Friday, May 22, 2009

Following Instructions, What Is It?

I do have trouble following instructions. I simply don't like being in the position of needing instruction. I never have. Sometimes I have some topic grow on me and need to grab hold of it. Then there are instructors but they are superfluous. Then I am chasing the data. Most often I don't see the need for that subject and see even less need for the tasks I am assigned. Going to college was a challenge...how could I find courses where either I already knew the material and so could get a grade, or I was actually interested in the subject. I found some of both and wound up near to graduating eventually, really only needing one good solid year to graduate, or three more at the rate I was going.

That's when my life hit the fan and I splattered off into the distances.

I did not return to school for eight years, and then I entered the Prior Learning Experience Program at a local school and put my self taught home schooling to good use. I used their format and wrote a book length document to get my last 28 credits. It took two years, the first to figure out what I was attempting to do and the second to do it. I went to almost no more classes, just sat at home and wrote. At one point I was a guest instructor in an intro to a layman's understanding of quantum physics.

That it took two years...that's me having great trouble following instructions.

Following Instructions

If I could follow
The instructions I wouldn't
Be here in this mess.
I had to argue
My side all the way with him
Until he let me
Weasel under the tent wall,
Saying, "I'll show you!"
Sure I really would.

January 4, 2009 10:06 AM

***********************************

Here's a longer poem than I usually write.

What Is It?

Consider the snake
Or is it a stick passing
For a bleeping snake?

If it bites, then it might be
A snake, or a real good trick.

If I look closer
And the snake is then revealed
To be a damn stick,

Here is illusion.

What the world is like,
The veil can be pierced by me,
By you, by heart, soul,
By simple plain means,
By a small effort in truth,
Is not devious,
Is not hidden with
Purpose and malice building
Clever nasty walls.

Constant discipline
Is what it takes. Yes, of course.
A good memory.
I need simple heart.

God promised me this: that I
Could trust the essence,
Would need no special
Tricks to get along with Him.

Here is simple faith.

January 5, 2009 8:09 AM

9 comments:

  1. I am not commenting anything, it might be another snake or a weasel under the tent.
    And i don't like the instructions above this box; 'leave your comment' it sounds like an order to me.

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  2. hi! yeah... yeah... i do have problem following instructions too...hahaha... i loved it...
    have a nice weekend!!!:)

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  3. Christopher, I’m so impressed re your account on your academic pursuits! ps And, I know what you mean about 'obeying rules/following instructions' (I'm quite crap at doing this (sigh)!

    “God promised me this: that I/Could trust the essence” --- perhaps, because the ‘essence’ (that is God) lives in us? Thanks for this nugget of “holy” truth which I needed to connect with this morning :)

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  4. A simple heart. I like it, I strive for it.....bleeping sticks!

    As for memory...what?

    I bet you'd drive me nuts!

    But funnily enough

    I love you too :)

    xxx

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  5. Constant discipline does not come easy to certain personality types. Sounds like yours is not one of them, you do what you love, and that is not a linear thing is it?

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  6. Jozien, I am not trained enough to modify the shell as I see people do. So while it may be an order to comment, it is not MY order. Thanks for not commenting :)

    Kelvin, I wish I was better at taking instruction. My life would have gone much easier.

    Cath, God promised me...I do feel that promise...and it is very very good because that promise permits the scientific method, assures me that it works all the way down. And more, really, because it also permits those who dive into soul to find something trustworthy as well....so my poems are true in some way.

    Michelle, I guess I probably would drive you nuts. Many women say so... It feels good to have you write you love me :)

    Catv, the shortest distance between two living points is defined by the path of a river, or the path of a vein in a leaf. From inside, my path has not felt much of a choice. It is more like following a river. Some of it has worked. Some has not.

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  7. Having read your work for a while, I can well imagine that you wouldn't be one for instructions. Me, on the other hand, I read them all. Always. That's why I make a good team with my husband -- who, like you, wouldn't follow directions if he had to.

    Love "What is It?"

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  8. C~ to be different is to stand alone sometimes, but ah the sweetness that choice can bring.

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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