Of Pottery & Life

Thanks to Nancy Watterson for sharing this meditation with me.

SHAPING

Potter at the wheel,
From centering to finished pot,
Form increases as options decrease;
Softness goes to hardness

When a potter begins to throw a pot, she picks up a lump of clay, shapes it into a rough sphere and throws it onto the spinning potter's wheel. It may land off-center, and she must carefully begin to shape it until it is a smooth cylinder. Then she works the clay, stretching and compressing it as it turns. First it is a tower, then it is like a squat mushroom. Only after bringing it up and down several times does she slowly squeeze the revolving clay until its walls rise from the wheel. She cannot go on too long, for the clay will begin to 'tire' and then sag. She gives it the form she imagines, then sets it aside. The next day, the clay will be leather hard, and she can turn it over to shape the foot. Some decoration may be scratched into the surface. Eventually, the bowl will be fired, and then the only options are the colors applied to it; its shape cannot be changed.

This is how we shape all the situations in our lives. We must give them rough shape and then throw them down into the center of our lives. We must stretch and compress, testing the nature of things. As we shape the situation, we must be aware of what form we want things to take. The closer something comes to completion, the harder and more definite it becomes. Our options become fewer until the full impact of our creations is all that there is. Beauty or ugliness, utility or failure, comes from the process of shaping.

from Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao