Reality Check from Redboots
I get an email from Redboots and she wants to know: “Do you feel like something is going on – I mean like in the earth’s vibes etc.? When you have time to listen and tune in, please let me know if you are noticing anything strange especially at 4,000 ft above sea level.”
I look up from the desk. The window behind the computer screen looks out onto the slant of the mountain, where I can see downed locust, blooming spring greens, bounding squirrels, and forager birds. The south windows form an entire wall of the house and I look there too. “The earth’s vibes?…Something going on…?” I pause, look again. A few crows speckle the sky. In the distance all I can see are row upon row of mountains. I stretch my hands above my head and touch the tin lining the loft roof, then lean over the railing and take in the rest of the vaulted ceiling and spaciousness.
When Vic came to the housewarming party, it didn’t take long for her to name what the vibe was. In her deep, knowing voice with that calm overtone, she looked at me squarely and said it in one sentence: “This is the God Realm up here, Katey.”
Of course, she was referring to the different realms of existence in Tibetan Buddhism, which form the foundation of Tibetan cosmology and also provide a rich analogy for life as we experience it day to day in the Human Realm.
What she meant is that the abundance is so rich up here, and the world I see with my eyes, breath with my body, and feel with my heart on this mountain has so much to offer, it is almost too much. The temptation for gluttony could be overwhelming, the lure of the view utterly distracting, the sheer magic of the place like a tranquilizer.
What she meant is that even though this place is going to give me everything I need to do what I want to do, I still have to set my intentions and stick to them. There is still a path and I am still on it, and that will still take work. The fact that I have to hike almost half a mile every day from the car up to the house will serve as a pointed reminder of this and for that I am very grateful.
So when Redboots asked what was going on, and if I’d noticed a vibe, things started to come together. It’s no wonder the first few trips I made up to the house were a little terrifying. The place begs for perfection, for total balance, for wholeness of life and deed. But it also provides a vast playground for distraction or for taking life for granted. Will I rise to the challenge and achieve balance here? I can look out and feel as though I’m touching the entire world, which also means it feels at times like the entire world can look right back in those windows, tracing my every footstep and forethought. The mountains are watching me from every corner of the house, waiting, breathing through the wind, awaiting the next move.
