In this TEDx talk of unusual scope and beauty (Toronto, May 2015) Vanessa Reid, a pioneering social innovator, explores the wildness and creativity in life that are possible only in the embrace of the full cycle of existence — which includes dying. Our organizations, our parents, ourselves — all of us are on a journey that has an end, and the ability to “kiss the joy as it flies” has much to do with our capacity for conscious closure.
he was a black hole man
an invisible centre
he was being not-there
holding things together
said ‘you know it takes nothing
to make things spin’
and i saw nothing
when i looked at him
now i’m a black hole man
’cause i couldn’t absorb it
’til i fell in the centre
of my own orbit
and there’s nothing the matter
no, nothing at all
and i’m circling round it
and i feel the call
and we are black hole men
in a world of matter
and we move together
though we seem to be scattered
and it’s up, down, strange, top
falling in will never stop
but if you can read rumi
while you think john bell
better look in a mirror
while you still can
before gravity fails
and you’re a black hole man
— Sept. 22, 2006
