[audio:fire.mp3]
(This post has been drafted right before the disastrous fires in California. For some reason I felt I should publish later. Now we know… This is not meant to take lightly what is happening, but to reflect on a different level what is always there and all too easily being overlooked).
In ancient times people used to dignify the natural elements we are confronted with, mostly in the shape of gods and goddesses.
I feel there is a lack of this approach in our times, even if there’s no way of returning to ancient practice. We should honor from time to time what is mightier than us and lies at the base of our existence. Fire is an elemental force, at the same time warming, delivering energy, and threatening. A sense of this, which has been very lively in our ancestors, still lives on in every one of us.
Destructive forces are part of the perfect whole, aren’t they? Though it is often very hard for us to accept that side of the whole with our limited human viewpoint.
i often think of that in times of disaster (and easier to say of course, when it’s not directly affecting me) but how it’s mother earth kicking back, that we’ve worn her down, that our eviction notice is coming due.
and that isn’t to make light of the fires, either – at least two of my friends lost their homes last week, the personal horrors and destruction are overwhelming for so many.