Glenn's Ferry and Self-Acceptance

Here's a better shot of the ponies,


And this is Glenn's Ferry,


Looking at this picture it's hard to imagine Glenn's Ferry is now flooded and half under water, although that is a nice sized river. I had big trouble with the blue of the river. I have 7 tubes of different blue watercolors and still could not quite get the right one. Now I'm working on another landscape, which is going super fast.

The next enlightenment topic is Soul Love, with two poems by William Butler Yeats,

When You are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

For Anne Gregory

'NEVER shall a young man,
Thrown into despair
By those great honey-coloured
Ramparts at your ear,
Love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.'

'But I can get a hair-dye
And set such colour there,
Brown, or black, or carrot,
That young men in despair
May love me for myself alone
And not my yellow hair.'

'I heard an old religious man
But yesternight declare
That he had found a text to prove
That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.'

Yeats appears to have written more above love transcendent of physical beauty than he lived it. I don't want to cut in to Kathleen's business, but enlightened people love the person inside, not the color of their hair, and that goes for loving yourself, too, even though that grey is really starting to shine through.

It is a bit of a stretch, but when discussing this topic the author author brings up Mazlow's idea of self-actualization. Mazlow believed that self-actualization was a mans' highest need. Maslow also identified some of the key characteristics of self-actualized people:

Self-Acceptance and Democratic World View
Self-actualized people tend to accept themselves and others as they are. They tend to lack inhibition and are able to enjoy themselves and their lives free of guilt. Other people are treated the same regardless of background, current status or other socio-economic and cultural factors.

Realistic
Another major characteristic of self-actualized people is a sense of realism. Rather than being fearful of things that are different or unknown, the self-actualized individual is able to view things logically and rationally.

Problem-Centered
Self-actualized individuals are often motivated by a strong sense of personal ethics and responsibility. They enjoy solving real-world problems and are often concerned with helping other people improve their own lives.

Peak Experiences
Self-actualization is also characterized by having frequent peak experiences. What exactly is a peak experience? According to Maslow, these "Feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling of ecstasy and wonder and awe, the loss of placement in time and space with, finally, the conviction that something extremely important and valuable had happened, so that the subject was to some extent transformed and strengthened even in his daily life by such experiences."

Autonomy
The self-actualized individual does not conform to other people's ideas of happiness or contentment. This original perspective allows the individual to live in the moment and appreciate the beauty of each experience.

Solitude and Privacy
Self-actualized individuals value their privacy and enjoy solitude. While they also love the company of others, taking time to themselves is essential for personal discovery and cultivating individual potential.

Philosophical Sense of Humor
Self-actualized individuals generally have a thoughtful sense of humor. They are able to enjoy the humor in situations and laugh at themselves, but they do not ridicule or make fun at the expense of another person's feelings.

Spontaneity
Another characteristic of self-actualized people is a tendency to be open, unconventional and spontaneous. While these people are able to follow generally accepted social expectations, they do not feel confined by these norms in their thoughts or behaviors.

(From Characteristics of Self-Actualized People, Common Traits of Self-Actualized Individuals By Kendra Cherry, About.com Guide)

I suppose self-actualized people are more able to see past an exterior to the beauty within, due to self-acceptance, since if you are judging another's exterior it is probably because you are judging your own. I never thought of myself as a self-actualized person. When I read this list years ago it made me cry, because it seemed so unachievable to me. Now it does not seem so far away and I seem to be in the middle of a peak experience. If I don't get an income soon, though, I am going to have to move down Maslow's hierarchy of needs to things more basic.