On the Edge of a Precipice

As I stood on the edge of the precipice and looked down, I felt as the Ancestors might have felt when gazing upon this vision for the very first time.  It wasn't anything that could be felt by seeing it on a big screen TV, nothing that could be absorbed by seeing it on a picture postcard that's hanging on a rack in the city.  It's nothing that can be felt without a person putting one foot in front of the other, straining over rocks and deadfall for over ten hours, and coming to rest at the top of the peak by sheer leg and willpower.

Looking out over miles upon miles of rugged mountain peaks, many that are not as high as the one underfoot, I see the sight that the First People might have seen, if they dared venture up into these ancient upheavals of the earth's crust.

It was not that it was a mere sight to behold, but the fact that to get there I had just spent ten hours getting to know the spirit of this mountain.  Yes, there are much bigger mountains and many more knee-shaking precipices (precipie?), but from this day forward I knew that I would look upon this intersection of latitude and longitude, as a very special place.

I did not drive an automobile to the top, buy a t-shirt, and drive back down jumping in and out of the car for snapshots, all in the span of ninety minutes while giving nothing up except twenty dollars admission and 6 gallons worth of liquid air pollution.  No...one cannot truly feel and be one with the spirit of the ancient peak if they are separated from the Earth by rubber and concrete and are housed in a climate controlled environment the entire time.  It must be experienced by one physical step at a time. to feel the sun upon your back as you lift and place and lift and place your feet on the body of the mountain.  You must feel it breathe as the trees sway one way and then the other, with Nature's rhythm.  You must hear it speak as the Jays accompany you on parts of your trek, sqwawking overhead, and the Picas chatter while skittering to and from their burrows in the rocks.  You become one with Her as the sweat from your brow falls to mix with the surface of Her skin.  All the while, you slowly become one with Her while gaining more insight on, and more respect for, this living, breathing being we call Earth. 

The Paper Dragon

by DPR

Torches burning left and right,
smell of Pinion through the night.
Dragon guards the crystal ball,
that holds the dreams of one and all.

Dare to step into the lair
and thee will find it waiting there.
Prepared to rip thy flesh from bone,
and leave thee in a heap…alone.

What hope exists, to gaze into
that glass that keeps your soul from you?
The soul that is thy destiny?
The soul that is the heart of thee!

With ease you might just turn away
to plunder through another day.
To let thy fear consume thyself
and keep your life upon the shelf.

So few with choose the other way.
Not to run…but turn, and stay.
To walk with head held high and free
towards open-ended destiny.

 Throughout your life you’ve felt the drain
and now your “self” you wish to claim.
“You’ll never win!” the voices shout.
But you step forth….your fate in doubt.

 The crowd moves back to let you through,
while secretly they want it too.
They heave a sigh, a heavy groan
but stay within their comfort zone.

 You stride ahead alone towards doom,
when just beyond, you see a room.
No movement sensed, no sounds of yet,
But still you feel a drip of sweat.

 Creeping forth, you take a peek.
The air around you starts to reek.
The smell of Fear, you know its game.
The creature’s here…you see the flame.

 The dragon roars, and fire he spits…
Your sweat now runs in rivulets.
The heat is strong, the noise intense.
You tell yourself you’ve lost all sense.

But still you step, though slower now.
You’ve gone this far…and wonder how.
Besides by Fear, you’ve not been touched.
You see the ball that the talons clutch.

 Between those claws…an arc of light.
Inside the ball…your soul, you sight.
Something wells inside your heart,
you vow you shall not be apart.

 Moving forward, now you run.
Knowing this can’t be undone.
You’ve seen the light, the other side,
and now there’s no place left to hide.

 So armed with truth and strength of will
you move in close…to die…or kill.
When all at once, the globe floats free
from the claws of captivity.

 It hovers close, this crystal sphere,
to take you in…and out of here.
You raise a doubtful hand aloft,
to touch the ball with light so soft.

When suddenly the torches light
is far below, as you take flight.
The glow surrounds you, holding fast,
as you are brought to earth, at last.

The light goes out, but not apart.
It’s still inside your beating heart.
And there it stays forever bright,
to guide you through the dark of night.

By day, before, you’ve never seen
a sky so blue, nor earth so green.
And though the rain comes sometimes through,
the master of your life is you.

And of the dragon roaring loud?
He still tends to his frightened crowd,
with noise and flame, but ne’er a fight
to keep them cowering in the night….

until the time another’s faith
steps forth against the paper wraithe….

The Necessity of Adventure....

What can I say? It's necessary....

Is it a guy thing? A Scorpio thing?

An everybody thing?


Do we all crave some sort of adventure but some of us just keep it inside? Why do we keep it inside? Is it not socially acceptable to crave something outside of the normal? If I express a desire to take a hiatus and go on an adventure, it is met with criticism, or "Good luck with that..." type statements. Why? Why are people not encouraged to at least follow these feelings once or twice in a lifetime? We wait all year so we can take 2 weeks off, and try to make it an adventure, but at the same time make it relaxing (all-inclusive, Apple Vacations...). Then it's back to work (don't forget to have that vacation logged correctly WEEKS before you go, or you get a little "talking to" by the powers that govern PTO).

I took a vacation a couple years ago from an unamed corporation (at which I will never work again, even if they are the last corporation on earth to be hiring). I decided to drive to Pennsylvania, from Colorado, and take about 4 days to do it. I figured that will give me some sort of reasonable facsimile of an adventure. I could stop anytime I wanted. I didn't have to follow a schedule for anyone. Sure...I kept family informed of where I was so no one freaked out like when they don't know anything about what's going on. BUT...I had to be reachable by "work" because there wasn't anyone there that could do exactly what I do there. By being "reachable", apparently that meant being on conference calls for about 8 hours a day through the whole trip. To make a long story short, that sort of sucked the life out of the sense of adventure. I became one of those people I abhor....wearing a bluetooth...walking through a store, restaurant, bathroom, anything....talking to some invisible person or persons, on the other end. It's a sign of the times, people say...so get used to it. I don't want to get used to it. I wish there wasn't anyone at all that wanted to get used to it. My body literally rejects things like Bluetooths. Seriously. I can't even keep it in my ear. It is slowly forced out by the resistance my cells have to electronic technology being attached to them in any way. I have to hold it in with my hand. It is a bit silly to own a piece of technology that frees up your hands, only to have to hold it on my ear....with my hand.

But anyway...adventure. That trip was a bust.

I think one of the issues these days is that people are not progressing as fast as society is progressing. We still have our primitive instincts, very near the surface. They haven't evolved out of us as quickly as society says they should have. So....I can't speak for everyone, but for myself I know that in some cases it becomes painful to maintain this level of acceptability that seems to be expected. My answer is to live alone, and live near the wilderness, so that I can come home and go outside...walk a trail...listen to the animals...breathe... I don't know how I would live without this grounding time. What does one do when they truly feel different and out of place?

I'm guessing that we are here to at least be happy in some way. We supposedly can choose the lives that we want. Why do we choose what we choose? Some choose exactly what they want to do and are ecstatic every day. Some don't. Some wonder what else there is...or is there anything else? Best not to think TOO much about it, right? It could mess up the system as it is. Don't rock the boat. Nothing's perfect, so decide what you can accept, and go with it. Life is not a bowl of cherries. Life is not all pudding and Nilla Wafers.

Adventure...I guess that's a personal thing. Some can get their adventure from a book. Some, from a complicated software project.

Mine has to be something physical. Touch, hear, smell, taste, see.....

I'm glad we don't evolve to our surroundings in one lifetime, because when I die, I don't want to have spindly legs, a big flat butt, eyes as big as saucers, and skin that is as white as new snow, and just as fragile. A life of computers would not make a person a very pretty example of evolution.

Karma...

Karma....noun - The cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deed in the previous incarnation.
Or at least that's what one definition claims. There was too much to type, and it seems that one cannot copy and paste into this blog.

Anyway, I wonder alot about Karma. Really alot. I wonder if I had done some bad things in a previous life that cause some of the trials and tribulations that seem to follow me. Or is that just a product of making my own reality? I wonder about Karma because, in this life (if you believe in the possibility of reincarnation), I know I have done things that I completely regret. Things that hurt others both physically and emotionally. Now maybe that's just a normal part of life. Who's perfect? No one. But at what point do those things start counting against you on your Bad Karma scale? Perhaps can it be that normal bad behavior on occasion is not even counted, but extreme bad behavior is? Lying? Robbery? Murder? Is there a Karma line?

I do as much as I can to be a good person, but I still do crap that I end up regretting. Or I still make a bad choice based on something it shouldn't have been based on. So then I add that to my mental list of things I probably have to make up for, in the meantime. Unless I haven't crossed that Karma line and I'm still safe.

If there ISN'T a Karma line and EVERYTHING counts....then I'm in trouble. I don't know how any human being can make up for all of those. And I wonder...is there an age where things start counting against your Karma? Things that can be classed as something that will "bring you bad Karma"?

How does one balance the things that may bring bad Karma with things that may make up for them? There's no book on whether helping someone push start a car will make up for a lie about being sick when you are really out golfing. Or maybe the being sick thing doesn't even rate as a strike against you. But then....does push starting someone's car give you a gold star? Silver? Bronze, maybe?

And what about when someone does something that truly hurts you or those you love? Do you take it on good faith that Karma will come back to get them? Do you "get em back" and then Karma still whacks them later? Or would that be doing Karma's job and you mess up the system that way? Do you "take the high road" and not "stoop to their level" and know that what "goes around, comes around"?

If a friend of yours gets hurt (the hurtee) and the one that caused the hurt (the hurter) happens to get punched for it, will Karma still get 'im? Or is getting punched actually Karma in action?

So....do we each actually have the ability to be the vessel with which Karma enacts it's balance on someone? Good OR bad?

This kind of thing can be very contradictory and additionally....confusing. And I used to think all of this long before "My Name is Earl" was a twinkle in Cable TVs eye.

When it (2012) all comes (2012) crashing down (2012)....or up (2012)....or out (2012)?

Well....word has it that the world, as we know it, will end on December 21st, 2012 (12212k12.net).

The Mayan calendar says so. Who are the Mayans? They are of a Mesoamerican people, known for fully developed written language, art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Another website can tell you more if you want to know.

Here...I am just wondering what it all means?

I am wondering if I should go get one of the new car deals that have 2 years, no interest, no payments. By the time the bills come due....the Mayan calendar will have run out. But if I go to bed and wake up and it's Dec 22nd, then my car gets repossessed, I have a dozen 55 gallon drums full of sugar and salt, 7 years worth of toothpaste and hand soap, and more lima beans than a sane person should have. There would also be that huge assortment of canned items that get pushed back into the cupboard as I bought more of the things I really eat from day to day, in normal life. When food runs out that December, and I think I have enough canned goods to last a lifetime, I will see that I will now exist on beets, stewed tomatoes, lima beans, spam, sardines that I won't remember buying, a dozen zip lock bags of broken and stale taco shells, and maybe a few cans of those little round white onions that I learned when I were 8 years old, are not easy to hide in a glass of milk since they float and don't sink, but I knew very little about relative densities at age 8.

So, I know people that did all of the hoarding and stocking up for Y2K. A few even bought shotguns and hid them up in the ceiling so that on New Year's Day, after everyone sobered up, they could protect themselve from other hangover laden persons that came and kicked the door in to confiscate every can of chicken broth they could find. Everyone has a few of those in the back of a pantry, right? I'll bet even beets taste better in chicken broth. Anyway...those people still have most of their Y2K stuff. Of course...the batteries are dead, the sugar and salt are overrun with little crawly things, they forget where they hid the shotguns, and they are on the verge of death anyway from eating ten years worth of those freeze dried camping foods that have about 2500 grams of sodium per serving, rather than admit they were a bit quick on the draw for buying them in the first place.

At the rate I am personally going, I will have more than enough cans of unusual vegetables to barter with as people stream through town looking for a television station or someone in charge or gasoline or chicken broth. I'm not sure what they will have to trade.

But I hope it's Twinkies.