Thursday, September 23, 2010
Light and Shadow
Recently, I drove into the mountains to see if the aspen were turning. As you may know, the area west of Boulder recently suffered a devastating fire--this was the area we crossed to get to our destination. We saw destruction everywhere--homes left with only foundations and chimneys remaining, cars now blackened shells--even a fire truck and several school busses were transformed to dark skeletons.
But--after we passed through this area of desolation, we came to the aspen, luminous in their autumn glory. We traveled a golden avenue, with trees in full bloom on either side--and moreover, we were the only car on the road. How lucky we were, I thought, to arrive just at this moment of turning--a few days before, a few days after--the scene would not have been the same.
Furthermore, the weather was perfect. The sun suffused the leaves with radiant light from behind, turning each into an iridescent pendant of gold.
When we reached the Rocky Mountain National Park, we saw many elk gathered for their annual mating ritual. We did not observe the ritual itself (that comes later after dark), but we (and several others) watched in amazement as these glorious animals grazed below, oblivious to their human audience, and often raising their heads to "bugle," a sound that resembles a trilling flute more than a bellow.
The contrast of the these scenes (one of death and destruction, the others suggesting rebirth and life continuing) caused me to reflect on how the dark and the light, the shadow and the joy, death and resurrection, are always part of the same reality. Many systems of thought tell us that we cannot know the one without the other--no pleasure comes without its own necessary tears (perhaps later, yet part of the same process). Likewise with our Kundalini journey--we may experience extreme ecstasy, but pain often intermingles with our joy.
And so with our world today--there is great grief and suffering for many on the planet, and many disasters and calamities of various kinds are occurring with disturbing frequency--but intense transformation is also happening, as the world disintegrates and reconstructs itself at the same time.
I, like many, believe we are moving toward the "tipping point", when swift change will occur (2012?) I also believe that Kundalini is an essential part of this process, and that as the vibrational frequency of self and planet moves to a higher level, we are better prepared for the great shift that is to come and is in fact arriving even now.
