I love this photo. I read the message on the sign and it sounds really scary! And then I see the herons and other birds resting peacefully there (click photo to enlarge). Yes, there is danger. This sign is on a dam and the waters are released from time to time. I imagine that the birds are in complete rhythm with this. They are aware and watchful. They know how to handle the danger with the greatest of ease. And they have found a way to rest right at the mouth of danger. After all, the fishing is good there!
I know that we live in tumultuous, perhaps even dangerous, times. I spent several years, not only in deep grief about this, but in panic. I felt an urgency to “prepare” for certain collapse, and I gathered with like-minded folks. There came a point, however, when the urgency, the fear, the watching of the stock market like watching a football game play by play, no longer made sense to me. I decided that I could not live that way. So I took a step away and then inward. I began meditating as a way of quieting the panic and getting deeply grounded. And I took a step outside myself to something bigger than me and the story of collapse, as a way of opening and expanding. Yes, certainly collapse is all around us, and something bigger than collapse, too. So, I attempt to remain aware and watchful, like the birds. And I am learning to rest right at the mouth of danger, as the birds teach me to do. Maybe one of those violent surges will overtake me at some point, but I won’t live in fear of that, rather I’ll continue my dance with Impermanence, and just maybe I’ll find a way to flow along with that surge. Meanwhile, the fishing is good.
