof the world up close, observing as best he could
\nwith his own eyes first, thinking, Do I need to see
\nthat dead bug big? That dandelion, that blade
\nof grass, that wriggling moth in the spider\u2019s web?
\nI can imagine most of nature\u2019s gifts and crimes.
\nBest not to waste one of my ten precious times.
\nHe lost count of how many miracles he\u2019d left,
\nand for weeks after half-expected the magic of the glass
\nto simply stop. And I have asked him to tell me
\nof the thrilling moment he realized, or was told,
\n\u201cten times\u201d in this context simply meant tenfold
\nand not ten instances, but he cannot remember.
\nLikewise the joy that must have come with such
\na limitless epiphany. But what he does recall
\nand says most he misses still is the way the magic
\nmade him see the world the rest of the time,
\nnot through the glass, but all the time
\nhe thought that magic would not last.
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\nTaylor Mali
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\nPhoto by Stephen Kraakmo on Unsplash\n