awry

awry: adv (or adj)
1 : in a turned or twisted position or direction: ASKEW
2 : off the correct, expected or hoped-for course : AMISS

“Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry. Into the devious air.” Milton
The relationships between weightlessness and gravity, order and disorder, stillness, movement and balance. chairs, stones, glasses of water, slate, chalk and a fish are the materials of a classroom. The glasses are vessels, containers (like students) whose contents accumulate and evaporate throughout the process of learning. The stones contain their own history, rounded by years of water and time. Slate is the surface which traditionally records teachings; it is a place of shared information where dogma, subjective histories and philosophies are passed along. The chalk lines chart the course of the connections between the stones and chairs, mirroring the pattern above. The fish is a moving element, existing in the present moment.

Whether it is assumptions inherited from our predecessors, or an outlook learned from our culture, the weight of what preceded the present moment often skews our perceptions. We locate and understand ourselves through what we know, what we recognize. We change only by allowing ourselves to become disoriented. Much in the same way stones can be caught in the roots of an upturned tree, these stones hover in the air, and in turn pull the chairs off center. psychic, spiritual, physical and/or emotional baggage refers to our own inner sense of balance, or the desire to achieve that elusive equilibrium.

I bargain within myself, convinced that if only I could acquire this, or let that go, I’d find a more balanced place. If only I had the levity of spirit — the inner stillness of a glass of water at its perfect level — I too might find my own level and stillness.