I Feel Deeply — Part I
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”
July 16th, 2024
JR’s Journal Shot
Why I went to Bali
FEELING DEEPLY
I’ve watched 1989’s Dead Poets Society more than 4 times just this year. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it in my life. Safe to say, its been a lot. It makes me cry, it lifts me up. It makes me laugh, it gives me hope. It challenges me on so many levels. This is a movie with meaning and depth.
There are too many lines and so many angles one could take and write about related to this movie, I just want to take one.
I feel deeply.
Henry David Thoreau wrote
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived….. “
he went on to say…
“I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow out of life, to live sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life…”.
PUT TO ROUTE ALL THAT IS NOT LIFE
I remember hearing this in 1989 when the movie was first released. I recall journaling about this many times over many years since. It hit me so deeply. Deeper than I understood at the time. I felt something…
This is how I want to live, right? This is how the real me really is, right? Beyond the noise, beyond career, beyond money, beyond family, beyond cultural and religious rules, this feels like truth, yes?
I understood it, kind of.
I wanted it, mostly.
It inspired me and challenged me.
I also understood it would cost me.
So I only kind of pursued it.
One foot in, one foot out.
But these were the themes that made my heart beat fast.
- “Live deliberately”
- “Front only the essential facts of life”
- “learn what life has to teach”
- “suck all the marrow out of life”
- “live sturdily and Spartan-like”
- “put to route all that is not life”
Do all of this, so that I do not find that..
- “when I come to die, discover I had not lived”.
GUIDING THE WAY
The undercurrent that all these words have had on my life can not be overstated. I am only now realizing this. They acted as a compass I did not realize I was holding. At least not in these words.
In song, in art, in poetry, in movies, on tv, with friends, in books… these are themes that recur in me. They hit me dead center. In my own writing, striving, decisioning, struggle, and direction they come. They have permeated my life and have been guiding my way:
- To live my life (not others).
- To live on purpose (deliberately).
- To live and let life lead (learn what life has to teach)
- To live, see, and experience Wonderland (suck the marrow out of life).
- To delayer, deprogram, be the real me (put to route all that is not life).
Life has been making, shaping, and creating paths for me for years.
SEIZE THE DAY
I could easily replace just one word in Thoreau’s opening line to convey the culmination of many years of this flowing in my blood. Bringing me to the point where this exploded into my reality….
“I went to BALI because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived….. “
I sat down this morning to begin to write and just started with “I feel deeply”. I have more to say, but this is what came today.
Immediately I was into the words of Thoreau and thrust back into the depths of goodness from this movie.
Live Deliberately.
Put to route all that is not Life.
Live and Feel Deply.
And when you come to die,
please do not discover that you have not fully lived.
Carpe Diem.
Seize the Day.
Let go and Let’s GO!
- jeff
