tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post115126042730608626..comments2023-08-03T04:54:54.068-04:00Comments on Abacaxi Mamão: Living in the layers, not the litter of our livesAbacaxi Mamaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06604184268628243496noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-1153434007129556382006-07-20T18:20:00.000-04:002006-07-20T18:20:00.000-04:00This is a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing.This is a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13173621157483762091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11850330.post-1152820501926672152006-07-13T15:55:00.000-04:002006-07-13T15:55:00.000-04:00Beautiful poem. Thank you.I think "living in the l...Beautiful poem. Thank you.<BR/><BR/>I think "living in the layers, not on the litter" presupposes the perspective, to which you alluded, of an older person, looking down on the detritus of life – lost opportunities, aborted passions, interrupted works – and good things too, but the tendency is to see the bad, or the shells of what good used to live there.<BR/><BR/>To me, “living in the layers, not on the litter” is a sophisticated and nuanced ‘carpe diem’, turning on the distinction between “in” and “on”. "Living in the layers" means engaging in life in the here and now, whenever that is. Flowing with what is happening at the moment – being more ‘present’. The past matters, and informs our next incarnation, but need not be obsessed about. After all, it's in the past.<BR/><BR/>"On the litter" evokes for me a person who overly identifies with the baggage of their life, and uses it to inoculate themselves against the joys of the present. Their perspective is too broad, too retrospective to allow them to focus and take joy in the moment. They rest on their laurels, as it were, in the litter of their past lives, and cannot summon the strength to narrow their focus, and actually live any one of them.<BR/><BR/>--HillelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com