I had a recent series of events that perhaps seem unrelated. To my own perceptual apparatus, they not only speak one message, but they reflect universal truth and a level of inter-connected-ness that defies description. I recently has an opportunity to go to an event. It was billed as an Earth/Energy Workshop. I have received and honored the blessings of this Earth for as long as I can remember, but it was a ritual designed to enhance and bless us as well as the planet with our interactive energies. It would allow My wife and I to spend time driving, which is always enjoyable, through new areas that I have not been through before. Earth was not only the focus, but the basis of the trip. I felt lucky to have the opportunity to fill in my mental picture of the state we live in and my concept of the Fox River Valley, which I live near the bottom of, would be enhanced. Many places that I only knew as maps would be revealed to me, at least along the route we were to follow. Bisecting my awareness of the place that I live always excites me, for knowing the lay of the land, the communities and ecotones that lie upstream help me to understand where I live as well.
The fateful day arrived. We were ready before eight and drove into the heaviest fog that I have seen in years about a dozen miles from home. Just out of town, you could see the fog bank loom, just a few hundred feet thick, but rising like a mountain before us, the cloud began. Somehow, as if by magic, Air reared up and may have well had said, "Me!", or at least "I!" I am is the mantra which each organism and identity resonates. In total, OM is even recognized by Eastern religions as the eternal hum of the Universe, all of everything, in harmony with totality. We thought that once we got above the cloud bank, all would be well and continued on, slower, but we had built a cushion into our travel plans just in case of possible complications. Driving even ten or twenty miles per hour slower for a couple hours would not threaten our timely arrival at the event. But my view of the land would be severely constrained, especially since I would be the one driving. My spouse does not like to drive in fog. I don't mind. Checking out the lay of the land would definitely be out. For the duration and about thirty miles into the trip there was no sign of any lessening of the fog. Fortuitously, we ran into a friend where we stopped for coffee.
If you have ever driven in fog, it is that exquisite beauty, the alone-ness of near total isolation and the comfort of a thick, yet ever receding blanket, almost like you exist inside a cocoon made of an air/water matrix so thick that you can feel it in your lungs. Yet it cannot be touched. Atomization of the water both energizes and moisturizes everything it contacts. Even the inanimate objects seem to come to life because the photons are hitting them from every direction. Colors brighten, yet turn pastel in the distance and the viscosity of the air can often become evident when you see swirling clouds all around you that are normally only seen from a relatively great distance. Outdoors in fog is one of my favorite places to be and add to that the ability to stay warm and dry in the astronaut's capsule of the car is bonus! Plus, from a practical perspective, most people don't like to drive in fog, plus they are driving a lot slower if they do, so traffic worries, even though you can't see very far, are decreased to the point of nearly no-worry. Slow is good, anyone out in bad weather, especially those who wish to survive knows, slower is better.
The quickening of our hearts during the planning and preparation over the couple weeks leading up to the event was mimicked by the quickening of my heart at driving in adverse conditions. This stimulated a physiologic fire, adrenaline spurs the fight or flight syndrome, yet I had not really considered that until now. When we stopped and saw our friend at our favorite coffee shop, it was almost like we met on an island She's not from anywhere around there and neither are we, but we all have reason to stop at that place for re-fueling the BCL (Blood Caffeine Level) She was on her way back from going to a different church than normal, because she likes to try new churches and she had overslept, so the place she picked to go, she's from a very rural area, was nearly an hour drive especially with the fog, perhaps it would be more. This day, she had planned to bring her mom some bakery, perhaps visit her brother who lived near the church she attended and to visit her favorite coffee shop. If we could have met more of a firebrand, they would have literally been on fire.
Our friend was on fire spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. In fact, we were on some sort of special island, because after we left, my wife said, "That is the longest I have ever talked with S..." She's always going somewhere. We talked for over an hour and non-verbally communicated that thirty miles home was far better than continuing on. The firs of home overwhelmed the plans and expectations of the day. Life after all is nothing more than the adaptation to the environment of the Universal harmonic Om. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit and Place, uniquely related and every part, piece and all combined reflecting that universal harmony is called grace, allowing it to permeate our being is as easy as breathing in the fog, as eternal as the planet, as consuming as the flame. Who knows what wonders lie in a single moment? Our spirits do, I have seen the wonders of place itself influencing physical reality. I cannot list all the ways that these mysteries have been revealed to me, because they exist in a fabric of experience that I try to protect and cultivate, nourish and honor.
Pardon me, it is time to make biochar.
The fateful day arrived. We were ready before eight and drove into the heaviest fog that I have seen in years about a dozen miles from home. Just out of town, you could see the fog bank loom, just a few hundred feet thick, but rising like a mountain before us, the cloud began. Somehow, as if by magic, Air reared up and may have well had said, "Me!", or at least "I!" I am is the mantra which each organism and identity resonates. In total, OM is even recognized by Eastern religions as the eternal hum of the Universe, all of everything, in harmony with totality. We thought that once we got above the cloud bank, all would be well and continued on, slower, but we had built a cushion into our travel plans just in case of possible complications. Driving even ten or twenty miles per hour slower for a couple hours would not threaten our timely arrival at the event. But my view of the land would be severely constrained, especially since I would be the one driving. My spouse does not like to drive in fog. I don't mind. Checking out the lay of the land would definitely be out. For the duration and about thirty miles into the trip there was no sign of any lessening of the fog. Fortuitously, we ran into a friend where we stopped for coffee.
If you have ever driven in fog, it is that exquisite beauty, the alone-ness of near total isolation and the comfort of a thick, yet ever receding blanket, almost like you exist inside a cocoon made of an air/water matrix so thick that you can feel it in your lungs. Yet it cannot be touched. Atomization of the water both energizes and moisturizes everything it contacts. Even the inanimate objects seem to come to life because the photons are hitting them from every direction. Colors brighten, yet turn pastel in the distance and the viscosity of the air can often become evident when you see swirling clouds all around you that are normally only seen from a relatively great distance. Outdoors in fog is one of my favorite places to be and add to that the ability to stay warm and dry in the astronaut's capsule of the car is bonus! Plus, from a practical perspective, most people don't like to drive in fog, plus they are driving a lot slower if they do, so traffic worries, even though you can't see very far, are decreased to the point of nearly no-worry. Slow is good, anyone out in bad weather, especially those who wish to survive knows, slower is better.
The quickening of our hearts during the planning and preparation over the couple weeks leading up to the event was mimicked by the quickening of my heart at driving in adverse conditions. This stimulated a physiologic fire, adrenaline spurs the fight or flight syndrome, yet I had not really considered that until now. When we stopped and saw our friend at our favorite coffee shop, it was almost like we met on an island She's not from anywhere around there and neither are we, but we all have reason to stop at that place for re-fueling the BCL (Blood Caffeine Level) She was on her way back from going to a different church than normal, because she likes to try new churches and she had overslept, so the place she picked to go, she's from a very rural area, was nearly an hour drive especially with the fog, perhaps it would be more. This day, she had planned to bring her mom some bakery, perhaps visit her brother who lived near the church she attended and to visit her favorite coffee shop. If we could have met more of a firebrand, they would have literally been on fire.
Our friend was on fire spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. In fact, we were on some sort of special island, because after we left, my wife said, "That is the longest I have ever talked with S..." She's always going somewhere. We talked for over an hour and non-verbally communicated that thirty miles home was far better than continuing on. The firs of home overwhelmed the plans and expectations of the day. Life after all is nothing more than the adaptation to the environment of the Universal harmonic Om. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit and Place, uniquely related and every part, piece and all combined reflecting that universal harmony is called grace, allowing it to permeate our being is as easy as breathing in the fog, as eternal as the planet, as consuming as the flame. Who knows what wonders lie in a single moment? Our spirits do, I have seen the wonders of place itself influencing physical reality. I cannot list all the ways that these mysteries have been revealed to me, because they exist in a fabric of experience that I try to protect and cultivate, nourish and honor.
Pardon me, it is time to make biochar.
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