Day: January 18, 2012

Maria missed her donkeys. They had a joyous reunion in the cold barn.

Bedlam Farm is for sale, and I expect the New Bedlam Farm will be as magical and beautiful and inspiring for me.

In the Kabbalah, the mystics wrote that when God created humans, he endowed them with a creative spark, and he told them their responsibility was to shine their light unto the world with their stories and inspirations and creations.  The only thing they need fear, he cautioned, was wasting this gift, unique to all the creatures of the world. He warned people not to succumb to fear or greed or hatred. He warned them to abandon war and be compassionate with one another. In the Kabbalah, the spark often reveals itself with lightning, rainbows and the joyous cries of angels and Cherubim. Donkeys, too, are always around, their drovers wiser than priests and rabbis. Take care of the poor, God warned, and  give them reason to be hopeful, and abandon war and take care of Mother Earth, or she will lay waste to human life.

God, says the mystics, was angry with people and he believed they had turned away from his gifts, and he warned them that if they did not answer the call to life, their spirits would weaken and fade, and their lives would empty of joy and hope, and their own inner lights would be darkened out by worry and trouble.

“Don’t the inhabitants of the world realize that I based the world solely on love?,” God asks the prophets and wise men who defend humans to him in the Zohar. “As is written: I said, “The world shall be built on love. By this the world endures.”

I thought of this passage when I went into the Big Barn to get some hay and I saw the afternoon light come through the window and touch the cobwebs on the old beams. Something whispering to me, the light, cautioning me to remember that the world shall be built on love, and to keep the light shining, and by this the world endures.

The dogs seemed excited to see us, to have us back. Everywhere I go, we end up discussing what animals think, or what we believe they think. I keep saying, we don’t know, we don’t have a language. When dogs are aroused, it looks a lot to us like they are happy. Or playful. Or loving and pleased. We need to feel these things, we want to feel them, we almost reflexively put these ideas into the heads of animals. They are sad, resentful, anxious.

We love to feel this way about them, so we reinforce these feelings, our ideas about their emotions. Dogs get very excited to see the people who walk them, feed them, love them, give them life and affection. So, I saw this week, do Dolphins and Sea Lions and parrots. I know donkeys and cats do as well.  Dogs are very happy to be fed. To see the human beings they associate with attention and nourishment, with the outside world, with walks, smells, stimulation.

One of the wonderful things about dogs is that they display emotions so easily and continuously. It’s a ballet. The more they do it, the more we do it. As Brian Hare of Harvard wrote, dogs have adapted so well to life with humans because they are the leading manipulators of human emotions in the animal world. Definitely true in my life.

Eager to be home and get to work. I’m mulling the possibility of doing an E-book on Rose, finishing up the edits on the “Frieda” book, preparing for publication of two books in 2012 – “Lenore Finds A Friend” in September, “Dancing Dogs,” a short story collection in October. Then I start work on “Simon: Mercy and Compassion.”  Every year, I make myself a promise: this will be my best year as a writer.  I will publish good books, they will be relevant and successful. I will continue to explore new tools to do my work, tell my story and communicate with my readers.

I expect every book I write to be better than the last one, more meaningful, better-written, and in some way surprising. Each book renews me, challenges me, alters me and helps me to grow, learn and change. I believe in the creative spark, that I have been called to listen to it, follow it and honor it. As much fun as I had in Orlando, I have a lot of good work to do.

It was lovely seeing other animals in Orlando, but especially sweet to come home and see ours, all quite happy to greet us. Frieda suffered the most, I think, eating little while we were away. Lenore got into bed with the farm-sitter, and Izzy happily posed for photos. Simon gave us a joyous bray. It’s cold here but we are happy to be back, rushing around, doing chores, hauling hay, cleaning out the barn, walking the dogs.

They were very happy to see us, and we them. It is brisk here, but it is also January, and it’s supposed to be brisk. I enjoyed Florida, but I have good and plentiful work to do, and am very eager to do it. I’m mulling a new point-and-shoot. Canon has a sweet new one out, and my Lumix has been battered.