What's Your Perspective?

     On a couple occasions this winter, John and I have taken visiting friends to a national monument called Tuzigoot, not far from here.   It is an ancient pueblo ruin set high up on a hill, with sweeping views on all sides.    As we strolled through the ruins, I was struck by the contrast between the view from inside one of the rooms of the pueblo,  and the view from almost anywhere outside the rooms on the surrounding walkway.

      One of the pictures shown here is from inside a room, looking through an archway at the landscape.   Charming though the arch is,  the view through it reveals only a little of what is out there.  I am struck with what a good image this is of how most of us view the world most of the time--from the confines of the "room" in which we live:   our memories, our beliefs, our opinions, our emotions---all the socially conditioned responses we call our perspective.  And depending on which room we are in,  we can be looking out at the very same landscape and see quite different things.  

      On the other hand, if we can get out of the confines of our particular view-point by realizing that there is a lot more to be seen if we just quit identifying with our particular opinions and experience as if they were "The Truth,"  what a marvelous view opens before us!   Walking around looking at things from many different viewpoints, and getting the Big Picture, is a freeing and exhilarating experience.   I recommend it!  It is humbling too, to realize the huge variety of human perspectives and experience over centuries and in a multitude of cultures.

Surely it is foolish for any of us to think that our generation, or our culture, or our own viewpoint is "the way it is."   Reality is so much greater than our every-day ordinary way of looking at things lets us see.  

     So---lets get out of that culturally conditioned, personally limited dark little room that shuts out so much we need to see, and see things from the hilltop of the grand sweep of human experience through time and all over the world.   And while we are at it,  lets not zero in on what the history books tell us of cruelty, bloodshed, and other human depravity.  Rather, let us look out over the beautiful earth that somehow withstands and endures, and gladdens our heart with its beauty and peace, come what may.

Long Live The Trees!

     Those of you who know me will not be surprised when I say I love, love, love trees.  All my life they have been a supportive, life-giving presence.  I remember many years ago when John and I took our little kids camping out west, and drove across the Canadian prairie.  After two days of nothing but fields and sky,  I was feeling very out of sorts, and couldn't figure out why.  Then one night I dreamed of trees all night long, and when I awoke, I realized how my soul was longing for trees. 

     I have always had the joy of living in places next to which trees grew--big ones, the kind I could climb when I was younger and more limber!  And I did.   Not only did I climb trees, I spent days up in them, perched on the broad branch of a Banyan tree, reading good books, and just being, in that delicious way open to children in a special kind of way.

      To this day, it sickens me to see a big tree chopped down.  I grieved for weeks after our neighbor on the Lakeshore took out a beautiful big maple tree to make room for a new deck they were adding to their house.  I grieve whenever I think of all the thoughtless, wasteful, stupid destruction of old growth forests here and all over the world.  Scientists tell us that what happens to the trees happens to us, because they and us humans are very dependent on one another in many, many ways, including the very air we breathe.  We breathe in what they breathe out, and they breathe in what we breathe out, and we share One Holy Breath.

      Here in Sedona, our house is surrounded by 22 beautiful trees, most of them tall pines filled with cones and birds.   They whisper and sing, and in a strong wind sound like the waves of the sea.  I consider them treasured companions.   The pictures on today's blog, taken by our skillful photographer friends when they were here in January,  show me in the arms of a great grandmother Sycamore tree on the shores of Oak Creek near Cathedral rock;   and the shadow of a tree pointing to another, along with a cabin made from felled trees in the last century by the early white settlers;  and the gorgeous branching out of a tree in the golden light of a winter afternoon.  

      What beauty and gifts trees bring to our lives.  No wonder most religions have the archetype of The Tree of Life in their mythology.  Trees teach me how to be deeply rooted in the soil of Divine Life, and steadfast and strong despite troublesome tempests.   They show me how to keep growing up, and branching out to embrace more and more of the Sky and Sun.  They teach me to offer shade,  shelter, and nourishment from the fruit of my life to others who need it.   And when I need something to lean on and be refreshed by, they are there for me.  

      So here's to trees!  Long may they live and flourish and increase on this beautiful planet, and may we humans do half as much good as they do for the life of this good earth and its inhabitants.   Amen!

Prayers of Stone

     Not long ago,  John and I took a couple out of town friends to Crescent Moon Ranch, on the banks of Oak Creek and at the foot of Cathedral Rock--a famous vortex site, and a photographer's dream.   Our friends are fine  photographers, and the pictures on this blog were taken by them.  

     Near the end of the trail through this powerful and beautiful area is a place called "Buddha Beach."  It is filled with the beautiful stone pillars you see in these pictures, and people often come here to sit and meditate in this awesome place.  The stone pillars are created by anonymous folks in a deeply devotional spirit to honor the sacred feeling and spirit of this "nature temple."   

     Seeing these stone pillars reminded me of the stone pillar erected at the Jordan River by the people of Israel after they crossed over it into the Promised Land, as told in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures.  The pillars also remind me of the story in Genesis of Jacob's flight to Haran after cheating his brother Esau of the birthright.  He slept on a stone and dreamed of angels going up and down a stairway to/from heaven.  Upon waking next morning he built a pillar of stones and exclaimed "God was in this place, and I knew it not" and he called the place Beth-el  meaning "House of God."   

       This beautiful area certainly fits this description.  And a song comes to mind as I gaze at the stone pillars on this sunny winter afternoon:  Its a set of verses from the old hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" and they go like this:

     "Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down; 

       Darkness be over me, my rest a stone; 

       Yet in my dreams I'd be, nearer my God to Thee. Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee.

       There let the way appear steps unto heaven,

        All that Thou sendest me in mercy given:

        Angels to beckon me nearer my God to Thee.....

        Then with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

         Out of my stony griefs Beth-el I'll raise; 

         So by my woes to be nearer my God to Thee.   Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee."

Here, once again, I find myself immersed in an ancient sacred practice...one that is universal...

showing one's reverence for the sacredness of a place by the innate desire to mark it somehow, and often, a pillar of stones is just the thing.   

All around Sedona,  and a few other places too, including in Michigan,  there are little pillars of stone I have built with devotion and  with the same inspiration and intention as countless others before me.  You might want to try it too!  

          

      

The Fascination of Fire

       How often have you sat in front of a fire and just gazed into the flames as they danced and flickered,  sparked and hissed and sang?   Think of the millions of people through countless centuries who have done this very thing in all sorts of settings:  the beach, the deep woods, caves, dens, and livingrooms, to name a few.   Fire watching seems to  be a universal fascination.  I know it puts me into what some might call "an altered state,"  and one I am quite fond of.  Time stops. My thoughts slow down and even recede into stillness.  I never tire of watching the never ending, always changing dance of light and shadow, and the way the form of the flames transforms as it consumes whatever it is burning.  

     Contained in a fire place, stove, or circle of stones at a campsite,  fire provides beauty and warmth, and a focus for gathering, singing, stories, and bonding with others.   Uncontained and roaring through a dry forest or a row of buildings in a city,  it is devastating and fearful.   Fire has fired the mythic imagination of the human race,  which realizes both the danger and great gift that fire is.   

     One of my favorite fire stories is the one in Exodus in the Hebrew Scriptures about Moses meeting God in the burning bush which is aflame, yet not consumed.   Christian mystics in the Eastern Orthodox tradition composed ecstatic devotional hymns to Mother Mary as the Burning Bush,  a sign of a human being aflame with God's Presence, yet not consumed by it.

People like that light up our world with Divine Fire, the Flames of Pentecost,  a burning Divine Love that consumes human sinfulness without destroying human being.  Rather, it is a Holy Fire that consumes the dross in our natures, leaving only the Gold of our true selves, Image of God.   The experience of that holy burning some call hell.   I prefer to think of it as purgatory--a purging that is the activity of Divine Love and Grace.  

      We need more Burning Bushes!  I think that's why I painted one as a mandala a few years ago.  It hangs here in our house in the den opposite the fireplace, reminding me every day of Holy Fire.  

Let the Sun Shine In

     Does anyone remember the song by the title "Let the Sunshine In"  from the famous musical "Hair" of the sixties?   One of the wonderful things about being in Arizona is that lots of sunshine comes streaming in most days.   Oddly enough, since this is the case, it is actually kind of nice when we get a cloudy or rainy day for a change.   I know this sounds weird to those of you who live where a clear sunny day at this time of year is more the exception than the rule.  But then, think how much more you appreciate the sun when it does shine all day!   

     Lately, I have been reading reports from health experts who are telling us that actually, its a good idea to be out in the sun every day for a half hour or so,  preferably in the morning or late afternoon, not mid-day.   I remember my mother used to advise me to put my babies naked in a patch of sunlight indoors if it was cold outside, or outside on a blanket in warm weather to get their daily "sun bath."   Apparently,  this is the best way to get the dose of vitamin D we all need, rather than with pills.  It is good for us in many other ways too, and experts advise us not to put sun tan lotion on, which screens out some of the benefits of those sun rays.  

     Letting the sunshine in metaphorically is a good idea too.  Too much gloom and gloom can cast a pall over our lives, and cloud our vision to all the good that is always there for us if we can only see it.   Just as the sun is always shining during the day, no matter how thick the clouds are that might be dimming its light,  so too the Good that is God is always shining in our lives, no matter how thick the clouds of trouble are.   They are temporary.  The Sun is not.

It is always shining with good possibilities, and radiant with promise.   If we can see this, we walk in the Light.  

      The two images of the sun on the walls of our home here celebrate the joy of "Heavenly Sunshine"  and the gift of Divine Light in our lives.  Or, as the old sunday school song puts it, "Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine, flooding my soul with Glory Divine...."

the wonders of cyberspace communication

     Having been without easy access to my internet connection for ten days down in Florida, I am appreciating the ease of communication provided by being able to get on my computer any time, and see loved ones while talking to them on Skype, or review and write my blogs and look for comments from those of you who read it  (always much appreciated!) or read and respond to daily emails.   There was a time, as my children can attest, when I was very resistant to the very idea of being on a computer.   When I got used to that,  I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into using email.   I only got talked into using Skype, because Rachel, my youngest, was off on a year long adventure around the world as host of Animal Planet's show "Ms. Adventure," and in many of the remote locations she was traveling to,  Skype was the best choice for connecting. What else could I do?   As if all of this were not enough,  I even got talked recently into blogging by a dear friend.   Which is why you are reading this.

     All this comes to mind as I post the picture today.  I took it while lying on my back in the sun on one of our deck lounge chairs, gazing up at the blue sky, white clouds, and branches of the pine trees that grace our yard, and ah, that funny little square white thig-a-ma-bob sticking out from the roof of the house.  Come to find out its a fixture installed by the ComSpeed folks out here to make it possible for us to get on the internet.   

      This boggles my mind.   I have no clear idea of how a little thing like that,  and the router to which it is somehow connected, work with my computer  (something I understand even less) to create this magic of being able to sit here typing words on a screen and know that you will be able to read them!!!!   How do they fly through the air like that?   How do they come out on your computer?   What wizardry allows us to connect with each other not only with words but pictures through thin air and endless space???    When anyone has tried to explain it to me, I think they can tell by the glazed look in my eyes that I am not getting it at all.   To me, all this modern communication technology is just old fashioned Magic like genies popping out of lamps when you rub them, etc.  only in modern guise.   They call these genies names like electronics and airwaves and superconductors and microchips etc. but I know what they really are!

You can't fool an old fairy-land visitor like me!   Those elves and goblins and fairies are still finding ways of luring us into the unknown and putting us under their spells and enchantments.

When I see someone glued to the T.V. or computer, for instance, it sure looks like an enchantment to me.   

      So here's to modern wizardry and cyberspace and the miracles of mysterious communication as we all get woven together into the World Wide Web.    I wonder Who or What the Spider is??? 

Let's Face It

      Okay, okay.....maybe we have been in Sedona's "Woowoo" atmosphere too long, but really now, are we so far off when we say that when we were hiking yesterday we were being watched?

     To us, the big face in the red rock cliff just jumped out at us.   Interesting expression, don't you think?  I think it's singing!   The other picture has three faces in the one paler colored rock:  the smiling profile on the top right of the rock seems somewhat obvious.   More subtle is the smiling face next to it in the middle; and very subtle is the big profile of a face partly shadowed on the middle left of the same rock structure, looking very enigmatic.     

     A Native American friend once told me that one of the tests for telling if you are a good candidate for "The Red Road"   (a path of Native American spirituality) is to see if you are able to make out faces and other shapes of creatures in big and little rocks.   If you can do that fairly easily,  you have an active right brain working with your left to enable you to intuit and imagine as well as analyze and think in linear fashion.     The ideal, of course, is balance and harmony between both sides of the brain, and both ways of functioning in life.   

     A book I read recently, titled "Stroke of Insight"   does a marvelous job, from an experiential and scientific point of view, of describing how differently the two sides of our brains function and how good it is to be able to use both sides well.   Judging from our experience so far, I think John and I have developed some significant right brain skill!   If our grandchildren had been along, I bet they would have seen even more faces and creatures in the rocks than we did.   And they could probably easily imagine what those faces were communicating, and why.   

     Let's face it,  faces are interesting, especially when you find them where you least expect them.   If you study faces, you can learn a lot about what may be going on behind them.

Some seem blank,  others are heavily masked,  still others are lively with thought and emotion easily read.   I remember an old saying to the effect that by the time we are past fifty, we have the face we deserve!   If our thoughts are habitually negative,  our face will not be pleasant to behold.  If we are prone to laughter and appreciation and positive attitudes,  our face will be a pleasure to behold, no matter how wrinkled with age.   

     One odd thing I have noticed is that it is not easy to look long and intensely into my own face, especially my eyes, and think " I love you," or "I am looking at the Image of God." But it helps me to remember a song I learned a couple years ago that goes like this: "I am the Face of God.  She holds me in Her heart. I am a part of All.  I am the Face of God."   Singing that to yourself as you look in the mirror is a challenge, and a good thing.   If you can't do it,  can you look at someone else's face and think "There is the Face of God." ?  If not, why not?     And where or what else might the Face of God Be?