Dedicated to the land at Tunitas Creek Ranch and the banana slug: who lives the sensuality of the "not-quite-touch". She lives intimately with all she touches, never once breaking contact.
What is it to walk through the world in a way that eschews our predatory nature?
In the mere act of 'looking for things', we pierce with our gaze, we penetrate with insight. What would it mean to simply be receptive? Perhaps it enters the world of listening; allowing the world to enter through our ears, our bodies.
I watched three hawks circling and it occurred to me that our acts were not so very different: they were looking for prey; I was looking for inspiration - something to feed my hungry soul. I began to wonder about the long evolution of predator/prey relationships. Since the first cell that devoured its own kind, life has fed off of life. I began to look around at the myriad forms of predation: The spider meticulously builds her web of silk - invisible unless dampened by dew or catching the light in just the right way - and waits for her prey to come to her. The snake smells the air with her tongue, noticing subtle changes in her energy field; she strikes like quicksilver. There are no second thoughts. The trees simply receive and grow both towards light above and sustenance below, her roots are the predator, constantly probing the earth for the water and minerals that keep her alive.
I inhabit all these realms and all these spirits inhabit me: My spirit is the plant - at once growing towards the heavens and simultaneously reaching down into Mother Earth for grounding and nourishment. I am the hawk - ever-circling to spy something that moves (me) in my environment, to devour it and regurgitate it back with new understanding to my human family. My spider nature lives in the web of my thoughts and understandings, patiently waiting for something to send a ripple of new energy. My sensual mollusk nature relishes in touch but contracts at a nearing shadow; fearing that which it does not understand. Even my butterfly energy, flitting from bud to bud, has its purpose - it follows its allurements to probe for the nectar of love and wisdom. To be human is to discriminate the energy we manifest. My hope is that all of these beings integrate into a light that is uniquely me and that that light emanates clearly to all beings. Only then will I be truly human.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A Creation Myth
In reading Brian Swimme's book "The Universe is a Green Dragon" I was inspired to share this myth I wrote and performed with live music during his class last semester. Enjoy.
The Silence and the Song
In the beginning there was silence, utter and complete. The silence was unbearable to the heavens as it created a blackness of spirit and a blindness of the mind’s eye. It was within this silence that the first sound was sent forth. The sound came from everywhere and nowhere. It carried across the heavens as a great wave, carrying with it everything that was and everything that will be. All of time and all of the songs were carried within the energy of this one primordial tone. Out of its own joy of being the sound began to divide and multiply; now it was two and then three, four, twelve... an infinite number of variations and every possibility was created from the very seamlessness of its nature. There was love and allurement between the tones; so much that they joined themselves, creating something new but still retaining their individuality, their dignity... but together a power of vibration set forth a new wave of creation. Some joined together to create the Sun, more the moon, A great chord was struck in the heavens as great beings circled the Sun. This wonderful symphony went on for eternity, ever shifting, ever evolving, ever creative of melody and song.
And the song was felt throughout the universe, and it was celebrated and loved, but still went on unheard.
The heavens wept that no ears were present to soak in and be changed by the song of the universe. It’s tears fell through the skies and from them arose the creatures of Gaia, as Gaia was fertile and ripe for life. And the creatures participated in the song: the whale sang hers in the great depths of the ocean, the coyote sang in Gaia’s deserts, the Eagle in her skies, even the crickets sang as a choir of angels in harmony with the frogs and the wind and the rain.
From the great songs glowing and vibrating upon the face of Gaia something new arose: our kind, humankind, who had ears to hear and voice to sing and eyes to reflect the great spirit of the song. But even this was not enough for so generous a universe. And out of the sky tears of joy glistened and became words - words that could not only sing but give voice to ideas. And these words became as vast and varied as the stars in the sky.
But soon humankind grew so much to love their own voice that they sang too loud to still hear the voice of the crickets, the eagle, the whale or the coyote and then even the sublime song of the universe was drowned out by the incessant song of the human. And so with no one to hear their song the other creatures began to retreat into silence – silence that echoed the first silence but this time without the promise of the seamless singularity. And the humans sang and they sang as the world around them grew silent but their own song was so beautiful to their ears that they did not notice. Through the din more and more tones were created and became a dense mass of sound. In their desire to be heard the tones began to individuate. The tones became increasingly dissonant, tense, and longed for harmony.
It is the very nature of the universe for dissonance to tend towards harmony. This is why, of the thousands upon millions of billions of possible notes, the universe sings only the most beautiful.
And so, humankind, being part of the universe, created by its very own rhythms and resonance, began to harmonize. There was no effort. They merely had to listen. And the harmony again opened their ears to the music forever around them and in them and was again a part of them.
That is why the eagle and the coyote and the whale, when they sing, they sing the very same note. They sing together as a symbol of their unity and love for one another. They sing together as an act of love for the universe and as a sign of hope that humankind will not forget their song.
The Silence and the Song
In the beginning there was silence, utter and complete. The silence was unbearable to the heavens as it created a blackness of spirit and a blindness of the mind’s eye. It was within this silence that the first sound was sent forth. The sound came from everywhere and nowhere. It carried across the heavens as a great wave, carrying with it everything that was and everything that will be. All of time and all of the songs were carried within the energy of this one primordial tone. Out of its own joy of being the sound began to divide and multiply; now it was two and then three, four, twelve... an infinite number of variations and every possibility was created from the very seamlessness of its nature. There was love and allurement between the tones; so much that they joined themselves, creating something new but still retaining their individuality, their dignity... but together a power of vibration set forth a new wave of creation. Some joined together to create the Sun, more the moon, A great chord was struck in the heavens as great beings circled the Sun. This wonderful symphony went on for eternity, ever shifting, ever evolving, ever creative of melody and song.
And the song was felt throughout the universe, and it was celebrated and loved, but still went on unheard.
The heavens wept that no ears were present to soak in and be changed by the song of the universe. It’s tears fell through the skies and from them arose the creatures of Gaia, as Gaia was fertile and ripe for life. And the creatures participated in the song: the whale sang hers in the great depths of the ocean, the coyote sang in Gaia’s deserts, the Eagle in her skies, even the crickets sang as a choir of angels in harmony with the frogs and the wind and the rain.
From the great songs glowing and vibrating upon the face of Gaia something new arose: our kind, humankind, who had ears to hear and voice to sing and eyes to reflect the great spirit of the song. But even this was not enough for so generous a universe. And out of the sky tears of joy glistened and became words - words that could not only sing but give voice to ideas. And these words became as vast and varied as the stars in the sky.
But soon humankind grew so much to love their own voice that they sang too loud to still hear the voice of the crickets, the eagle, the whale or the coyote and then even the sublime song of the universe was drowned out by the incessant song of the human. And so with no one to hear their song the other creatures began to retreat into silence – silence that echoed the first silence but this time without the promise of the seamless singularity. And the humans sang and they sang as the world around them grew silent but their own song was so beautiful to their ears that they did not notice. Through the din more and more tones were created and became a dense mass of sound. In their desire to be heard the tones began to individuate. The tones became increasingly dissonant, tense, and longed for harmony.
It is the very nature of the universe for dissonance to tend towards harmony. This is why, of the thousands upon millions of billions of possible notes, the universe sings only the most beautiful.
And so, humankind, being part of the universe, created by its very own rhythms and resonance, began to harmonize. There was no effort. They merely had to listen. And the harmony again opened their ears to the music forever around them and in them and was again a part of them.
That is why the eagle and the coyote and the whale, when they sing, they sing the very same note. They sing together as a symbol of their unity and love for one another. They sing together as an act of love for the universe and as a sign of hope that humankind will not forget their song.
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