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Making sense of the world! Would that be the work of a moment? Would one simply ask, "Oh World, how are you ordered? Please reveal your workings to me now, if you don't mind ..."
No, I don't think it works that way. I think you just have to keep noticing and writing and asking and allowing and releasing (where would we be without all those New Age gerunds?)
I'm noticing sounds that I didn't even know existed. Music calls me less even as tiny domestic noises intrigue me. I stand at the counter, lemon half in one hand, pointy paring knife in the other, and I dig into the lemon flesh searching for seeds. One seed. Two seeds. Some lemons are seedy, some seedless, and you can't predict the seed-content just by looking at the uncut lemon. As Georgia used to say (when she was only four), "You never know . . . " When my knife tip finds a seed, I flip it into the sink (even though I know I'll just have to retrieve it later for the compost bin) for the sheer joy of hearing the tiny "plip" of one lemon seed hitting a stainless steel sink. So satisfying.
Or I take an ice tray from the freezer. There are only three reasons why I do this. First, every Sunday I put three ice cubes on each of my five orchid plants, all of which were gifts. Next, in the summer I add a single ice cube to a large glass of water to make it more interesting than the tepid tap water. And lastly, every couple of months I make myself a Negroni (equal parts gin, Campari, and Dubonnet) on the rocks.
These are my three reasons for removing an ice tray from the freezer. But here's a reason to do it even if there were no orchids or Negronis: when I run cold water over a just-removed ice tray, the ice crackles in the most enchanting way (chik-a-chik, chik-a-chik) as it shakes off its frozen-ness and loosens from the tray. Chitter-chitter.
Listening is one way to make sense of the world.
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