January 5, 2013
The studio is dark.
I am entirely at peace in this space – made small and comfortable by the light of one candle. Muffled, intermittent cars drive north or south through slush outside and I stare out my big, arched third floor window at headlights, streetlights, house lights. The clock ticks like a slow walk.
Epictetus has answered a question I had earlier,
” There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will ” (translated from the original greek)
Epictetus, AD 55 – AD 135
powerful Tara, a horse I met on the last day of 2012
Tara is a highly athletic six-year-old purebred Canadian horse who came full of rage to her current owners and would not do as she was asked. She resisted to the point where she became a dangerous threat to herself and everyone around her. An old dominant mare at another farm taught her another way to be by insisting for three hours- repeatedly, fiercely, physically – that she listen to and respect her elders.
These pictures of Tara four years since then show her free-lunging with her incredibly patient 16-year-old owner, and doing everything she’s asked to do … with great sass & personal style.
Power is not a simple thing. Epictetus also maintains that “Suffering occurs from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.”
(taken directly from the page devoted to him in wikipedia – see link above)
A comforting confirmation for Tara and another for me from a greek slave who obtained his freedom and founded a school of philosophy.
Just a note,
I’m glad that Stephen Harper has found a way to respect and meet with the first nations people of Canada. Too bad it took him 23 days of a hunger strike.