THE LIGHTING WILL

Well, it's late again. Somehow, the day got away from me. That doesn't feel like a bad thing, though.

I was doing some "visualization" work with my friend C, who studies shamanism. C and I have known each other for coming up to thirty years. Our life paths have been different and yet we repeatedly find ourselves approaching many of the same issues, spiritually and emotionally and maybe professionally, from profoundly different directions.  We find we have much to share.

One of the things that drives me, sometimes to madness, in life is the (eternal) search for epiphany and serendipity. The meanings of epiphany down the list are

 — an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being;
 — a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; 
 — intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking;
— an illuminating discovery:
— a revealing scene or moment;


Experiences of epiphany when reading The New Yorker are the main reason I am loathe to throw them away until I have thoroughly perused them, and very often read from cover to cover. In my grasping mind and heart, to not search in those reliable pages is to throw away a chance for some enlightenment. Knowledge or understanding of something heretofore not fully apprehended. And joy.

As for serendipity

— the faculty of of phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for;


That fits in just right with epiphany. I mentioned to C today that it rather like addiction, always looking for the best, next, highest high. I love to get excited about something I found, a book, some music, a poem, an object, and then I love to share my excitement and enthusiasm. This is at least a part of my clutter problem. Looking for the epiphany and serendipity. Nothing left behind.

My image today was of holding on to lighting, or trying to. That bolt and flash of finding or discovering. And when the focus is all on the lighting, the consciousness and perspective do not take into account the thunder. The other effects of the lightning, the entire phenomenon.

Okay, showing my grey-hair roots, this reminds me of G. Dead song, The Wheel. (It's kind of a turgid song. And this version is long. And Donna sings, so that's usually an issue, too.) Here is a link to the lyrics. Oh, here's another version,

You can't go back
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you
then the lightning will,