Redtree Times

A New Cornucopia– At Kada Gallery, Erie, PA

For the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.

–Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

Hard to believe that we’re just a little more than a week away from Thanksgiving. It might well be my favorite holiday in that it is the one that asks you to recognize the abundances in your life and express gratitude for them. It’s a time of self-reflection, perspective, and humility.

A time of defining one’s own abundance, those immaterial things which give your life purpose and meaning. Things that can’t be bought, that are available to all. Things such as love, friendship, and family. The beauty. and generosity of nature seen in fields and flowers. The warmth of sunlight and the coolness of rain and snow. The magic of imagination and memory.

Each of us has our own cornucopia, our own horn of plenty, at hand if we can only inoculate ourselves against the envy and selfish greed that infects our society so that we might recognize it as such.

We often want more when we already have all that we need. 

Share your abundance. You’ll find that you will lose nothing and gain everything in doing so.

Let’s end this homily with a fitting song from the always great Kinks. This is wonderful live performance of their song Days from 2010 at the Glastonbury Festival. Ray Davies is visibly emotional at the song’s beginning, having dedicated the song to Pete Quaife, the band’s original bassist who had died just recently.

Love, friendship and memory in abundance. As is should be…