Monday, July 9, 2012

Eternal Afternoon World


Yesterday, I went to that spot in Griffith Park where the fire road runs east and turns to the north and Glendale lies to the east below. There are a few very tall, lonely, windswept trees at the edge of the road where the cliff drops off for hundreds of feet. Walking up the road, which is at a slight incline, you see the sun-drenched road, the golden ground at the edge where the trees sway in the breeze and, over the road, the top of the San Gabriel Mountains rising filtered through a blue haze.

I stood there for almost twenty minutes, in an altered state of consciousness, feeling like I was lost in an eternal afternoon world. I felt as if the distant mountains were tugging at my soul, which created a delicious sense of longing almost akin to deja vu.

Go outdoors. Take your time. Keep your head up. Be quiet. Listen. More often than not, the universe will speak to you in a voice without language that goes straight to the core of your being. It took twenty minutes, but it lifted the anxiety I was feeling and changed my day. In the face of the eternal, the temporary becomes a ghostlike shadow.

This excellent photo is by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti. It was taken later in the afternoon than when I was there (which was closer to noon or just after). See more excellent photos by Lisa at http://abloomsburylife.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html