The Fireplace Records, Chapter 20
Fred’s Magic Strings
Fred lived along the Umatilla River at the eastern edge of the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon. He had been a truck driver for decades between the Walla Walla, Tri-Cities, Hermiston, Boardman, Portland, and Pendleton areas. He was retired now, and living in Pendleton. He enjoyed the small town cowboy culture of Pendleton, the forests of the Blue Mountains, the vast wheat fields, the hardy local whiskeys, and the Indian powwow events.
Years ago, Fred had taken up the hobby of using cotton string to create figures and shapes. This activity of using the hands and fingers to manipulate a string can produce many interesting string figures. Playing string figure games in the Winter months was popular among American Indian Tribes in the Northwest. It was a relaxing leisure time activity for old Fred.
He had purchased a string figures book from the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute and Museum on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, practiced, and learned many string figures. He shared his skills and art with others at various gatherings.
Fred felt like he was creating something out of nothing. The circle of string was pure potential, pure Yin. The hands and fingers begin to move the string: twisting, turning, interchanging, grabbing, releasing, turning, looping, exchanging, dropping … Yang emerging. Then, suddenly, a figure appears: Four Stars, a Rabbit, a Butterfly, a Blanket, a Fly, a Lizard, Sunrise, Fisherman's Net, Fireplace Burning, ….
Yes, it is something from something, and also something from nothing. Profane/Sacred, Ordinary/Holy, Skills/Art.
Artists or writers facing a blank canvas or blank paper sense this moment: the state of the empty canvas before them, nothing done, a blank, the beginning. Then, emerging from the Fingers Moving and the Mind/Ideas/Intentions Moving and the String, Paint Brush or Pen Moving … Something New Appears, or we just imagine that it appears. For the Artist: Just Doing It, Making It, Creating It, Showing It, is the Great Challenge!
Young and old enjoyed watching Fred’s string figures skills and listening to his storytelling.
A Student’s Considerations:
What hobbies should one choose in their life?
Simple arts may bring great creative pleasures.
A Confucian gentleman cultivates and treasures the Arts.
Sharing the Magic: performing, entertaining, creating, doing.
Aesthetes, literati, scholars, artists, and writers are found amongst
some Taoists, Buddhists, and Confucians.
How do pre-literate cultures differ from cultures with libraries?
What “Arts” are necessary in the Fireplace Nexus?
Related Links, Resources, References
String On Your Fingers By Michael P. Garofalo.
String figures, tricks, and knots from many lands.
https://www.gardendigest.com/string/index.htm
Pendleton, Oregon and Umatilla Indian Reservation
Koans:
The Daodejing by Laozi Best?
Pulling Onions Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo
Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans
Taoism
Buddhism
Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood
Chinese Art
Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong
Meditation Methods
Zen Koan Books I Use
Koan Database Project
Brief Spiritual Lessons Database Project: Subject Indexes
Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories
Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo
The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo
