This little image is something I created for the Vashon Wilderness Program. Today is a perfect late winter day -- dry, cold (but not too cold), and quiet. I began the morning as I often do, turning off the electric fence and letting the chickens out into the garden, checking the hen house for eggs (one already!), and then heading up to the wood pile to split some wood for a fire. I love hearing the morning sounds of the birds, and glimpsing the changing light of sunrise. The work of swinging that axe and guessing how the wood will respond as the blade sinks in feels good.
Life continues as a mystery. Two days ago, the amazing Mathias family who has lived and farmed here for the past two years or so, moved on to northeast Oregon to begin a new chapter in their lives. We have our own move from Vashon in the summer. The months stretch open before us. Surely there will be more to it than continuing to winnow our possessions, tending chickens, browsing the garden for lunch and dinner, making and tending fires and baking and cooking in and on the wood cookstove? And being together. But then I think, why does there need to be anything more?
The kids fight, but then they play together or hang outside with the chickens for hours. They have different methods of scooping up hens and carrying them around. They've finally managed to teach me to tell Bluestar and Sleeve Eater apart. They know the exact tone color of each hen's eyes, and how each hen sticks her claws out (or in) when she is held. The core routines for nature awareness development that programs like Wilderness Awareness School and the Vashon Wilderness Program practice are there naturally (as they are meant to be) with my daughters and their
love of the chickens: secret spot, fox walk, sense meditation, storytelling, thanksgiving, questioning, bird language, ecology awareness, and so on.
Our observations, interests, and reading lead us to sewing and story making projects. Family birthdays and celebrations inspire us to be imaginative in honoring our loved ones and the things that are important to them. Work around the house, in the garden, and with the chickens, grounds us in daily and seasonal rhythms, and leads outward to encompass just about any "subject" you can think of, into community, and deeply into the heart of our nature. In this kind of life we don't need "programs" to nourish our whole beings. Social, intellectual, emotional, and creative deepening emerges from the simple business of life -- our first teacher! Truly, do we need anything more?
Perhaps no. But we are human beings with longings, passions, and responsibilities. For me, longings drive me into "less". At this point, my life is very simple (I gave up driving three years ago and you wouldn't believe how much that simplified my life!), and my inner life is a multitude (visit my website!). Even though I've shed a good percentage of my personal possessions, I still feel that too much of my energy is ineffectively bound up in the care of our house (which is large, and no longer reflects our internal terrain of what we need in a shelter and home!). This weekend we move into our 24' diameter yurt, and will begin to focus our living there. Our house, of course, will remain, bountifully holding all the possessions that we don't deem necessary for our more focused living, but my thought (hope!) is that honing to our essentials in a living space more reflective (perhaps!) of our personal values will help us discern what we truly love and are delighted to carry with us, and what no longer serves us, and which can now move on.
To be continued!
Additions To My Web Site
As I continue to plow through everything I own -- as well as through all my computer files! -- I've been adding chunks of material to Forest Halls. Visit there for more details, but additions include a brief run of a music webzine for young harp players, a webbook, and miscellaneous articles and music arrangements. My imagination has ranged far and wide in the past nine years, so I'm also beginning to attempt to weave all those ideas together into a cohesive whole.
Oh, and have I mentioned that I'm having a radical sale of my CD's? Please visit my website and give it a good browse!
