Connecting to the Rocks

 

When I swim in the sea, I am close to and surrounded by the granite boulders which are so typical for the Cape coast. The rocks are calming the waves and make it possible to swim in the open water.

As I float close, I feel a connection arising. In a way the boulders come alive. 

Strange creatures of another world watching over me.

Just after sunrise it is as if they come to rest and sleep.

During the day they are rocks, hard and solid, unmovable.

But now I can imagine how they are alive at night, touching and rolling over each other. Playing and splashing around in the sea. Making love in the waves.

With the first light they take up their positions like in a giant pantomime play. Frozen for thousands of days.

When I lie on a rock in the morning sun to warm up after the swim, I can feel the subtle vibration of a sleeping giant.

Of course, I have the option to know that this is a piece of dead mineral formed millions of years ago.

Or I can experience this boulder as an aspect of the living earth just as I am an aspect of it.

I make up time in my mind and my time is too fast to see the boulders playing.

In the morning twilight I can open my mind and we come closer to connect what belongs together.

 

 

The Rose

 

I love taking photos of flowers and my most favorite flowers are roses.

There is a feeling of attraction, I can hardly stop admiring them.

For me, the flower of a rose is one of the most beautiful representations of Shakti, the creative life-giving energy.

Absolute radiant beauty and softness offering a hint of mystery.

 

Deep inside the center, in the dark, lingers an expression of longing and desire.

 And there, beyond its vulnerability one finds a secret.

At the right time, without thinking and wanting, the rose opens to reveal its deepest truth.

Effortless it shows its aliveness and purpose.

When the rose opens and forgets its vulnerability it is ready for its stamen to arise and its pistil to receive.

The creative lovemaking begins.

This is the miracle of creation, that happens a million times all over this earth, wherever a rose grows and flowers.

The once so seductive petals serve their purpose and fall off revealing a fruit that grows from the rose’s ovary.

A seed forms inside which contains all the information to repeat life over again.

Each stage of the life of this flower has its own effortless beauty and wisdom.

 

 

Moving Boundaries

 

Tidal pools are the most wonderful places along the cape shoreline.

A wall protects the pool from the sometimes-violent waves. At high tide it fills up with fresh water.

It creates a safe space in which I can experience the action of the sea without too much danger.

In a way it acts like a filter keeping the strongest movements and currents out of the pool but still allowing enough movement to float and bob around.

This kind of wall however is static. It always acts and filters out and breaks the highs and lows of the Ocean.

In our mind we have a multitude of filters. They are made up from our conditioning, both inherited and learned. Conditionings are useful protection devices to help us survive and navigate through life.

Lately I have started to swim in the open water at Backoven in Camps Bay.

It is remarkably interesting that in this environment I must set my own boundaries:

How long is it safe to stay in the cold water? What are the currents and how strong am I? How far can I go out? Can I cope with the wave action and what is my survival strategy, can I hold on to something should I need to? Is someone around to help if I get into trouble?

I must constantly monitor and set my boundaries and as my adaptation and fitness increases, I can move them and expand the range of my experience in the water.

Swimming in the sea, in the tidal pool and in the open water are a metaphor for navigating life.

Feeling fully alive by constantly expanding the range of experiences requires to question and if necessary, to step out of my conditioning, which was helpful in the past, consciously.