04/07/2024
Once I led a group of people through a āquietā walk through a well known path near Canandaigua Lake. The idea was to connect and merge with nature.
Quiet, doesnāt mean āno talkingā, no music, it means INTERNAL quietā¦. Itās the silencing of doing, and thinking as best as one can. Because, noise will always be around us (birds, cars, other hikers etc).
Never thought to ask folks not to bring a phone/camera but there it was. Pulled out of its holster like Annie Oakley. There was some need (habitual perhaps) to capture everything they saw. Instead of connecting and merging with natureā¦...we suddenly all felt that vibe of SEPARATE. Thereās US and then there is THAT. I will take a picture of THAT. It sometimes only takes one person to do so because it is the nature of the vibe. It's a heavy one. Yoga says it's the heaviest (the feeling of separateness). Itās a pull to the reptilian brain built long, long ago. And it has power. I get it. But...
Tomorrow we have a historical event. Although some are saying "itās the sunā¦.itās the moon so what?" Well so be it. But its pretty cool that these celestial beings are taking on a different life for once. Itās not just the sun and moon ā its some MORE this time. They have a special dance planned.
When we look up ā do we still have wonder? We see dozens of stars in the sky at night, do we feel so small? Or does that cosmic energy pull us in to the beyond? Do we feel large? Does it remind of those that have past? Or can we use their mystery to create that oneness to remind us that we really carry them everywhere in our heart. All the important stuff anyways. Does it really matter the body is gone?
Will this be what the eclipse will show us tomorrow? Even though we will al be at different places, we will all have shared one thing during those 4 minutes and 27 secondsā¦an experience. A togetherness, a oneness.
I am reminded of a book from the 80ās called āTeaching a Stone to Talkā by Annie Dilliard who write about an eclipse.
āThere was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained, the lungs hushed. There was no worldā¦Our minds were light years distant, forgetful of almost everything. Only an extraordinary act of will could recall to us our former, living self and our context in matter and time. We had, it seems, loved the planet and loved our lives, but could no longer remember the way of them. The light was wrong. In the sky was something that should not be there. In the black sky was a ring of light. It was a thin ring, an old silver wedding band, an old, worn ring. It was an old wedding band in the sky, or a morsel of bone. There were stars. It was over.ā
Everything will seem wrong for a moment ā the animals will behave differently, bigger winds will mellow out or change directions, insects will think itās night. And WE will be stillā¦WE will connectā¦.WE will be in wonder. I donāt think thatās wrong at all.
Maybe itās a nice reminder.
Turn your phone off, put the camera down. Professionals will film it for you and you can watch it WAY better than you will.
Enjoy it. Be one with it. ....................Before itās over.
Iāll meet you there.
Sandy