Life on the Edge

Now that spring is here the cute echidna has come out of hibernation and can be seen sauntering along in its hungry way looking to terrify any ant colony she finds. A walk along the “Peace?” path reveals upheaved ground where sharp claws and a pointy snout have wrecked havoc on the peaceful ants who, until the echidna’s devastating visit, were simply going about tending to their community’s needs in their highly organised and well thought out manner.

When the marauding echidna brings catastrophe to the ants, how long before they regain sufficient hope to rebuild what was lost? When an earthquake levels a village how long before the villagers find sufficient courage to pile stone upon stone again to wall out danger?

It is not possible to live forever safely out of harm’s way. One can, though, learn to appreciate the terrifying teaching beauty of earth’s awesome intricacies.

And in spring’s profusion of colour, what of the sweet lives of the bees who dart daringly and innocently from flower to flower?

Black Bear in the Orchard

Mary Oliver

Maintain: to continue, persevere in; to carry on, keep up; to keep in being; to sustain by nourishment.

Maintenance: the action of maintaining.

The interesting thing, for me, is that the etymology of “maintain” is rooted in the Latin “hand” (manus) plus “to hold” (tenere). Again and again the physical world is the basis for our present day language. Seemingly forgotten in the abstraction of modern living, it is there none-the-less.

Yesterday, in order to keep the Peace Spiral in good nick, I spent the day living up to the fullness of this word “maintenance”. Once, when I was at the top of the ladder reaching a bit too far with the oiling brush and the wind came up and blew my hat off, a touch of vertigo set in and I dropped the brush and held onto the ladder with both hands. I little scary, yes, maintaining myself while maintaining the Peace Spiral.  Lots of hands on action and lots of holding on.

There is, also, in this discussion of the word “maintenance”, whether or not there is within artistic creativity the requirement that one’s art work be maintained. Is it enough to bring something into being and then abandoning it?

I suppose I could have left the Peace Spiral to turn grey and weather gracefully, but I also understood that a good oiling now would prolong its life for another 100 years, thereby, allowing countless more visitors to be inspired and feel hopeful of the future.

The question I like to ask is, “how does one maintain or sustain a healthy emotional and spiritual life?”. The answer might lie in one’s ability to literally grasp hold of the physical.

Feeling down, massage someone.
Feeling angry, chop wood.
Feeling depressed, hug a tree.
Feeling spacy or disconnected, bury your hands into the garden soil.

Yearning to be a more spiritual person? Take a walk in bare feet.

In an attempt to bring some energetic lightness and dance to the Peace Pole, there are now flags surrounding it fluttering their message of hope. Yesterday, I finished dying the twelve calico banners that my neighbor, Caroline, had kindly cut and sewn beforehand. The fun part in all of this was to take the cloth down to the ocean for a cold, salt water rinse to fix the dye. Playing with the fabric in the water and watching the several pieces flow with the movement of the waves like brightly colored kelp was a real treat as, normally, I deal in hard materials such as wood and stone. Late this afternoon, seeing them catch the last rays of the sun whilst they flapped wildly on their spinly bamboo poles encircling the Peace Pole, I couldn't help but feel a flicker of hope that, in this world gone mad with proving who can be more violent, compassion and tolerance will ultimately guide every politician's motive. It is hard to deny the flags' collective call for freedom. It is hard to deny their diversity of color. It is hard to deny their cheerfulness May peace prevail on earth.

Stationed between the Ancestral Midden and the Spiral of Hope, the Split Rock is a six ton hunk of stone sawn in two with each inside half polished. The symbolism of its initial concept was to make visual the dynamics behind the deep weathering of our personal character by the forces of life. When one is broken open repeatedly or when one's heart is cracked, buffed and polished by life's winds (whether through intense joy or sorrow) we can then age into maturity fully compassionate and able to demonstrate, as James HIllman would attest, "the force of character". To seek to protect oneself from pain and to live in the emotional gated community of perpetual comfort zones might seem to be an easy escape through life, but like the personality of the 70 year old who has had one facelift too many, one sleeping pill too many and one shopping trip too many, the wrinkled, compassionate elder that should have emerged to guide the younger generations into a fuller wisdom has disappeared into a pitiful joke. This morning as I walked past the Split Rock, the spiral symbol of perpetual hope and rebirth was reflected on the side of one of the two halves. In this dawn light, the penny dropped for me as I further realized that for any of us to perceive or grasp the future, it is imperative that we allow the winds of life to polish our hearts. In this way, the image of our future will be more clear and easier to foresee. I also liked that the reflected spiral image pointed in the direction of the Ancestral Midden, an area dedicated to honoring the past. It seemed to suggest that our ability to embrace the concept of living in the Long Now (of holding the past, present and future simultaneously) would require being an active participant in the shaping agents of life. By the time I returned for breakfast I had exhausted myself with too many thoughts.

If one wants to contemplate how the “Long Now” might be visualised, one need go no further than to look at this photo. During the month of June, while the sun nudges itself towards its northern most point along the horizon, the top most portion of the long evening shadow cast by the “Spiral in the Womb” passes over the pond and stops just to the right of the Ancestral Midden. After the winter solstice (June 21) it begins to move back towards the left of the photo until, six months later during the summer solstice period in December, it hovers by the Split Rock. With the Spiral representing the “future”, the Split Rock the “present” and the Ancestral Midden the “past”, the evening’s sun dial effect of the “future’s shadow” moving between the present and past, keeps the whole of the Peace Garden alive with its cyclic, clock work changes. I have always liked this slow journey of the shadow between the stones. What was a total surprise to me happened yesterday as I stood in front of the Ancestral midden while the Spiral and the setting sun were directly behind me on the far side of the pond. The shadow I cast over the midden stones was a double shadow; one from the direct rays of the sun, another from the sunlight bouncing off the mirrored, still waters of the pond. Almost eerie, yes? Rising up from the ancestral stones, the resultant shadow seems to be of an ancestral spirit wearing a chasuble or some other dark, sleeveless ecclesiastical vestment. To the right and in the raised hand of this chthonic figure is the shadowy spiral staff of the future, held firmly. I was tantalised and then became mesmerised by what I was seeing. Me, obviously “the present”, being sermonised by “the past” who is holding onto “the future”. Talk about lack of boundaries. Can you hear what I heard? Can your hear yourself being told to listen to the past to gain the wisdom in order to protect the future? Not the future of next week, but the future where your great, great, great, great grandchildren reside. Can you, at least, hear the Hallelujah Chorus?

Post Script........ After writing the above, I went over to the piano “to hum a few bars”. On top of the piano were these photos of my parents shown wearing the attire when my mother was the choir director of Detroit’s Serbian Orthodox church. Sleeveless vestments. anyone? Celestial music? I strongly believe that “in imagination is the preservation of the world”. By calling upon those who have passed before us for help and guidance, we can create a future that is not only safe from terrorism, but full of reverential gaiety and fearless enjoyment.