In tackling the restoration of The Bridgeman I continue to face the problems of clutter. Just as 'fear' is the killer of the mind, 'clutter' is the killer of any attempt to gracefully restore a sailboat. Everything on a sailboat has a purpose. And that purpose is to cut through the oceans with optimum grace and form. All components are engineered and balanced for optimum performance. Anything that is not part of this balanced condition of harmony is ultimately excess provisions or in effect clutter. Too many tools, too much of any one thing that does not serve a purpose specific to sailing. Birds fly, fish swim, squirrels collect nuts and sailboats sail!
Another new and good friend who I have gotten to know recently has also left me with some motto's of sailboat wisdom. He said that there are three essential things that one must observe as rules on a sailboat. They are:
1. A clean sailboat is a happy sailboat.
2. Reef early and reef often.
3. Always listen to the Captain and do what he says.
Yes, a clean sailboat is a happy sailboat. Sailboats in my view have souls. They have feminine souls and they have masculine souls. They have souls like those of beautiful and graceful women who love to be pampered and to get dressed up for a prom night with fine jewelry and exquisite lines of lipstick and eye shadow. They also have the souls of men as in the great sail ships of war and commerce that explored and colonized this world at the height of the Greek, Persian, French, Spanish, British and Early American Empires. They are the souls of the tall black ships that took Agamemnon and Achilles and the fleets of tall black ships to the shores of Troy. These men stepped the masts and took to the wind and brought along timbers to shore them up tight at the shores of Troy. These ships were 'Ship Shape'. There were rooms for food and rooms for tools and rooms for the weapons of warriors. They were engineered for the art of sailing and there was no clutter. They were of a time when men were more honorable and more closer to the Gods. They were men like Achilles who could not be bought for any price!
So the restoration of The Bridgeman continues. The art of fine tuning her purpose continues. The removal of old varnish and the repair of damaged wood and re-varnishing continues. The selection of the best multi-purpose tools to keep on board is always at the forefront of my mind as is the removal of 'clutter'.
Men have purposes in this life. A man does well to find his purpose. Give a man a screw driver, a crow bar and a hammer and he has a good shot at doing something with his life to serve honorable purposes and to not make a mess of his life. It is always the options that give grounds for following navigational courses for fame or for failure. 'Know thy Map'.
The restoration of The Bridgeman is always upfront and visual before my eyes. It is like a micro-reality representative of the bigger reality that faces us all. The reality of Life. When I focus on just one task in the restoration process I make progress. When I try to take on too many of the parallel tasks, I lose my ground. Simplicity is ever in the present moment and doing one thing to the best of one's abilities. Beyond this, we are hounded by our pasts and we are often tormented by our future. A past that we cannot change and a future that only right action one step and one breath at a time will serve to architect.
As the poet writes:
"Ruler of Olympus, why didst thou see fit
To add this anguish to man's other woes:
Foreknowledge by grim signs of future blows?...
Strike by surprise, and shroud our fate in night;
Even in terror, let hope remain man's right;
-LUCAN
Yes, a clean sailboat is a happy sailboat. Reef often and reef early, the storms are always just around the corner. Listen to The Captain.
We all have a Captain of our ship. In similar manner do all creatures great and small and all the celestial stars and planets in the heavens following there prescribed and orderly orbits.
Beyond the perception of chaos and beyond the successes and failures in our lives is to be found a Supreme Architect of all things who in one way or another keeps a clean ship and a happy ship sailing through the winds of time.
Messy Bed..., Messy Head!
