submitted by : Scott H.
Red Lacquer Bridge
Having entered into a phase of “creative meditation” on the guidance of Kimberly’s blog I awaken in a Japanese village at the base of a mountain. I rise from my mat and a beautiful woman dressed in a kabuki after the fashion of ancient Japanese culture follows me into the forest at the mountain’s base until we reach the red lacquer bridge of the previous meditation.
Over a period of ten days or so, mates have joined the creatures there. Yesterday the samurai hunter became an American Indian in buckskins and he crossed the river to join the women . Eros had come in a long red dress. Chastity had joined her in a flowing white robe. Nurturing was there in the form of a woman mentor I have known this past year or so. The women joined and became my wife. As the warrior/hunter sat down beside her on the creek bank I realized that it was me.
Yesterday when I flew and viewed the world from the hawk’s eyes I envisioned buffalo running the plains, a whale family off the central coast of California spouting and guarding the baby. I saw many creatures of the North American continent; the elk and the mountain lion, badgers and the eagle, squid and barracuda in the deep and the dolphins jumping, then I went out into space … the universe. There I saw my father … then … The Father … until I heard the whoo of the owl and returned to the creek bank.
I was weeping with joy and spent the rest of the day happier, clearer, at peace. That night after an arduous day I slept deeply and through the night.
This morning I was eager to go to the bridge and join my friends there. “Love”floated a little above the ground because it is hard for her to keep up with me in her close kabuki. I was no longer afraid of the blanket of insects on the fronds of the jungle as I had been when startled by them in Okinawa during my Navy days. They were my friends. A snake came and entangled along my right buckskinned leg as he climbed up to my attention. I let him encircle my arm … looked him in the eye and asked him with my mind what was wrong. He was hungry. I told him to go find a rat and that I loved him. He seemed comforted and moved off into the jungle.
Upon arriving at the bridge “Love” joined the other women and I went about making eye contact with each creature and greeting them with love. They loved me back. I became the warrior … crossed the river and joined my wife.
Then from the perspective of the bridge, I met the hawk’s gaze where he perched on the limb in the light at the turn of the creek and I flew. Again I saw the buffalo and the whales and all the creatures in the land. I entered the astrological universe. I saw the sun and the planets revolving about it. I passed Pluto and entered the Milky Way.
In the distance I could see the next galaxy. I recognize it as a Hubble photo I saw some time past as an ethereal cloud mass rising like an explosion into light. To see it is to travel beyond knowing into a place we are no longer bound by our bodily existence. I began to weep and God was there. I begged him to help me and I sobbed. He bathed me in his light and I became free from my sin. Forgive yourself as I have forgiven you, son. Forgive all the others.
I saw myself as a child and I began to see all the children that are in my life; my children and the youth at church. I saw that I could love females with agape and I began to forgive … and I wept. I wept deeply for all the self-loathing and the loss of love. I wept for hope in a future given to God. I saw those in my life who are struggling with addiction and I prayed to God for their salvation from the horror of a disease that tells us we are hateful and apart from God.
I was with God and made whole until I needed to go. The owl called and I returned to the creek bank next to my wife.
I got on my knees and spoke with The Father. I rose … cooked breakfast for my children. I took Merton’s “Seeds of Contemplation” outside. I sat in my son’s hoodie with a blanket over my legs and I watched them walk to the end of the street to meet their schoolmates and wait for the yellow bus.
The Merton said “… humility alone can destroy the self-centeredness that makes joy impossible.”
Peace … for all eternity. Hope for the day at hand. Joy resides in this moment, courage throughout the land.
