In the past few days I have begun the next phase of what I have been calling my pilgrimage to find myself. Or something like that. I'm trying to follow the thread that is helping me find my way through my life -- I wrote this (certainly metaphorical and partly aspirational) poem recently.
Perhaps Sacred Thread
Somewhere along the path of
your life you thought that you
had lost the thread
It's not the common thread that
binds you to others' purpose
or perspective or way of
inhabiting the world.
It's not just a thread of thought
that flits through your mind
and disappears into nothing.
Instead it is the single
and perhaps sacred thread
that connects you with your
true life, that once found
and embraced, once held
firmly in your hand,
allows you to be free,
if you follow it where it
wants to go and where
you hope it will take you.
Pick up the thread
you thought was lost,
that single thread that
unites you not with others
but with your soul.
Hold fast to the thread,
the thread of experience
and hope and exploration,
the thread of the past
that informs your future,
the thread of belonging
to a greater world,
the thread of your life
and its meaning.
Hold fast to the thread
that you realize has
brought you to this place
and time, the thread that
continues to pull you to
the world you somehow
always knew was
waiting for you.
I spent this past weekend at Asilomar - a Monterey Bay area resort in the woods and among the sand dunes right on the edge of the Pacific. Several hundred of us gathered for "A Weekend with David Whyte". Whyte is my favorite of my favorite poets. The weekend included several sessions with him speaking, telling stories, and sharing his poetry and perspective. In addition, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, an Irish musician and poet (kind of a protégé of David's) was also there. There were periods of music with Mícheál and Charlotte - David's daughter - as well as with an Indian musician and an attendee who helped out at the piano at one point. Mícheál sang and also shared his own poetry with us on Saturday evening, which was stunning in its own right. Some people are just so talented!!
The setting is absolutely stunningly beautiful, as you can see. Technology use was possible, but not necessarily easy, and I mostly disconnected from the online experience for the weekend. Connecting with nature, people and words was all I needed. We had some sun ...
... and some gray clouds and rain. I walked in the walked in the woods, and I walked to the ocean several times. I met a lot of people, a couple of whom actually became friends over the course of those few days. I even picked up a pool cue again after a 15 year break, and played several games with one of the people I had met. And actually played reasonably well and won all 3 games. It was amazing and nourishing and I had a few moments in which I felt real inner peace. Something that has been in short supply for me in recent months
In some ways, Saturday evening was the most perfect part of the weekend for me. After dinner with interesting conversation, and then an hour or more of lovely poetry and music, I walked outside (around 9:00pm) and saw this. It literally stopped me in my tracks, it was so mesmerizing. The pics from my camera don't do it justice, but will always evoke in me that sensation of absolute beauty and calm that I felt - the sense that everything was in this moment, the future, the past, and the present, the whole of life, and the world, and the cosmos.
I leave again tomorrow morning, this time to the airport in Boston, then on to Bergen, Norway where my friend and I will join the Viking Shores and Fjords cruise. This is our 3rd attempt to take this trip (cancelled by Viking in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid) so we are excited!
And stay turned, because there will be lots more to come over the next 3 months or so. As with the first part of this journey starting in January, I won't be posting every day, but will when I have things to share (and, while in Europe at least, while I have wifi available!).
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