SuperHappyFu-
nKitty

SHAPING

Potter at the wheel.

From centering to finished pot,

Form increases as options decrease;

Softness goes to hardness.

When a potter begins to throw a pot, she picks up a lump of clay,

shapes it into a rough sphere, and throws it onto the spinning potter’s

wheel. It may land off-center, and she must carefully begin to shape it

until it is a smooth cylinder. Then she works the clay, stretching and

compressing it as it turns. First it is a tower, then it is like a squat

mushroom. Only after bringing it up and down several times does she

slowly squeeze the revolving clay until its walls rise from the wheel.

She cannot go on too long, for the clay will begin to “tire” and then

sag. She gives it the form she imagines, then sets it aside. The next

day, the clay will be leather hard, and she can turn it over to shape

the foot. Some decoration may be scratched into the surface. Eventually,

the bowl will be fired, and then the only options are the colors applied

to it; its shape cannot be changed.

This is how we shape all the situations in our lives. We must give

them rough shape and then throw them down into the center of our lives.

We must stretch and compress, testing the nature of things. As we shape

the situation, we must be aware of what form we want things to take. The

closer something comes to completion, the harder and more definite it

becomes. Our options become fewer, until the full impact of our creation

is all that there is. Beauty or ugliness, utility or failure comes from

the process of shaping.