Leaving the hat at the rock...

Heading back to the other world 24 hours from now.

I just took a walk through the plain towards the mountains to the East. I didn't make it to the mountain. I had a strong feeling that something else was there - it told me to go away. It was a strong sense of something present and that didn't want to have to tell me twice.

It is a part of the area that becomes a dead-end to the South of a massive valley system. You can climb over it but I never made it - or simply chose the wrong paths. I can do that.

I thought I heard a low growl to accompany the instruction but that was almost certainly my imagination - or possibly the wind in the rocks.

Imprinted on my mind will be the tiniest things as I head out of Dodge. The simplest things.

For example. 

There is no real desert (if we are meant to believe that that word suggests a paucity of things).  Only quite the opposite. Being in such a seemingly desolate place inspires the most rich and elevated state of the all the senses. This hasn't surprised me because of all we get told about such things. But to experience it has been one of the most amazing things I've ever done. Ever.

I have been more short on things to do and think about in London.

I didn't come here to see animals or plants or geology. I came to get away from anything predictable or arranged in any way. I didn't come here to find myself or some inner peace. I didn't come with anything but an open mind as to what to find and so it found me.

I don't expect the visual specialness of this place to survive long in my world but the sharp reminders they have given me will surely live on.

Some of the things this place rammed home to me:

• Get some sense of space back inside your head to even allow yourself to look, let alone think.
• Walk around and take those other perspectives much more seriously. Things can begin to look a whole lot closer and further and different. And as a result they will definitely tell you things you never knew.
• Always have a good quality tyre guage handy. Even when drinking coffee.
• Just because you are part of a system, and may even have voted for it, don't feel you can't kick up a good storm.
• Remember that even in surprising places something vibrant and long lasting can grow up and survive. Don't begrudge the occasional Pygmy Falcon.
• Listen to the energy that is all around you. If you hear nothing then you are either dead or you need a hearing aid.
• Leave the hat at the shack by the rock. You will look utterly ridiculous at the airport with 400 others.

Posted via email from Just Thinking!