Smiling Down on Us

Sometimes there is no doubt about whether a decision is the right one or not. Sometimes there are signs that confirm that yes, we are on the path that we were meant to travel.  I made a life choice last week that will shape my future dramatically: I asked my partner to marry me.  The idea's been brewing for a while now and Friday was the right time.  We were on a picnic by the sea and the sun had been shining all day.  We were both feeling an immense and powerful happiness and were talking about it, when I suggested a way to ensure a lifetime of such happiness and popped the question.  The answer was the one I was hoping for and there was much rejoicing.  The sunny day had developed a sort of soft glow as the afternoon waned and, looking to the west, we saw two well formed sundogs; one on either side of the powdered sun.  There was a ring that followed around at the radius of the sundogs only much fainter.  I've seen thousands of skies, no two alike and none remotely like the one I saw last Friday.  It was as though the whole world was fuzzy, kind of like fog, but fog made of sleepy sunshine.  As we rolled in the meadow, laughed, hugged and wiped a few tears of joy from our eyes we beheld a rainbow inverted, as a smile, high in the sky.  The colours were crisp and bright and as we watched, it only became more defined.  I felt as though I had lost my footing in reality and stumbled into some kind of magical world.  There was a crescent moon right next to this arc, smiling too as smiles are contagious.  The other folks at the park were preoccupied with picking daffodils, gazing out to sea, or just soaking up the delicious flavor of that rare early spring sun softened by high altitude ice and did not notice the miracle happening overhead.  It was a sight which seemed to be happening exclusively for my girl and I.  A private moment where the Great Spirit was smiling approval at our agreement to join our lives to each other.  I felt honored and blessed by this sign and was sure that what was happening high above us was a direct result of the power of our Love.  And we laughed and wept a little more.

All the treasures that can be held in safes, written as secrets, or sunk in lagoons do not come close to the rarity and clarity of the gifts that Nature offers.

Liquid Sky

It was a rainy week, as is often the case here.  I found myself listening to soft music and drinking a lot of tea.  The volume of rain that falls here is minimal compared with monsoon countries. The power of the rain on this quiet island is revealed slowly through opening blooms and rising rivers.  Places that feel the might of a monsoon storm must fear the rain to some extent.  I read that hurricanes in Central America can dump a meter of water.  The power of that rush is enough to scour holes into the earth and pull the sides of mountains down onto valley bottoms.  The rain that some would lament here, in this pampered part of the world, is such a peaceful blessing to me.  Washing the streets and sidewalks, swelling the buds and leaves, giving us the water that flows from our taps.  I welcome and rejoice in the arrival of April showers and thank the One Mom for delivering our water in small doses.

I mentioned the magic of fluid dynamics in my last post and feel compelled to do so again here, as we seem to be  on a bit of a liquid theme.  The rings that are generated by falling drops onto still puddles and ponds are another example of the perfect nature of Nature.  Each one following it's destiny of singular circularity while crossing and enveloping all the other rings.  The raindrop that becomes the puddle is celebrated with circles, as is every transformation that happens naturally.  The circle, spiral, and sphere are the visible and tangible expressions of spiritual matters beyond our understanding.  Transformation and formation, destruction and reconstruction.  All jobs that water can do with ease and grace, if given time and space to do them.  Let it rain!  Pour Life down on me!

Hanami's in the Air

I recently read a book that outlined some of the ways in which ancient and indigenous cultures describe the spirit.  The roots of words like psyche and spirit have common ancestors with the roots of wind and breath and air.  This idea seems so evident and yet, so sublime.  The invisible force that sustains all life - air.  The spirit that unifies us and moves through us - breath.  That which is everywhere, and yet can't be held or seen.  When this sacred force chooses to reveal itself to us, the holy nature of its presence is felt when we are open to sense it.  A breeze or wind can bring to us the scents of distant hills full of flowers, cause our hairs to stand on end, bring tears to our eyes, and even cause us to fall to our knees.  One of my favorite manifestations of the divine is fluid dynamics (pardon the scientific terminology).  An ordered dance of  a liquid, always obeying the laws of physics, and yet, so complex that a measurement or prediction is impossible in all but the most basic of scenarios.


This is a very sweet time of year in Japan as the Hanami celebrations are in full swing.  The tradition originated with members of the imperial court viewing and walking under the cherry blossoms at their peak.  Of coarse, there's sake and feasting and poetry and general merriment, but the reason the emperor enjoyed the flowers is because they are a metaphor for life: luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral.  


Today I witnessed the wind taking some of these beautiful flowers up into the arms of eternity in the most amazing vortex of pink.  When I walk among the tiny flung fragments of spring, I see the forming of another summer take the life of another spring and make it's passing into something wonderful.  The blossom's brief time has ended and the transformation is attended by a sacred force that I can not only see, but feel and smell too.  I feel the spirit kiss my skin, and as I inhale the sweet delicate perfume, all the little hairs on my neck stand to get a better look at God.