Recently I had cause to pass through Sydney. I arrived by train and had five hours before my connecting train.
As I wandered the inner-city streets looking for somewhere to purchase dinner and to relax, I watched my fellow human beings. Many seemed stressed. Half of them seemed to have a mobile phone in their hands connected to ear-plugs. Others were in a hurry. And, it was noisy.
After a couple of hours I noticed my own sense of calmness begin to diminish, replaced by a rising uneasiness.
Then I noticed something, or more correctly, failed to notice something. I could not see the horizon.
Everywhere I looked were buildings, most of them high-rise. My view, if any, of the sky, was comprised of a narrow strip between the roof-lines of the buildings on either side of the street.
No horizon.
Where I’d come from earlier in the day I had always been able to see the line between sea and sky, or the outline of Ngali (Old Man Dreaming as the mountain range is known to the local Gumbaynggirr people.)
On any given day I could see the horizon.
I was struck by the thought: is our psyche, or our soul, nourished by the sight of the horizon? When we are able to see the boundary between Father Sky and Mother Earth are we, somehow, more grounded in who we are and what we are part of?
Whether it be a fairly continuous line, as between sea and sky, or one that is fractalised, such as by trees and mountains, the horizon always calls to us.
The horizon calls us to notice our Sky Father and our Earth Mother. The horizon calls us to remember our links to sky, to sea, to forest, to mountain. The horizon calls us to seek our soul, especially at the time of day when the sun dips below the western horizon. The west is metaphorically the place where we enter the darkness and the mysteries of soul.
Then, in the morning, the sun rises above the eastern horizon, bringing brightness, wonder, and frivolity to our lives.
As I write this the sun has set in the city, but I did not notice it – because I cannot see the horizon.
So, next time you gaze at the horizon, give thanks that you can, and listen to how it calls you.
Reflections, commentaries, critiques and ideas from 40 years experience in the fields of Community Development, Community Education and Social Justice. Useful tools and techniques that I have learnt also added occassionally.
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The name of this blog, Rainbow Juice, is intentional.
The rainbow signifies unity from diversity. It is holistic. The arch suggests the idea of looking at the over-arching concepts: the big picture. To create a rainbow requires air, fire (the sun) and water (raindrops) and us to see it from the earth.
Juice suggests an extract; hence rainbow juice is extracting the elements from the rainbow, translating them and making them accessible to us. Juice also refreshes us and here it symbolises our nutritional quest for understanding, compassion and enlightenment.
The rainbow signifies unity from diversity. It is holistic. The arch suggests the idea of looking at the over-arching concepts: the big picture. To create a rainbow requires air, fire (the sun) and water (raindrops) and us to see it from the earth.
Juice suggests an extract; hence rainbow juice is extracting the elements from the rainbow, translating them and making them accessible to us. Juice also refreshes us and here it symbolises our nutritional quest for understanding, compassion and enlightenment.
Monday, 2 December 2019
The Horizon Calls
Labels:
Environment,
Mindfulness,
Nature,
Psychology,
Soul,
Spirituality,
Well-being
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