Today's Journal
NATURE’S PACE
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) writer, poet and philosopher wrote:“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
When I read this, it reminded me of something similar I read once by the Japanese theologian, Kosume Koyama (1929-2009) who wrote in ‘Three Mile an Hour God.’
“God walks “slowly” because He is love. If He is not love He would move much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It is “slow” and yet it is lord over all the other speeds since it is the speed of love. It goes on in the depths of our life whether we notice it or not.”
This is similar to something Rebecca Solnit wrote, “I like walking because it is slow, and I suspect that the mind, like the feet, work at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought or thoughtfulness.”
What this all comes down to is understanding that the speed of man is the speed of God, for walking slowly and patiently.
About three miles per hour. Or as C.S. Lewis wrote, “Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them. Our own noise blots out the sounds and silences of the outdoor world.”
I’m headed over to other side of the Pond to have some Cuban Coffee and Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce. I need to try and figure out if I have ever walked three miles per hour in my life until I got so banged up, I have to walk slower. More like a stroll… Ah, maybe that’s the idea.
“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.” Jesus