“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.” – Herman Hesse
I’ve been thinking about the begats lately.
When I was a kid – and bored beyond belief in church – I would ramp the pain up further by forcing myself to read the Bible’s endless litany of lineage. Where that particular aspiration came from I’ll never know.
I do know this. I never lasted very long. Much wiggling on the hard pew would commence.
Mom would try to quell my restlessness with yet another Scotch mint. If that didn’t work she had an eye-stinging ability to pinch and twist the soft back of my arm until I sat still. To this day I have a strong aversion to anything that reeks of fake mint.
But back to those begats.
I’m still not sure why they were a necessary inclusion in the Good Book, but I do know, that like dominoes, setting one thing in motion quickly begats the next.
For instance…if I’m having a bad day, displaying my nasty self or even just thinking disgruntled impatient and less-than-compassionate thoughts…surprise! I have set ugliness in motion and I will most likely begat a rude reaction. The world will fulfill what I project.
Conversely, when I’m feeling content, secure with my own self…guess what? The world sends me all sorts of love and, even when it doesn’t, somehow it slides off of me like I’m coated in Teflon.
Begats work on a smaller and more concrete scale as well. On our recent trip to Arizona, one of my friends bought me some chunky coral beads. When I got home, I looked at my drawer filled with tangled necklaces, extracted two of them, went to a bead shop where I deconstructed, and then reconstructed, all of the mess into one fabulous necklace.
This begat the inspiration to come home and deal with the messy drawer which begat the need to sort out all my earrings and toss what was lost and start a small box for future new creations. This is all great, and very necessary, stuff to do before we move to our downsized apartment at the end of the month.
But perhaps the true beginning of this particular creative and organizational begatedness, started back at the stupa in Sedona. I hiked to the stupa twice. Each time I felt a profound peace and spaciousness while sitting in the large silence. The hot wind made the pines sigh while the chimes sang discordant, yet perfect, brassy songs. The crunch of the gravel as people walked around the stupa sounded like wave-rolled-pebbles on a tidal beach.
All of it combined to remind me of the soft space around each moment.
It reminded me too, that I need to quit putting off creative projects that make me happy. And that each time I follow through on something, it begats a lovely new cleared space, both physical and emotional.
This begat the knowledge that there is enough time.
I simply have to choose not to fill it with busy-ness, but instead with something that nourishes and begats more beauty in my world.
Here’s a little video of some of that melodic Sedona silence…
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Lovely video, Colleen. Watching and listening to the prayer flags reminded me that I still haven’t hung the string of 108 I brought back from Bhutan April of last year. I was also reminded of the lovely sound of the prayer wheels ringing, whether turned by people or water. How wonderfully peaceful it would be to have a lovely place like that to visit regularly. I’ll have to remember it if I ever make it to Sedona.
Sharry, I’d definitely recommend visiting the site if you’re ever in Sedona. Meanwhile, is there some nearby trees where you could sneak in and hang all those flags? Kind of like those guerilla knitting projects 🙂
The visit convinced me that I need to find a sanctuary like that in Vancouver, preferably outside. Somewhere I could regularly visit and regroup. I used to have something like that in my back yard in Sechelt but now that we’re in the city, I am looking for something both outside, private and somehow sacred…Hmmm…I’ll keep you posted on that project!
A lovely, peaceful blog, Colleen.
We could use more Silence in Sedona messages on our devices.
Thanks Steve…glad you enjoyed the moment. It was a very beautiful and calming place.
oh i am so there with you! i have been putting aside the “shoulds” that my ego has lined up for me daily and instead begin “working” on the creative things that open my spirit to wonder and joy instead of anxiety and stress. the big question i have is why does that voice in our head take so much to silence?
Barb. I think the reason it takes so much work to silence that voice is because it’s had free rein in our heads for our whole lives! Time to take back the brain 🙂 I just keep repeating one word to myself, “R-E-L-A-X”.