There is a willing force in nature that cannot be denied. Grass and weeds don't quit growing even though they are whacked down once a week. Dandelions grow through asphalt! They don't say, "Oh, gee. Asphalt! Can't grow here!" Life is determined, willful, unrelenting, non-stop. Our life is like that. The life we came to live is constantly willing itself to life through us, even though we aren't interested and prefer some other different life instead. We are at odds with our own life in this way. The life we want to life isn't necessarily the life our life wants us to live, and our life doesn't give up. It keeps trying to come forth. And we keep shoving it back into the closet. We do not honor life as we need to, or see its willfulness as a characteristic of all living things-- as the very nature of life itself. Life is ALIVE! And willfully so! Viruses keep evolving, outsmarting vaccines, finding ways to reproduce, getting smarter and more resilient. That is nature's way! That is life's way! And we have that same willful spirit within us! We do not care what our chances are! We will endure and prevail! "And when the heaving sea has shaken our raft to pieces, then we will swim!" (Odysseus in the Odyssey)
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Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 