UPHILL IS DOWNHILL
UPHILL IS DOWNHILL when you know where you want to go.
Take this lake. It took hours of hiking, much of it uphill, to reach this destination. Although we had been here previously, many decades ago, after scrambling up the side of this mountain (with young children in tow) on narrow hiking paths, Samahria and I never forgot the invigorating scent of brisk mountain air, the serene view of the animals grazing by the water's edge, the majestic mountains - God's powerful architecture - in the distance. So, we have returned here over and over again, decade after decade. This time, we were only the two of us - my honey and me - like newly-minted teenagers holding hands, talking quietly as if at heaven's gate - laughing, delighting, suddenly silent as we looked at the planet on display in front of our eyes, and experienced the impossibility of this possibility, the step beyond time and space, that brought who we are and what we have ever been into such clear focus that we were here, very planted, and, at the same time, everywhere, very planted. The grass, the water, the snow on mountaintops, her hand in mine, my hand in hers.
Where am I now? All here. All here. Click.
Who am I now? I am the mountain. Click.
I am the clouds. Click.
I am the grazing animals. Click.
I am the lake, the water in the lake, the reflection of the light dancing in the lake. I am the moon. I am the stars. I am the sun. I am the mist and the morning dew. I am my beliefs of who I am.
It occurs to me that I am talking to myself out loud (and writing down my talk) as I stare at the photograph I snapped of a scene that has long disappeared in real time, but still remains dazzlingly alive in my time. My time? Your time? Do you know that we can be with each other any time because I have my alive time and you have your alive time?
What do you want to bring alive right now? Where are you? Who are you? Before you answer, remember time and space are only human concepts we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. You are here. You are there. You are anywhere and everywhere you think yourself to be. And, what do you want to bring alive right now? Where are you? Who are you?
Really, really - UPHILL IS DOWNHILL when you know where you want to go!