Observing the Reflection of the World
I took this photo of the pagoda reflected in the pool at Sun Yat Sen Park in downtown Vancouver yesterday on my normal dog walk. It’s a place I go to almost daily, why hadn’t I seen this before? There’s a whole pleasant world upside down in the water, reflecting the vibrant skies of the 4th dimension, or further.
And the stone Buddha face is turned away from the path to observe this shimmering other world. The pond is its mirror and its heart. I see the world in another light, less real, more imaginary (or vice versa?) Or it could be a form of divination, a clue, or a demonstration, offering a glimpse of more that can be known.
Like the worn and mossy stone Buddha head, I turn my gaze away from the normal path to reflect something inner. Past the distortion of this vibrational mirror, secrets can appear, or new meanings, even emergent hope. All found in the depth, on the inside, after the dive.
The surface of the pond is a sensitive membrane that allows the duck to rest on its own reflection.
This past week had so many turmoils and implications, actions set into motion politically and socially, including the increased temperature of Antarctica (which does really worry me.) Having all the news coursing through my veins daily takes its toll. Not only are all the forces acting without my input, they are mainly working against what I feel is important, right, and valuable. I take respite by looking back at history, and knowing that humankind has endured for millennia, persisting and achieving over time, even if not within the span one lifetime. It’s a weird comfort. But here’s the problem we currently face: we are simply running out of time. The shadow grows longer at sunset.
Strangely, I don’t despair. It’s like I’m looking at it all on a screen. Well, it’s not like that, it is that: I am actually seeing it all on my various screens - coronavirus and Trump and pipeline RCMP and Antarctica.
How do we survive? Looking at it differently is my only answer so far. Not “turn that frown upside down” but see from another angle until something new appears. It could be that this dangerous messy complexity can be resolved by new thinking in clusters of concepts, by face to face being, by simply calming the overcooked nervous system enough to be able to recognize peace when it happens.
Why, look at that! Mossy stone dog noses!
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