The dissonance of red and green in uncommon roles
Raises a question
Demands reflection
Reveals wisdom
Invites new practices
That celebrate
Our complementarity.
Green leaf bears red flower
Red stalk bears green flower
A living landscape grows
Out of a million contrasting
brush strokes.
Aged red-tinged quartzites
Are home to olive growth
Red and green in the same leaf
Red veins bring water to green blades
Green leaves give over to red.
Red, the colour of life – blood coursing
Green, the colour of life – sap rising
Red, the colour of kinship
energy of loin
Green, the colour of love
energy of heart
Red, the colour of anger
green, the colour of envy
It is we who judge one or other
Good or bad
In nature, meaning is not fixed
It flows from rock to plant
From flower to bird
From blood red sky to green flash
Signifying whatever you please
Whatever you need.
Nature inspires my imagination
Defies my categories
Holds me back
From hasty conclusions.
Now
What if I were to observe
People
As I observe nature?
To be as open to observing
A child of nature in her suchness
To be delighted, challenged,
confounded
And to find it all
Just so.
To find within the same being
Red and green
Soft and hard
Kinship and envy
Love and lust.
What if I could gaze as intently
Scan as openly
Wait as patiently
Listen as expectantly
To the diversity in society
As to the plenitude of nature?
How do I receive you when
Your red is my green
Your green my red?
In my life – green becoming red
I meet you – red becoming green.
Sometimes we judge our colours
incompatible
Blind to the enhancement
Of green by red – red by green
Of me by you – you by me.
[So how does all this reflection on red and green
lead me closer to a generative idea?]
The dissonance of red and green
in uncommon roles
Raises a question
Demands reflection
Reveals wisdom
Invites new practices
That celebrate
Our complementarity