A Winter’s Meditation

December 31, 2015
by Michael
comments 74
Creative

We had our first snow the day before yesterday—a sticky-heavy whiteness you could tamp into stable shapes—then a smattering more yesterday, and this morning I am witness to wonders I realize only now have been in the making for days.  The third act is the revelation.  Soft golden light pours sideways across the sky from a low-lying sun, and the second ridge is garnished with fog.  The air and the land are rising together, drawing thin.  Closer by, bare trees in the yard are tipped with orbs of flickering color—beads of blue, red and green that twinkle and dance, then fall to the ground in lengthening streaks of glowing yellow.  Beneath the trees, it is raining.

But only there.

There’s a meaning in the scene that fills me.  I know what is on display, but its history eludes me.  The raining tree is a dictionary of potentials.  I realize each instance of beauty is only a clue, a hint of far greater conspiracy.  The part I can’t piece together is what I’ve always been, effortlessly, alongside of everything else that’s always been.  The tree is losing its colors and I’m passing through myself like a spring breeze, bubbling over, transforming, a hot breath condensing into steam.

A sparrow finds an opening in the sky, and settles on a slender branch.  The next leap will involve dissolution.  We watch together, wondering who will leap first.

On the best days, I am given a thought that transports me to this edge.  Yesterday it was a pink flower, resting on a platter.  The platter was my chest—the sensation of giving, a hot stone emerging from an oven, the presence of beauty.  These thoughts convey the conspiracy.  They are the wordless blood that passes through us.  They rain down from the tree, and find us in the elevator, motionless, in the stairwell, or balancing on a log at the beach, our arms stretched out towards the sky in both directions.

Thoughts like these, images imbued with sublime potency, remind me of endless configurations of light and being.  Of smiles.  Of whorls in our fingertips.  Of touching the horizon.  Of all of us, drifting down from the sky, to cover the world in our quiet presence.

74 Comments

  3. Walking My Path: Mindful Wanderings in Nature says

    Oh Michael, I just love this. I love days like that, when it rains color under the trees- sparkling, dancing gems. I love meditating on the beauty, listening to the dripping and feeling the profound meanings unique to our own hearts. These are blessed, sacred moments to hold in our Souls like the jewels of flickering color. Just yesterday, looking out onto the willows along the creek, the light was hitting the re-frozen droplets of melted snow and a light breeze created an effect of twinkling Christmas Tree lights. It was fantastic. Those times of utter and complete awe. Standing in the Presence of Beauty. Your last line, “Of all of us, drifting down from the sky, to cover the world in our quiet presence.” A lovely line, Michael; each of us unique as a snowflake in our ways of expressing Love and Light.

    May your Now year .. meant to say New Year but I like Now Year, be full of blessings that bring pink flowers resting on platters and smiles and endless configurations of light and being.

    Very much love,
    Mary

    Liked by 10 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Mary. I wish you a bounteous and holy Now Year also. I love that!

      Language is so rich… we stumble through it into serendipitous glories, into endless configurations of sound and tone… 🙂 It sounds like you had your own winter light show to keep you company. I am always amazed at how effortlessly nature produces these lovely displays– they just arise out of almost nothing, always from one thing simply leading to another.

      I also love that Nature doesn’t have a front and a back. There are no facades, no street facing views, no management of presentation. As in your post of several months ago on perspective that I am reminding myself about, you can approach a scene in nature from any direction and it will be unique, and full– not broken or patched together. It is uncanny! Also deft. Very, very deft.

      Love
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  4. BeeHappee says

    That is so so beautiful, Michael. We had same first snow, then ice covered it and kids sled down on their bellies flopping their arms like wings, till their penguin bellies were so full with laughter they could not do it anymore.
    Thank you for falling from the sky and making this earth more beautiful! 🙂

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      What a beautiful image, Bee! For just a moment I felt myself flapping my own once-developing wings and making joyous soundings of my abdomen. It was delightful. Thank you for joining the sky-divers and brightening up the realm as well. I wish you a Happy New Year, and a wholesome hibernation.

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. Hariod Brawn says

    Michael, this is simply exquisite. I once asked you long ago why you wrote creatively in short lines for the most part, and you said you had no real idea. This is poetry surely? I say it is anyway, as it is to me. Your creativity finds its own direction, I understand that, though would be delighted to see more from you in this more prose-like, yet still poetic style. You garland your thoughts so well in the extra space my friend, and sometimes a garland is what warms the heart of the recipient.

    Mahalo.

    Hariod

    Liked by 8 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Hariod. It is a different sensation to write in a slightly more grammatically correct way, but one I enjoy just as much as any of my other efforts. It does have a slightly different effect I think. I may indeed have to keep at this form… Who knows what could happen!? It’s a whole New Year… Ha!

      With Great Esteem,
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  6. Karin says

    This is beauftiful. A conspiracy of beauty peeking through is single moments. Yes, conspiracy, this is what it feels like sometimes. Behind the scenes of seemingly separate objects, there is this invisible force which is conspiring to guide, to surprise us, and to show beauty.
    Happy New Year, peace and blessings,
    Karin

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Happy Now Year, Karin!

      (See Mary’s comment above… 🙂 )

      You’ve captured my feelings exactly, about the way objects somehow flow together in the invisible. It is a conspiracy! Ha! May this holy conspiracy in which we are together joined unveil ever richer pathways of revelation and good humor!

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. Alison and Don says

    So beautiful Michael. Your way of capturing the very essence of this illusory reality is a magical blessing. We too have had the first snow of the winter – a huge dump in Montreal that delayed our return to Vancouver by two days, and meant we missed the winter Long Dance. So I repeatedly returned to the mystery of presence – now this, just this, the play of light on the snow, being covered in it as I helped dig the cars, the blinking of Christmas lights through a kind of veil. It’s all good. We’re at the airport now. Now this.
    Blessings,
    Alison

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Oh, Alison, sorry to hear you missed the Dance. I imagine that you and Don would have been looking forward to it a great deal. That is a tough one– to face disappointment and then turn it into a helping space of digging out cars. Little moments of giving soften up so much inside of us. Hope you stayed warm and had a good, albeit eventual flight!

      Love
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Alison and Don says

        We arrived in Vancouver late New Year’s Eve, and today we get to attend the closing feast of the Long Dance so at least we get to see everyone. Digging out the cars was fun and great exercise. I also had a few extra hours getting some photography lessons from my sister, the sometime professional photographer, which was also fun, so all was not lost.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        • Michael says

          Sounds like you made excellent use of the circumstances, Alison. It is hard to imagine you needing photography lessons when I think about all the stunning images on your site, but I also can see the light bulb going on when you learn some new feature or facet of the process that you probably had a ten step work around for previously. Just when we think we know something, it deepens… And I love to hear a story that ends with friends gathered together…

          Peace
          Michael

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you very much, Karen. Thank you for taking this journey into wonder with me, and recognizing the bounty we share together.

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  9. InfiniteZip says

    Thank you my friend for this gift of a magnificent view through your eyes. I thought the first day of a new and what is sure to be amazing year coudn’t get any richer, and here I find you waiting patiently for my eyes to open during my morning coffee, and even though it is sunny here, I will be travelling back through into your view tomorrow. Now I look forward to the magic I will find waiting, like each day, a new gift to open and discover. I am blessed by your words and wish you a day filled with the bounty of abundance of sight, sound, feeling and magic. Peace and love, K

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Kim. I hope you have a nice trip, and that you find a bit of magic awaiting for you. The magic has unfortunately turned to slush, and frozen into tire ruts that look like miniature white caps rolling in from the woods. I guess that’s a whole ‘nother kind of a magic, isn’t it? 🙂 How the temperature can hover right at the slush point, and make water a sculpturing compound– a diffuse clay. All of which is to say I am blessed by your words, too. You are too kind, but leave smiles in your wake, and that is such an inspiring way to be, my friend.

      Sounds like your 2016 is off to a good start. Here’s to keeping the momentum going!

      Peace and Love to you also,
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  10. megdekorne says

    ” he who binds to himself a joy
    does the winged life destroy .
    But he who kisses the joy as it flies
    lives in eternity’s sun rise .”
    William Blake

    Michael ….I don’t know what to say and would like to join my voice with the other friends who have already expressed their beautiful thoughts in response ….and , ” a pink flower resting on a platter ” , well , that moved me , moved me deeply ….love , megxxx

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Meg. That is a beautiful snippet of poetry from Mr. Blake, and inspiring. Makes me want to stand by the window and kiss the world as it sidles by.

      I don’t know what to say either, but I love that we keep saying it. I love that we write and strike chords in one another that ripple out, inspire, and enliven. I love that we find in our experiences of the world, something both common and mysterious– a rich vein of beauty and endlessness.

      Love
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  11. megdekorne says

    Reblogged this on megdekorne and commented:
    ” He who binds to himself a joy
    does the winged life destroy .
    But he who kisses the joy as it flies
    lives in eternity’s sun rise . ”
    William Blake

    A humbling and beautiful experience to read Michaels work …

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Meg. An equally humbling experience to receive this unexpected invitation to be a guest on your beautiful site!

      Much Gratitude
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  12. Geetha B says

    A beautiful write and a deep sense of purpose that pervades the writing despite the apparent denial of knowledge expressed. Thank you Meg for reblogging and allowing me to discover yet another gem in the wordpress community. Much bliss to both of you

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, David. Your comment gives me the lovely feeling of being in the middle of it all, like a flag dancing in a gentle breeze, surrounded by light and mist and color. And the smiling faces of friends… 🙂

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  19. stockdalewolfe says

    I am with Hariod, this is exquisite! What a great meditation and what a great way to start the year! I find this prose piece more accessible to my concrete mind and yet as Hariod says, it is still poetry. Please do more of this type of writing. It is spiritual and visual and transporting for the spirit! Love, Ellen

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you very much, Ellen. So good to see you here once again! I will clearly have to mix in some writing of this style going forward. It is funny, in a way, but when I first started the blog I wrote in paragraph form almost all of the time– granted with a lot less practice and with what surely was a less developed “voice” as a writer– but what actually really got this site going was starting to publish poems!

      Whoever said life doesn’t move in circles was wrong!

      I love you both.
      Michael

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      Reply
  20. lorriebowden says

    Dear, dear Michael. I walked through these words, and I felt the beautiful peace that comes from a soul that is clear. So clear in its love, with an amazing gift to express it to those who would read. “I realize each instance of beauty is only a clue, a hint of far greater conspiracy.”…when I read this particular line I got goosebumps…and my soul connected to yours…to the WHOLE OF SOULS…and it opened me more and I was able to feel just what the conspiracy is all about! 😉

    Sending you much love…aand grace♡♡

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Yes, its quite a conspiracy isn’t it! Very hush hush, but peeking out at you from behind the curtain of every moment. Thank you very much for the kind words, Lorrie. I am really appreciative of those who take some of their time and offer it here, and it is always humbling to know a particular creative effort has opened up a deeper “you” and “me”… a deeper contact with everything…

      Much love to you also,
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
    • Michael says

      Hi Noelle,

      Thank you for the lovely description of your encounter with this piece. I like the sensation of it floating out of reach. There is something expansive about that– like something we give that extends us into a quiet merger with the sky.

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  22. marga t. says

    You are marvelously skilled at this hot potato game with the stone alit within your heart, Michael. You pass it along before you are singed into an ember, causing us to gather at the edge of this snowy forest, for this game of toss. I know the mystery behind the rain, now, as I see the hot breath traveling into the woods from the crowd you have amassed here, with you, in a single solitary moment. We could only hold the hot rock and our breath so long. scary good, you know!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Marga. Your description of the gathering for this game of toss reminded me of a concept I was looking up the other day– a question I once used to think about, which is whether or not a photon can be emitted without having a receiver… I like the idea that nothing launches without a place to land, that every giver is balanced by a receiver, that everything happening we can see or touch is the product of an invisible relationship. This is where love inhabits my life most fully– when we are passing back and forth the bounty we could never carry alone, all of us emerging somehow because of the other…

      Much Love
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • marga t. says

        I am wondering what you found on your search for an answer about photons. I am amazed by an overlapping idea which piqued my curiosity this week when I was enjoying some woo about the electric universe. In one video I was fascinated by the idea that light is invisible until it has a receiver – thus the blackness of space (if I understood correctly). I paused at that very spot and contemplated the relationship of light’s giving and receiving – which of course led to metaphysical pondering about most everything. 🙂 Even with the lightening up of posts – the giving and receiving agreement feels ever tangible and nourishing as the exchanges that occur face-to-face in my corner —-actually even more so! Receiving my morning photons with pleasure, here and wishing you the same up north! xo! m

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        • Michael says

          Wow–! It sounds as though you came across a similar idea. I wish I could dredge up more of my previous musings, but they were probably a decade or more in the rearview at this point, and I just can’t quite put my finger on my point of entry to the thought. I think it may have been reading about John Keely or Walter Russell, and some basic principles of sympathetic vibration… this is feeling close… and the idea was sort of in there that nothing really arises independently. That sounds like a familiar doctrine of course, but it was offered in the context of physics, and I’ve long been in love with the idea that the universe is one big zero– split into a lot of pluses and minuses, and as long as you move them around so all the pluses and minuses don’t bump into each other, balance one another out and disappear entirely, you can have some cool stuff.

          Light is particularly interesting to ponder in these regards I think. You’re right… light is always invisible… It has to be received to register. And light can only be received by causing an energetic change of state in something. For this to happen, there has to be a resonance between the sender, the carrier and the receiver. If there’s not, there just can’t be an interaction. I don’t know if physics agrees quite, but I love the idea that this game is about two entities coming into resonance, and then the arising of this third “something” in between– this flash of information or light.

          Ultimately, if you reflect on this idea, it brings you to the feeling that every movement of existence is particular, is specific– is meaningful at least within the context of its own interaction. Nothing is randomly shooting out into space… Every particle and packet of light that arises, emerges from the door of non-existence, and finds its way back through another one… It is in a sense, what it means for those two doorways to discover one another.

          Michael

          Liked by 1 person

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  23. Harlon says

    What a great piece of writing and heart that goes with it. There is something nurturing in your prose, like someone is telling me my life story and it is going to turn out great.
    Big accomplishment for a cold winter day. Time for a project, what is a Hot Toddy…
    will report back….

    Peace, Harlon

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Ha! I love this Harlon. You have made my day, my friend! I love your way of sharing your self and framing your feelings and ideas. For me your delivery is part newspaper column, part stand-up comedy– and partly a dose of the raw glory of taking stock without prejudice. You’re always describing to me what it means to be human, which is what I love. But your life is great, Harlon. I should have just come out and said it!

      Peace
      Michael

      Like

      Reply
  24. sayyestoeverything says

    Beautiful share! I do love winter and what a beautiful meditation.

    (I am chuckling to myself as I found myself here today from a mention on Mari Perron’s blog. You are certainly the popular and well connected fellow!)

    Much love,
    Sarah

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Sarah. I don’t know if you saw it, but there is a video there somewhere of us having a conversation. So, I can finally return the favor of your video offerings! Ha! My first video “coming out”… 🙂

      Love to you too,
      Michael

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      Reply
    • Michael says

      Hello Ka,

      I thought I had responded to your note here, but must have misfired on the ole’ WP dashboard. I look forward to celebrating with you once more in the year ahead! I very much do! I have used the last few weeks of holiday to stand out in the light drizzle of ideas always raining down from the heavens, to try and catch an idea or two for a second novel. (My first effort is largely complete in draft form, and while there is some editing to be done, it is not going to change all that much at this point without professional help… So the creative impetus is coming to the fore to apply all that I have learned in bumbling through a first effort, to a second…) In doing so, I realized that I may need to consult with one or two of my WP pals of astrological know-how at some point in the year ahead… It may be an opportunity for us to celebrate together in the world of ideas and possibilities… if you have the time and bandwidth and interest… I will share more off-line…

      All the best for 2016 and beyond!
      Peace and Love
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Ka Malana@Fiestaestrellas.com says

        Hi Michael,
        Sure! I’d love to celebrate together via astrological stuff. My schedule is opened up nicely around May-June. There will be some more creative space for me and for you/me. Also, I wanted to tell you that I thought of you recently when discussing about a book that my husband is currently reading, and I think that you might like. You may have already read it! but, it might be to your intrigue. I am just noticing this comment that you wrote to me, now – as I did not see it before. Here’s to another marvelous year on the blue and green twirling marble!
        Peace and Love – YES!
        Ka

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you very much, Hedy! Interesting to me how we are both producing images… in our various ways! ha!

      Peace
      Michael

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  29. JoAnna says

    I’m glad I finally made it here for this treasure. I love your use of “conspiracy” in “I realize each instance of beauty is only a clue, a hint of far greater conspiracy,” to mean an even more beautiful surprise…. within the hope of things to come!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Hi JoAnna,

      Yes, that’s it exactly! It feels as though we’re always on the cusp, filing up and spilling over, never able to catch hold of all of it, and so each part reveals just how great the whole of it really is…

      Blessings
      Michael

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    • Michael says

      Yes, it would indeed. I’m not sure this one is all that much different… we’re just sending out so many strangely conditioned ingots of light!

      Peace, peace, peace…
      That we may emit grace by the invisible photon wherever we travel…
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Annette! I am sorry I missed this comment and am glad I circled back… It’s the flowing through us piece that is so glorious isn’t it!? When we see it in one another, and feel it moving within us. Thank you for witnessing these gifts with me here…

      Peace
      Michael

      Like

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