Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Conduct Your Blooming


--by Patty De Llosa, posted Sep 16, 2011

"Conduct Your Blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind."

Strange message in a stranger place.   I don’t know who said it, but this pronouncement suddenly appeared on a huge wall of the 59th St. subway tunnel connecting the Lexington Avenue trains to the N and R lines. For many months I’d passed the area, which was roped off and covered over with heavy paper - reconstruction in progress. What else is new in NYC!

Then one fine day the plastic barrier was cut and the brown paper pulled down.  There, gleaming in vivid colors, was a giant mosaic mural with a great scroll of a message running through it in a waving line that ran up and down from ceiling to floor and back.

You probably don’t think of the subway as a provider of uplifting impressions, but those of us who use it every day have got used to the strains of Bach or Segovia or music from the Andes, on any instrument, which have offered daily sixty-second refreshment on subway platforms. For example, up on the N/R platform, which I pass through on my way to the office, there’s a black woman with a tremendous voice who sings only on Thursdays. “Lord, teach me to take one day at a time!” is everybody’s favorite. And then there’s the Mexican orchestra leader from Paris who plays classical violin under the stairs from time to time, whenever he’s out of a job.

But this was something new. And so gigantic! “Conduct your blooming...” We who are glued to the city by our jobs and our lives, where else could we bloom? “....in the noise and whip of the whirlwind.”  No one will disagree that the New York subway system has plenty of noise and whip to it, but no one would venture to call it a flower garden!  Yet, as the Sufis say, “if not now, when?  If not here, where?”

That’s what’s so hard to take in. We are where we are, those of us who haven’t the means to alter our location. But here where our lives can either flower or fade or vibrate with negativity, the gods offer us a different kind of possibility: To live positively, to love passionately within the limitations of our circumstances, within the compass of the life we have been given. We are invited to select our inner landscape, whether it be a garden or a slum dwelling. We can choose (or refuse) to give up the myriad complaints and negative reactions that may seem roundly justified by our circumstances and which can fill our daily hours to bursting. As G. I. Gurdjieff suggested, we can sacrifice the suffering with which we continually confront our limitations, in order to live richly and fully the life that is bequeathed to us.  Anyone who finds the path that such a sacrifice calls for is indeed blessed by a flowering. “Conduct your blooming…” a conscious choice.

 

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Readers Comments

Nora Blakely wrote: I don't know if you even still look at this page but the quote is by pulitzer prize winning poet gwendolyn brooks. Her centennial celebration comes in 2017. For more information on this incredible writer take a look at the website, gwendolynbrooks. Net.
Yasmin wrote: This is, for me, the heart of the occupy movement! Bloom -- occupy your life! Don't wait for later -- this is the only moment we have, so let's make it the best ever. We are all in this together!
Neelu wrote: A lotus resembles the blooming in the noise.


It grows high only in the mud water and remains untouched by it.
Shayna wrote: Beautiful article. However, "if not now, when. " is not a sufi saying, but a very old jewish one dating back to hillel. Nice thought that so many cultures share the same sentiment.
Joy wrote: “lord, teach me to take one day at a time! ” what a great message. Beautiful picture and story. Thanks for sharing.
margaret wrote: Thank you, i so needed that now. Not because of the location i live but the circumstances i am living right now. I have been waiting to bloom, it's time, the whirlwind will always whip and the noise will always want to overtake.
Ganoba wrote: Long ago i presented this article,"navigating through troubled waters. " at an isabs conference. I will present it here for those who are interested.
Ganoba wrote: Long ago i presented this article,"navigating through troubled waters. " at an isabs conference. I will present it here for those who are interested.
James wrote: Oh, this is so similar to the buddhist message to be the lotus, blooming out beautifully from the muck of the swamp. Interesting how often this message occurs in different places of the world.
Ollie wrote: Very poignant.

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