From a sacred spot among the Pine Elders:
"What is even more valuable than what I hear from you?
Simply knowing that in all ways
you speak to me."
G Lesley 20 April 2016
On my morning walk with Keeli yesterday, a gleam of wisdom streaked across my consciousness. Like a flash, but this was a bit different from past bolts of enlightenments. It wasn't me 'listening'. It was me doing the talking, in the presence of something greater.
It was 'my' voice, in the company of wisdom.
Ego said I would remember my one-liner with precision. Experience knew better. Spirit decided to reach for my smartphone and type it into a self-addressed email. Ahhh... The fusion of technology with spontaneous moments of contemplative awareness.
email to me:
(no subject)
wht is evn more valuable thn what i hear from U - simply knowng tht in all ways u speak to me
With the flash memorialized and the email sent, dog and I continued the trek. For double coverage, I also texted it with a photo to my dear friend CJ. If an asteroid nailed me in the head that morning, my prescient sentence would, at least, live on in someone else's cell phone. Que sera sera.
We arrived at another spot where I usually stand, in self-worn footprints, admiring, with reverence, the view across an opening of short grass. Ringed with elm and birch, it holds a serene fusion of terrain and foliage that connects my body to the earth, draws my vision outward and spirit skyward. I have a simple saying I make: "I am, I be, I ring in harmony..."
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
It was behind me and above. South.
-A bird, logically, but I had never heard that sound. Not a sharp chirp or melodic whistle. It was subtle but more throaty and 'whooooty'... windy... fluttery, in a barely separable chain of two-tone sounds. And moving.
There was a big tree behind me. As I turned, looking up to the top, I heard the call;
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
-Behind me... in the original direction I had been facing. North. High in the open sky.
Gazing/straining/squinting, a few seconds pass. Behind me, AGAIN; South. Up and a little to my right:
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
I'm being circled. Brilliant deduction, but by what? A mystery sound from space. What does this mean? The sky was empty. Ghost riders?
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
How does 'it' keep getting behind me?!? I can hear this supposedly winged-whooper but I'm not seeing it. Think logically Gary! This is really happening. Right?
And then I heard me.
"What is even more valuable than what I hear from you?
Simply knowing that in all ways
you speak to me."
I wasn't sure that would suffice. I didn't really want to hear the answer from... me. And then I realized that was the ego talking.
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
Still being circled/ensnared into something more. Come on! I need to 'see' what there is to see here. I get the wisdom part. I think...
I looked at Keeli for a sanity check.
"Can you hear that?".
From 50 feet away, she raised her head, looked over.
Sure. What ever you want to hear. You interrupted my grass munching for that?
Great.
I caught myself trying to grab. I let go and surrendered to the wisdom of the moment, and the mystery. Then, there was a speeding blur. About 100 feet above the ground, and a trailing sound;
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
This time, I got smart. I kept my gaze in the same part of the sky that the blur had just passed and sure enough, there was another, trailing in a great circle. Two. Playing a game if not among themselves but maybe also with me? Lightning fast-fast birds. Among the fastest.
The Common Nighthawk; Chordeiles minor.
Possibly mating and/or migrating. My research showed that they are common across Minnesota and as remarkable as they are diminutive speedsters. I watched them for a few minutes. If you weren't looking for them in anticipation of where their tell-tale sound was coming from, you'd never ever be aware they were circling about.
An ornithologist would likely instruct birders to listen first for their distinctive sound before attempting to catch a glimpse of them. At full speed in the air, they are mostly a blur. Given that they are more often active in low-light and dark conditions, you can spy them easily as they fly about the tall light poles, clearing the air of unsuspectedly doomed insects.
whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. Was there plenty of something tasty for these two to feast on up above me? Or were they were actually 'feasting' upon me? And my desire for wisdom? A sentient connection? Just brunch? I'm fine either way.
I realized that if I would have known what I was 'hearing', I would have been better able to know what to 'look' for. And then to 'see'. I felt awed that my ears were open enough to hear my daylight nighthawks in the first place. I re-heard my voice from the lesson with the pine elders.
I felt blessed, humbled to be aware of it.
Our ears are intended to facilitate the understanding and application of information into our mind, ultimately, to integrate directly into knowing, and wisdom, which no longer needs to be 'heard' to be 'known'. Like your name. Like your heartbeat. Like I AM. It simply is.
"What is even more valuable than what I hear from you?
Simply knowing that in all ways
you speak to me."
Assemble your library while you are young. Accumulate that which is necessary to train the ear of your body, mind, heart and spirit. As you grow, and move back into the divine universe, you will find the need for less and less from others and more to get and give, from your very own... wisdom, until there is no longer the need to read it or hear it or see it. Then, you will be enabled to give your voice to it. And make space for others to do the same.
To pass it on. To give it away. The truly wise need no library but for to direct others to it.
The essential contents of the ever-expansive universe becomes as simple to carry about in your pocket or your shoe, as you would a few grains of well-rounded sand.
And then, simply and suddenly, those very precious grains fuse into One.
(CJ: Thank you for letting me know you got my text!)
PS/ A day later...
A sad day in Minnesota and around the world. A truly creative and brilliant artist passed on; 21 April, 2016. Too young. Cause to be determined. Maybe. It's been said he lived with many 'pains'.
Rumor has it he left a literal 'vault' of material that may become a source of music for years, possibly decades to come. His legions certainly hope so. I pray he passed on with the knowledge all that really matters is contained in the vault of your very own soul.
If I gave you diamonds and pearls
Would you be a happy boy or girl
If I could
I would give you the world
But all I can do
is just offer you my love
Diamonds and Pearls, Prince
I had to go see Purple Rain again as a number of theaters were running it. Took a drive over past Paisley Park afterward. Yes... it's been quite rainy here the past few days... And lots of purple.
(photo courtesy yahoo.com)
Prince Rogers Nelson
R.I. P.
