Category Archives: Author’s Journey

Por el autor

Awesome Elements of a Campout

At a recent campout with friends and family, I experienced two different instances of incredible complementary polar forces: Sky and Earth; Fire and Water.

I felt drawn to climb a tree. I made my way ~18′ up a sturdy looking white pine and admired the forest. I zoomed in on the tree itself and all the life it harbored in and around it. I zoomed out beyond the forest I could see to the vast forest it was a small part of. In this effort I became in awe of the vastness of the sky, and how the sky overhead continued all around the world. Looking out into that blue sky I recognized that the same Sky was present over those in far away lands, and over all sorts of lands, that Sky watched over the wide variety of All experiences on Earth. With that, I thought of the Earth. The ground beneath me is solidly connected with the ground beneath all others on this planet, held together by the attraction of its heart itself.

After the sun set, we had a campfire going and saw lightening flashes in the distance. Sensing the approaching storm we setup something of a small tarp town for the ~10 campers present. The team work and adventure involved in rigging up tarps was a wonder in itself. Later in the night, soaked and exhausted after having fun through heavy rains, I sat with my love and observed an awe inspiring feat of nature: the rain pounded down on the tarps, on the ground, and all around. All the while, the blazing wood pile stood firm and blew flames high up above it. Both elements made a similar but subtly different crackling sound – the impacts of raindrops on wet tarps, ground, trees, and all that goes with that, accompanied by the snapping, popping, sizzling, and crackling of a raging fire which pressed ever onward, upward. The water poured down and the fire roared up. Where the two met was a mysterious gradient – I’m sure there was perfect peace at some place there. For myself, I wandered between being wet or baked by rain or fire.

Awesome. Bewildering. Simple – a Forest between Sky and Earth, a Space between Fire and Water. An Observation.

Real recognize real

Unless we learn to recognize and accept all parts of ourselves – dark and light, near the surface and in the depths – we may be destined as a world to a prejudice far worse than what we face now, due to more extreme conditions in the near future testing our patience about ourselves.

What to do with the dark parts of ourselves we cannot reconcile with? I think it depends on perspective. All things have a place in nature, eating someone and being eaten by someone else; those things which have no place can cease to exist, eaten and not returning, or migrating to a more suitable habitat. What is the force of succession within us? What are your internal ecosystems, where your light and dark exist? Are they at peace, or are they troubled and troubling?

The task at hand – the sort of psychological progress Carl Jung focused on – is a deeply personal one. Yet, it may be a critical work for the future of humanity.

I & I

Elemental observations in everyday life – from shamans and scientists

A mystical throwback* and a short essay update to modernize the ‘elementalism’. Thanks to the many sources and the one source.
(* The throwback is referring to a shared ‘Post from the Past’ which was presented on FB from 5 years ago today. That post is shared later on in this entry.)

The classical elements were concepts that helped our ancestors tap in to various ways of knowing – spiritual and ecological knowledge, as well as proto-scientific knowledge. Most folks reading this base their life, knowingly or not, on scientific ways of knowing. Science teaches us that ‘the elements’ are not simply Earth Wind Water Fire and Quintessence; there are chemical elements – unique atoms – and a whole weird world of particles and finer yet.

Are the ‘classical’ elements still useful, given our scientific progress? Continue reading →

Indigenous * Technology

It’s interesting to find a lot of solutions for improving one’s life nowadays in seemingly opposite ends of a spectrum: modern technology (e.g. motors, computers) vs. indigenous ways (e.g. Traditional Ecological Knowledge). This is written with the will to transform the “vs.” to an “&”. The challenges of today are of a scale that calls for modern technology, yet are of a depth that calls for indigenous ways.
A couple of examples – by no means an exhaustive list – to clarify the importance of…

Continue reading →

Little Pieces So Wholly : Friction

It’s in the little moments

It’s in the grand schemes

In galaxies, as well as the life story of each sand grain,

It drives some insane, it keeps some in their lane, it leads some to abstain

Me? I’m learning to let it be

 

It’s in the finest times of my life

It’s in my biggest picture, and in every plot in between

I garden with it, I eat with it

I love the space it makes, I hate the spaces it makes

I am of the spaces it makes, and I’ll make a space too

 

“LIVE” it says, “I am on my way…”

 

 

Santa Muerte Blanca

 

μ

Learning to Love Twilight: Ode to Death, Arisen with a feeling to decay distress

What a peaceful time with μ & place
And in that space in time, I find I’m faced with death
O the irony, iron me rusting ever more
 
For in the lightest times, in twilight’s color
A piece of all peaces – stillness, twinkle, and other
Sensations indescribable, unfathomable, yet bare and real
 
In the greatest of times in life, one faces the time of death. One wishes to capture a moment, for rapture, to ever last her
As one tries to record the minutes, the moments only move faster
Until it shatters
So be still
 
In accepting the time of death, the time of life is set free
No need to hang on to you and to me
Be and let be, see where one will go
It’s like water my dear friend, you must drink, and let it flow
 
~ cr0

Love what grows

A professor of mine, let’s call him Professor S teaching ecological restoration, emphasized connection to place and the power of love. That lesson dawned on me today as I thought about the love I felt for a parcel of woods my family and I recently invested in. I considered how my love for the place drew me to work with it, enjoy it, improve it. When we conventionally consider ‘improving’ land, we’re talking about turning the natural environment into the build environment. As I considered this, I realized a lesson that applies far wider than my situation: love what grows.

To improve the parcel, I could buy bricks and bring tools. Or, I could use what grows on site to satisfy my necessities. The trees which provide wood also provide so many other goods – tangible and abstract benefits to both me, the place itself, and the surrounding environment. Continue reading →