 An area of stone shrines created by attendees of 'the Rainbow Gathering', held this summer in northern Utah. Everyman's WEEKLY Journal # 78
©2014 Rev. David Seacord
July 6. 2014
More getting over myself...
Sometimes traveling and writing while traveling can work out quite fine, and sometimes not so fine. Obviously in this case it is the latter, as In the 21 days since my last journal was sent you I have been intensely enough saturated with newly-arrived experiences that writing about them has seemed quite impossible to also accomplish. It is certainly one way of 'staying in the now'--- to have the phenomenal matrix of 'the world' provide such a full plate that all one can do is keep letting go of one moment to make room the the next. It doesn't leave a lot of time for deeper contemplation or for the conscious digestion of the events sometimes though. In effect then, those balancing processes go underground, into the subliminal… to be sorted out at a later time.
While I assume you the reader wish more depth than a travelogue, I will note for you that so far since leaving Yuma June 16 I have passaged through another 11 day 2000 person 3HO Summer Solstice, then shared a two day journey to the Rainbow Gathering in Utah near Salt Lake City with a surprise traveling companion, then spent 5 days at the Gathering absorbing that totally eclectic and indigenously aligned event before hearing that my mother was in a hospital (and thus choosing to cut my Rainbow stay short a few days in order to return to civilization and become fully informed about that [and finding that by then she was back at the home she now lives in and doing well], BUT… given the intense law-enforcement presence surrounding the Gathering and daily sweeping through it (and also the several struggles my little car had on the rough remote roads), I have decided to not return. And so, since I am now back in the world, I have used the opportunity to visit two significant-to-me women who live in the Salt Lake City area… one being my original art mentor who inspired me to have faith in my painting talent at a point when I was 'close to folding' in 2005 (she being now relocated from Oregon to Utah), and the other being the mother of my 'godson' [it being that she and godson are now visiting with grandparents here].
And ….would you believe it…. on the one hour journey between the two homes, I became the target of a motorcycle cop's radar, and thus now possess a ticket for speeding (I was simply traveling with the pack, but was at the moment, in front, and thus targetable). While I do not know exactly how I am going to respond to this ticket (but I suspect it will be somewhat unique), I can report that I was able to negotiate the moment calmly and build a friendly rapport with the officer even though I challenged him strongly on several points of law. And, since this ticket requires me to appear in a local court, I have changed my immediate short-term plans, and will stay in the area and do that tomorrow morning--- if possible--- (before continuing on the Oregon, where several weeks of maintenance on my parents Oregon property awaits me and my number 3 sister).
So that provides a sketch of the just past timeline…. a brief structure of the unfolding flow within which my learning curriculum has been happening. So what have I learned, you are asking? One thing I might say here is simply that 'the world is endless'. In particular, the superficial world is endless… a constant sea of ever-changing faces (all asking to be seen)… a constant conveyor belt of events that come out of nowhere and when complete return to that same nowhereness. In this sea of impermanence it appears that we dance with and among each other like idiot popcorn, perhaps limited by the container (and thus structured) but as Shakespeare wrote, popping away with a "sound and fury signifying nothing". In Landmark language, this is 'the empty and meaninglessness' of life.
Yet for all the truth of this, the existence of Love brings to me/you/us-all a twisting of reality so miraculous that it creates passionate joy and aliveness instead of endless despair. Is that not amazing? My experience of the presence of this Love is now fundamental to my existence… I cannot imagine a day being worth living should I somehow become disconnected from its always available flow. I must assume this experience is also true for you, as we are both human.
Is there 'anything to do' about this? I suspect not, at least not as much as we might think. I can look at my life and now easily see that much of the suffering of my own past was caused by my own desires… fundamentally and especially the desire to make a specialness of my separateness. I can now say that this has never worked. It has always failed to deliver any true unending satisfaction…. thus I work to teach the opposite… to practice being nobody special. In being nobody special I find I can so much more easily recognize each 'other' as another myself--- even when that other's expression is actually painful to me (which still sometimes occurs, and which may perhaps always forever sometimes occur and which I accept as lawful dharmically). What I am saying here is that there is no end to the surrender to what IS, just as there is no end to the journey of awakening from the gravity pull of the world.
I am so deeply grateful for the guidance of Love. She is a gentle master, one that I trust has only my best interest at heart. Though at times I have been mightily resistant to the suggestions I have received from Her, I do notice that my happiness always expands as soon as I become willing to pursue Her Will. Thus, in sum, the entire journey continues to be about getting over myself. Is this not true for you too? I lay odds yes.
May it be that these words give you strength for this day. Much love to each of you. Whatever the circumstances, it is a gift.
Namaste,
David
FYI: If you would like to share this Journal as a webpage, at the very top of the email where it says:
"Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser." etc.
…. well, the word 'browser' is a clickable hyperlink that will open this email as a webpage…
which you can then copy and paste anywhere (like to share it on Facebook, or elsewhere).
ALSO: If you would like to share the link to the SUBSCRIBE page, here is the clickable or paste-able code:
If you get value from reading this Journal, I do appreciate your assistance in expanding it's distribution. Thank you so much.
________________________________________________________
Addition links to other writings, websites, etc:
Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment