No Place Left To Hide
Another warmer day! Mid May and the promise of springtime is finding fulfillment. There is no certainty of a gradual transition to balmy days. The swings of heat and cold have been extreme in the past. You cannot count on mild weather, and the body does not “turn on a dime” to adapt to to near frost temps. Adapting takes time, – everything takes time. Change ebbs, flows, operates according to a cause and effect logic, a logic external to our desires, what I would wish.
So what can I do? Perhaps that is the question that matters. The root of every other question. The answer: usually there’s nothing for me to do, except to recognize I am a bit player in events, in a movement much bigger than myself, that began in at a distant time before I was born. The “trick” is to be satisfied to follow the story, to admire the reciprocity, the back and forth shuttle-cock exchange of forces that seek equilibrium, (sometimes unconsciously).
To sense the fold-points in the story, when my contribution possibly will make some difference… Then and only then, – to step forward from stage left or stage right to be present at the iconic act-one finale, a massive ensemble number where all the main characters sing their overlapping hopes, fears, and plans for the upcoming rebellion in Les Misérables. Do you remember that scene? You know what I mean to say.
A friend urged me to revisit the work of Joseph Campbell. Campbell was fascinated by the role which myth plays in the life of everyone. Life is absolutely a “hero’s journey”. You my friend are the hero of your own story, and your task, our quest is that each of us makes his/her on path home. Home is more, much more than a place. Home means TOTAL acceptance, a rapprochement and detente. You make peace with your own past, unconditional cessation of hostilities no matter the past darkness.
Shall we enjoy a familiar tune?! This anthem, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen continues to be a standard expression of life in our times. Awakened life, amounts to being able to depend upon one constant, the bond which connects with another. This bond is more accurately conceived as a friendship, without necessarily any romantic dimension. Friends have allowed the confluence of change and time to create a connection of fellowship and understanding between them. The bond lends strength for enduring the maelstroms which fate will throw at us. There is only one way ahead, and that’s the way through…
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
Oh, someday girl, I don’t know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go, and we’ll walk in the sun
But till then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
