Another Street
and side-stepping deep holes in the sidewalk
(© Corrie Hamm 2023)
dear creators,
I always have a mass clutter of files on my desktop— I know it’s not great for my laptop but it’s comforting see them all suspended in this window.
One of these files is titled, Words I Dig Most and it’s next to a file called, Words I Dig. As you might imagine, they both contain a collection of something said or written that I’m totally drawn to. After the first file grew to one hundred plus pages, I decided to select the quotes that stood out more to me— hence the need for a ‘most’ document.
I was revisiting this cherished gatherance recently and came across a selection from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying:
1) I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in… It’s a habit.
My eyes are open,
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
5) I walk down another street.
Entering this fresh orbit of 2025, I can’t help welcoming these words and forming a strong intent to walk down another street. This may not be in a physical sense—I don’t necessarily need to alter the material scene of my day-to-day (though I’d be really into that!).
If I wanna consider the above excerpt in an internal well-being sense, I narrow in on the “it isn’t my fault/ it is my fault". The translator’s choice of the word ‘fault’ doesn’t seem the most ideal— we could substitute in responsibility (or even, response-ability).
Taking this to my inner-world day-to-day, I’ve committed to not blaming anyone or anything for my present reality (whatever that looks and feels like, it either is-what-it-is or it’s something I get to play/work with).
So far, I’ve managed to walk around a few deep holes while tripping into others of varying depths. Even new streets are bound to have holes. I accept that this side-stepping is eternally on-going… unless I happen to bump into enlightenment.
***
Here’s a wish for you all in the words of Jay-Z:
"Survive the drought; I wish you well. How sick am I? I wish you health; I wish you wheels; I wish you wealth; I wish you insight, so you can see for yourself."
Beams and warmthness,
~Corrie