It's always ourselves we find

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles, and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

(by e e cummings)

This is another way of saying I was the world in which I walked. All that I saw or heard or felt came not but from myself (Wallace Stevens - see previous post February 2012). It is another way of saying We see without us the wonders that are within us; there is all Africa and her prodigies in us (Sir Thomas Browne).

It is another way of saying that whatever is important to us, or difficult, or admirable, is made so by the meaning we give it. The world is full of all manner of things, but we are not equally moved by all of them. Why should an event leave one person indifferent and excite another, and some places and possessions mean more to us than others, except that we see in them something of ourselves? What we select to see and react to is an aspect of ourselves that we have lost touch with or do not want to admit to.

The next workshop in the present series of monthly workshops Only You Can Save the World! is on Saturday 1st February, and the theme will be Your Individual Self. We will look at how we determine who we are, how we feel and act according to an inner self concept, and how this can either liberate or confine us.

Which are you, molly or maggie or milly or may? The science of personality profiling helps us to describe the sense of identity we construct from the differences between us, but cannot explain it. The pride and pleasure of being a unique individual comes at a cost. It can help us to find a role in the world, to stand out, just to survive; but until we can grow beyond our differences our individuality is a lonely island, keeping us disconnected, our little lives less meaningful.

By not using capital letters, e e cummings turns all his words to smooth round pebbles that roll around in the mind equally, each one on its own merits and no one more special than another, combining together to make something far more meaningful than any one on its own. So this is the conundrum: how can we most perfectly be ourselves, so as to most perfectly enhance each other?

For details of current and potential workshops, see www.annapowell.com (click 'Workshops'), or the Workshops page here on www.unlearningschool.com. There are a couple of places still available for Only You Can Save the World!, and if you would like to book, for the whole course or or for a single workshop, you'll find a handy Paypal button at the top of this page. Or email me at anna@unlearningschool.com.