I once went with some guys to a Disney attraction called "Alien Encounters." It was very realistic about this hot-breathed alien winged monster that had accidentally been transported into the room, and then escaped the glass cylinder of the transporter. Your seat squashed down as it stepped on the top. You felt it's hot breath down your neck, accompanied by a spray of warm 'saliva.' I gripped the armrests of my seat and kept repeating, "This is Disney. It can't hurt you. This is Disney. It can't hurt you." Every sense in my body was telling me otherwise. Yet I endured, and could have gone a second time just for the joy of the science fiction made real.
Endurance: "Live today as if your dreams have come true. Don't give up and don't fall into the trap of why hasn't it happened yet."
Boy, am I at a point in my life where I really need this one! I have endured so much for so long. Medical school, a career that I had to put on hold until I could sort out the dysfunction in my personal life, an abusive long term relationship, loss of Dad when I most needed him, loss of Mom when I finally had arranged to be with her, cancer, a horrible work environment last year. Whew! Can I just go curl up in the corner for awhile? That is what I want to do when I think of it. Yet, I am starting work again in ten days. I have to finish Christmas cards. I have to pack, and get the clothes ready to pack. I have groceries to buy, other paperwork. So I must endure.
Skullcracker and I find ourselves talking about how to build wealth, buying a house. The past three years have been financial a real bust. I have had illness, he was struggling to get through school and use his excellent education in a more productive way.
Backpacking is like this. What kind of idiot would want to slog around with a 50 lb pack on his back? Yet, the reward is a view that few else have seen--the tarn tucked into a perfect cirque, the panorama from a mountain peak, dinner by a fire in the woods, the taste of trout fresh caught and pan-fried, the sense of accomplishment of having endured and being able not just to survive in a hostile environment, but actually thrive there. There was a book about a young man who ran away from home and lived by himself in the wilderness, My Side of the Mountain. How sad that he had to run so far! How powerful a growing experience! How lucky he was not to have died. I love to backpack, hike, camp, and I am so glad that I did it in my youth. Some of my best experiences of life have been in Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. A high school classmate of mine is a classical guitarist who writes and plays songs of the beautiful wild places of Montana. This is what Skullcracker and I both love about Montana.
Kali is an aspect of Parvati, the wife of Shiva. In Nepali, the couple to emulate are Shiva and Parvati. Parvati is the Daughter of the Mountain. She is absorbed into it and born again out from under it, with it's strength and endurance. She endures a lot out of Shiva, including beheading their son. Patiently she finds another head for him, and Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, is created. There is a statue of the city of Portland, Portlandia. I maintain that she is Parvati--so obviously a woman of great strength. She carries a trident, held away from here, a symbol of Shiva, her mate. Portland is born of Mount Hood, and has relationship with the sea. The symbol of the trident is associated in the West with Poseidon, God of the Sea. If one looks at Shiva and Poseidon, there is a lot of Shiva in Poseidon, but in the Greek version, the disavowment of the female is evident while in the Hindu version, Shiva eventually carries Parvati around with him after her death until her corpse rots into pieces. Rather gruesome for our Western sensibilities. But symbolically touchingly romantic. Poseidon remains the womanizing male. Yet the sea is our abyss of emotions: fear, love, anger, hurt, joy. Emotion is always stronger nearer the sea.
Another of my favorite songs is Dan Fogelberg's Netherlands. "High on this mountain, the clouds down below, I am feeling so strong and alive."
Mountains symbolize the meeting of challenges, the higher the mountain, the greater the challenge. Parvati is the perfect woman--what a high mountain for any of us to attain! Mountains are also where God dwells. He speaks to Moses at the top of the mountain. Moses sees the Promised Land from the top of a mountain. Jesus is crucified on top of a mountain. Mountaintops are sacred ground. It takes endurance to reach them, yet, in order to live there we must bring water. Thriving requires emotions, not just thought and endurance.
So head for the mountaintop--and save some room for a good size canteen.
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