Reflecting on an edge

When I made this house the conditions were nearly impossible. Only I was just starting out working with ice and didn't quite know it at the time. I just forged ahead and tried it and by some grace, it worked. There is something innocent and quite powerful about NOT knowing "The Rules" of what "should" and "should not" be possible. This image is a good reminder that sometimes there is something present that carries us well beyond the place of "knowledge" into a deeper place of purer understanding and in that place magical things can happen.

As I have been caring for my aging kitty who has been hovering on the edge of this incarnation and what lies beyond this world, he continues to teach me... simple things...powerful things. I was washing his face the other morning. This has become a several times daily ritual for us now because he cannot do this very well for himself any more. It is a time of incredible sweetness for us both. As I gently washed his eyes and face, he smiled and glowed at me.... and pictures began to form in my mind. I saw him as a kitten, his mother washing his face as I do now. The pleasure on his kitten face and his now-ancient face were the same look of pure bliss. As I allowed myself to relax into this vision I heard someone, I know not who, remind me that these bodies we incarnate into are such a gift. And yes, sometimes a burden too. Yet regardless of how we would evaluate the moment, in the end, our bodies belong to the Earth. It is where they arise from and it is where they must eventually return. Like everything here, it is on loan to us, it does not belong to us. And sadly, most of us have forgotten how to take care of this loan.

As I sat cleaning my cats face listening to the voice coming from somewhere, I was invited to take a look around the room... I did... the voice continued on with an astonishing idea:
Every THING that I could see with my eyes in that moment, with the exception of the cat and the living plants, had come from the UNION of something from the Earth and an idea from a human at some point in time. EVERYTHING. The dresser, the clothes within it, the lights, the wiring to power the lights, the room, the paper in the books, the books themselves, the candles, the tiny bits of flotsam that everyone has in their space..... all of it came from the earth and an idea in some human's mind.

This is a simple yet (for me) very profound thing. Take a moment right now to look at what is in your space, to the left and to the right of your screen. Look at what is there... see it not as the object you see (and ignore) every day, but see it from a fresh perspective: a gift from the Earth and some spark of inspiration that came down from someone, or perhaps several someones, to make these objects. ALL of this "stuff" comes from the Earth. All the wood, metal, glass, plastic .. it all came from the Earth - even the body that housed the mind that had the idea to make/design/build/sell all of the items you see before you, even that body came from the Earth...and yes, even your hands on the keyboard, and the eyes you use to read these words... in a very real way, they are all gifts from the Earth.

How incredibly generous She is to us.

What a miracle this is!

We live in a world that is utterly and completely composed of miracles. And mostly we don't even see it.

This is what I learned the other day washing the face of my cat.