Böcker av Chris Dewey

Since this is the fourth book in the "Being" series of poems and pictures, I can look back at almost a half century of what I euphemistically call 'poetry'. As I reflect on that journey, I find that I have been asking myself some new questions, and yet also some of the same questions in new ways. I have always used my writing as a vehicle to help me understand the 'sturm und drang' of my life. I guess that in large measure, I can look at my entire life as a whiteboard upon which I have asked questions. Sometimes I erase what was there previously and write anew. At other times I scribble over previous entries. As a general principle of living, I have sought to understand meaning and purpose, to learn the deep lessons and to create new paths that lead to new vistas. The goal is always to ask new, more elegant questions, make new connections, and acquire deeper insights. Ultimately, I continue to seek new vistas to become a more useful tool of service in the great tapestry of existence.It would seem, however, that I sometimes come back to the same, or similar, locations from a different vantage point because there is more yet to learn. So it is with many of us I suspect. We repeat life lessons until we 'get it'. Then we are free to move on to new lessons and also able to see old lessons in new ways.It is my hope then, that if my poetry has any value, it would be that my passage through life might ease the passage of fellow pilgrims. Chris Dewey, 2018.

Training in the martial arts leads to technical prowess associated with the development of a grace and economy of movement as well as strength and speed. With the learning comes power. With power comes responsibility.the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. Power is something that should be used for the benefit of all. Do not confuse power with force. With power come deeper levels of compassion and caring. True power always leads to higher states of being and a recognition that power flows through us rather than being used by us. One of the most important lessons of the martial life is to learn compassion for our fellowman and to actively seek situations in which we can help those who can benefit from what we have (or are learning). Perhaps this also leads us back to the precept of Chi.....the acquisition of wisdom. I would have to say at this point in my own journey that compassion and wisdom are often related. I have yet to meet a single person whom I would consider as being compassionate who was not also wise in away that transcended my normal expectations. If what I have just written has any validity it may be found in a sense of justification of choice. I choose the martial way because it draws me out of my weaker self towards a higher self, so that I might become a more useful tool of humanity both with regard to my responsibility to all life and to the planet.