PERSPECTIVE: A Pathway
Witness the mystical transformation of a village
and its people.
Experience an immersive journey
as the main character.
Explore the essence and practices of shifting perspective and of ultimately coming alive.
Excerpt from Perspective
The morning is cold. Much colder than it’s been. The air hangs heavy and wet far below freezing. Sparkling hoarfrost commands the tips of trees and fence posts like a punishing hand. There is no breeze, not even a little, and the world seems even more hostile because of it. It’s been a warm, enduring autumn. The kind of autumn where iced tea and fresh tomatoes still have a seat at the table, and afternoon heat oozes through the air nudging one last, long linger on the porch. But quickly now, autumn has pulled into itself, deepening its own inhale, and surrendered the canvas to winter.
Standing at the back door, barefoot and braced with determination, hands wrapped around a steaming cup of chamomile tea, two bags, not one, you step outside, breath-fug out-steaming the tea, and you shiver. It is hard to deny the allure of freezing fog in winter, despite the chill to bone. There is a mystery to it, and magic. A warm presence calling from in between the thick, moist air, ‘Hunker down,’ it says, “and listen deeply.”
You've begun to do so. And the disquiet has been...loud. You have noticed a furor of thoughts, yours, and input from people in your life; family and friends, friends of friends, friends of their friends, doctors and specialists, and reams of hundreds of anecdotes and stories and any and all manner of feedback given to you since the diagnosis. You have found one note of ringing clarity amidst the noise, a guidepost, an intention – a desire to get near to that warm presence. And you have already begun to do so.
Stepping onto the frozen toes of winter, you kneel, placing the tea down beside you, and splay your bare hands upon the earth. With a quick inhale-exhale, you close your eyes and begin whispering gratitudes. Less than a minute passes before winter snaps at you, and you pull back, grab your tea, and quickly shelter inside.
Others might laugh at this ritual – putting bare skin on the earth at first light, proclaiming gratitude, and admonish that touching the ground and whispering to the air isn't going to cure cancer – but you are dedicated to seeing it through. Besides, your path isn't just about curing cancer. You want healing too. Even more, you want true living, a new relationship with yourself, your life; quiet, intimate, unhurried. You are motivated to reclaim where you place your mind....And this technique, ancient and beneficial in numerous ways, reminds you of this – I step forward into a new state of being where I am aligned, coherent, and healthy. It might be a slow process but it feels like true medicine.
The herald of dawn chirps from the lowest branch of a nearby pine tree. Soon its brethren will awake and a chorus will follow. From inside, you turn your face to the sky and close your eyes once again, “Blessed is this beautiful day that I may truly live....”