The Desert Within
The Desert Within is a Heart-Centered sanctuary where I can access Silence, Stillness, and Solitude within the movement. Within the noise. With-In the often chaotic, spinning spiral hustle and bustle, deep in the thick of it, dance of life!
It’s a real paradox. Simultaneously the simplest thing and absolute hardest thing. Thoughts come and go. Processes, patterns, limiting beliefs, grievances, anxieties, spiral up and out, into a powerful landscape that feels way more capable of holding and digesting all of it, than I am.
It feels like a silent surrender to the flow of all the elements, Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Ether, alchemizing their way through my being, and trusting my soul knows exactly how to orchestrate my highest healing.
Transformation can feel harsh and unforgiving. It can feel like a place worth avoiding. The desert teaches us that transformation is not gentle. Wind and water sweep through these landscapes, forming slot canyons and natural bridges. Elemental forces strip the land of everything it thinks it knows, leaving something both ancient and new in their wake. The desert teaches us to fully bloom from tiny cracks in sandstone. To thrive in barren, beautiful, and often harsh conditions.
One of my favorite quotes is from Craig Childs book, ‘The Secret Knowledge of Water’ — "There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning.” I’ve found that answering the call of my soul can also feel like this —if I don’t slow down and pay attention to the elements and weather patterns within me, it’d be pretty easy to die, from thirst or drowning. I’ve come close more than a few times. That shit will wake you up quick.
Life has certainly taught me, transformation is inevitable. Death of some kind is always lurking around the corner. Control is an absolute illusion. Those liminal, between, mysterious, transitional spaces, fraught with unknowns, and all kinds of weather, will arrive, again and again. This is not to say that transformation can’t also be welcomed, exciting even, a much needed change that allows for a breath of fresh air and a swift change in perspective.
I love the desert deeply but that doesn’t mean I don’t confront fear or avoidance when swirling around, alone, in the high heat of her glorious beauty. No other landscape has taught me more about my own soul, than her. There’s a reason mystics, from countless traditions, since time immemorial have retreated to her harsh, barren and solitary landscape seeking self-examination and connection to the divine. The desert, like all elements also lives within us. We can bring ourselves there.
