(note that illustrations and text in Reflection I are black&white; see Art Posters for full-color pictures)

For but a brief moment             

        the flame of your life            

        will flare up!            

        And brightly, bravely burn             

        as if for all eternity. . .            

        Then snuffed             

        and GONE.  

And what was it for?            

And what did it mean,            

if anything?            

---That short burst of energy            

and frantic             

activity?? 

Oh, how many many            

        have pondered this very question            

        down through the ages,            

        and found no answer            

        to completely satisfy            

        all the ramifications            

        of temporal existence.  

And how many many more            

        have never even thought to ask. . .            

        But rather moment to moment            

        been content to dwell            

        on only the details             

        and not the Larger Picture             

        (Of which our personal desires,            

        needs, pains and pleasures             

        are only a part)?

Some say we are but beast:            

        blessed with well wired brains,            

        clever and self aware:            

        questioning where there is no need. . .            

        For no "broad panorama" exists            

        but for the drama of our Evolution, and            

        the fortuitous accident of our Birth. 

By this view, then, all the details we must            

        concern ourselves with are                

        what has importance (stimulates interest)            

        to our own personal make up. . .            

        Until our short, chance display in time            

        is ended.

Others so certain our life proceeds             

        from birth-to-birth            

        (as it were) a continuous progression:            

        skip-hopping from creature to creature             

        until we master this form. . .            

        And move on            

        to yet another.  

And then there is the Christian Framework:            

        by which this life is a test,            

        and reward or punishment             

        (to be with or apart from God)            

        awaits us at the end.

Each a separate mind-set            

        pre-disposing to pat replies:            

        established equations of ritual words             

        satisfying in their mass acceptance when            

        times are good or awful, but            

        betwixt the two. . .            

        Sounding somewhat hollow?

First, perhaps, a definition             

        of what, in life,            

        might be claimed to be            

        of some special,            

        notable significance:            

        procreation, work, and art. 

---Production of babies (the stuff of evolution);

labor for food and security;            

and all forms of useless or utilitarian construction             

from less to a sum of more:             

                These the stuff of            

                making your existence            

                worthy of having been???  

The great spectacles of marvelous dramas,

        spawned of glorious talent (on many levels)

        and much money:            

        elevating the viewer to breath-taking heights upon            

        first viewing, and delight upon the second, but            

        . . . boredom thereafter??  

And the ultimate in CREATION:            

        taking away the nightmare,            

        the acid pain of the Innocent,            

        healing the horribly sick with medical miracles...            

                How often do you think to thank Salk             

                for your working legs and pumping lungs?             

---Most advances merely a slight advantage            

of one competing team over another,              

one barely edging out the other's publication                

so soon faded to just a part of the background,            

a historical footnote...

---accepted childhood pricks on the arm;      

a tearful moment of a frightened child...            

Just skipping all those fatal, Epidemic Diseases!!!            

It's just part of our due!

The delicate forces of POWER             

        (be they of industry, military, or political)            

        manipulating people by the millions, and            

        resources by the mountains,            

        respected alike by admirer and enemy. . .            

        ---Looked back upon in perspective            

        (a few decades, a century, a short millennium)                

        often almost completely forgotten.            

        As if they never were; these!            

        The most potent of us!

And the grandeur of tiny hands,            

        perfect little feet,            

        a gurgling laugh with            

        innocent, wide eyes:            

        your baby of your flesh. . .            

        Not really all that different            

        from another's baby of another's flesh? 

But why bother [you astutely ask]                

        to riddle out some solution,            

        when even though they each have their limits

        they each most-certainly            

        contribute some "significance":            

        ---to continue the human species,            

        to be productive of energy and resources,            

        and to elevate here or there             

        the human mentality?  

Surely amongst all that...            

        the specters of Evolution,            

        Reincarnation, and Religion           

        might be satisfied?

Then why am I still troubled?            

        And why do men wiser than I            

        still question,            

        and many more fear to            

        penetrate deeper than            

        their immediate circle of experience. . .            

        Into the fabric of    

                why                 

                        to your Life             

                        and my Death?

                                     * 

REFLECTION I, SIGNIFICANCE Art Posters    SELF-DEVELOPMENT Art Posters  

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