"Close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and think, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." --Dorothy
"Be Gentle," the sounds roll off of the flicking tongues of others.
"Be Gentle ~ with yourself," the words reflect in their lovely visages.
Yes, it is hard.
This journey.
This pushing and pulling, through space and time,
the grasping and clawing,
the hoping and crying.
It isn't easy. Even when you're trying with all your might,
to go with the flow, to follow synchronicity and to simply
trust.
Yes - flow shouldn't require a great output of energy.
Flow, ideally, is the result of natural forces
simply
expanding and contracting,
molding and forming,
bending and aligning,
falling, in and out of place,
with grace and ease.
Over and over again.
However, we live in a world wildly careening out of control.
We exist in a construct in which force
against the planet under foot
and against the nature found within
is coerced and manipulated,
is twisted and turned
placed under lock and key
and distilled into a marketplace economy.
For too long now, the swinging pendulum
has madly tilted in one direction.
Like the pirate ship at a local fair,
we took our complacent seats on the same side
of a large, rocking boat. Its soothing lull, like
a babe in the manger, rocked us right into a sleep-walking
repose. We have become scarecrows.
Only, for too long now, our static pole has been
maniacally perched upon a sharp 45 degree angle.
For too long now, we have been peering down upon
a brink,
an edge, a critical point beyond which either
catastrophe or success lay.
The balance we all seek
the equilibrium we all hope for
and the middle ground where we each can meet
peacefully, equally,
and justly
is here, now.
However, it does require the turbulence
and turmoil of a scary, Earth-shaking counter-swing.
Before we find our neutral starting place, once again, we must first
let go
and experience the fear-inducing upswing
of righting ourselves.
We must first allow for
the fantastically momentous swing
back in the other direction.
During these tragically beautiful times, our mistakes are plentiful.
For we only know the ledge we have been perched upon -
it has been our comfortable view for the duration of our middle class, American lives.
As the G-Force takes over and we begin to free fall
we lash out, we try to grab at a vanishing phantom. We slash at the air and the others around us.
We hurt, and we get hurt.
We try to hang on
to what has come before
to a modern, 20th century era of technological advancement and capitalist dominance.
Only, what once appeared as the firm lines and right angles of
a carved ship has simply always been
a mirage.
There is no firm hand-hold outside of ourselves to hold onto to,
there is no safety net
there is no easy exit off of this carnival ride.
There is only the discovery
of illusion
of a maze of mirrors
and a talking head behind a screen.
There is only the recognition
of ride-operators and builders,
of parts and systems,
of a machine playing itself out.
The fountain of freedom can collectively be drank from
only when we each set ourselves FREE
and shakingly return
back to a middle ground
where every voice and body,
and each living entity is equal
in weight and value.
"I'm gonna free fall
out into nothing,
I'm gonna leave this
world for awhile." --Tom Petty
