Listening To A Mountain

A few months ago, we moved into a house at the foothills of Mt. Burdell near the California coast north of San Fransisco. I have begun the process of meeting Mt. Burdell and listening to what she wants me to know. Sometimes I sit quietly, sometimes I walk along her edges waiting to be invited to walk onto her higher reaches. I am listening, which is to say, I am open to learning her language. I try to be free of expectation and agenda and slowly I am earning Mt. Burdell’s trust. But she continues to ask whether I intend to alter her face.

Listening to a mountain is to be free of the expectation of a conversation in the usual sense. And its not like ‘talking’ with a young baby or your pets. Listening to a mountain you may come to understand the mountain as an icon, a special expression of the Earth with a special status. Mt Burdell ‘told’ me that she wants to invite me into her specialness, her place. And,as I accept her invitation, I have become located at this place.

Mt. Burdell has no information for me, nor does she speak in ‘tongues’ or save me from my own foolishness. She has slowly welcomed my attention and concern for her well being and sometimes ‘embraces’ me. She is reassuring about the future and is a wonderful balance to globalist perspectives.

1/8/19