SIMPLE MEDICINE

It’s a beautiful day in Taos, the first true spring day this year. Looking around we see prairie dogs standing up near their holes to examine a world that they haven’t seen since before the last big snowstorm. We went out ourselves finally venturing beyond Walmart, the grocery store and post office. 

Right now, we are Munching on real Pueblo prune pies. A good friend we hadn’t seen for months kindly bought them for us at the annual show of Taos Pueblo artists at Millicent Rogers Museum. This show was our first real outing for several months. Over coffee just this morning, we had shared how contented we were to stay home this entire winter. Perhaps, the outing was even more pleasurable in contrast to our uncharacteristic prairie dog like winter.

Dad and Mom at a wedding ceremony
We thought of them today.

I’m always amazed at how much talent lives within the photogenic mud walls of Taos Pueblo. There were artists we’ve known for years and then there were some wonderful things that were entirely new. Patricia Michaels was there with her beautiful clothing designs. She is now a celebrity after several TV seasons on Project Runway. It was a diverse group with glass art, drums, jewelry and even natural lotions, soaps and shampoos in addition to paintings and photography. 

PQ showed admirable restraint although I was worried when he started looking at bolos and bracelets. He is almost a jewelry junky. He did buy a beautiful photo of the Moon over the Northside Pueblo by neighbor Debbie Lujan, and a small micaceous pot. Not too bad. After being so careful  with cash all winter we needed to invest a little green in spring. Also we were gifted along the way. This generous spirit is one of the good things about the pueblo. Artists like to help each other.

Time is not really as set as we humans imagine since we started measuring it. As I savor the prune pie, layers of time and space collapse into a timeless world of soft tan dust, wood smoke and clear sharp air that is completely unique and beyond time. That slice of pie contained the entire pueblo, past, present and future and even the sacred mountain. PQ commented on it too.  For a few moments, we just relished being home. It may seem strange that I a non-pueblo person would say that but home is a feeling and a state of heart.

SECRETS OF LIFE ON THE EDGE

I automatically delete all emails about retirement investments, making the most of a fixed income, savings plans, health insurance ads, and investment opportunities, and so on. All are irrelevant in Taos, unless you have one golden foot in another place. Right now, I would love to get out of here, take a deep breath in that other world and then probably come back here after the respite. I never lived in the “normal” world but I used to live pretty close to it and had close friends who lived in that world. It was comforting to have some proximity to mainstream America. I imagined that someday I too would have health insurance, life insurance, savings account, and get my teeth cleaned once a year.

I never consciously chose to live a third world lifestyle but looking back, I can see that I was always headed in that direction. I’ve been immersed in this life on the edge for 23 years. Well, actually, I practiced for several years before moving to Taos but back in that earlier life, I fantasized that change was just around the corner. Now I’m accepting that I will probably live on moment-to-moment faith for my remaining time on this planet. It’s like lead floating on a cloud but for some reason it works. There is a magic element (I’m not being facetious) at work. It’s amazing what you can do on faith when conventional options aren’t available. 

Some things work precisely because other options aren’t available. What I’m learning is that insurance is an expensive illusion. This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t have a Medicare supplement if I could afford it. It just means that the needs of the future are unpredictable and will remain so. When you aren’t living under the illusion that you have some control over the future, other resources come into play.

This is what a graduate degree in Taos living is all about. This unique place, a genuine third world country, nested in the so-called United States of America, specializes in getting 21^st century people back in touch with a more universal even cosmic reality. It sounds like a contradiction, but to have a spiritual relationship with the cosmos, having your feet in the sometimes muddy, un-groomed, still under construction earth is essential.It doesn’t work to fight the poverty, surly residents, dysfunctional Walmart, do-it-yourself traffic rules, and sometimes-caveman living arrangements. It’s like quicksand, the harder you struggle and fight, the faster you sink. Lay flat and belly walk and you will get where you are going a lot faster.  I’m not saying this will get you entirely out of danger. After all, it is danger that causes the blood to flow, adrenaline to push for the big challenge and the mind to jump out of the box. 

The Messenger

Winter is showing signs of weakening. I’ve been very patient with the way things are this winter and so has PQ. It was unexpectedly easy to live like the Prairie Dogs, coming out only when the sun did and then quickly retreating underground after a quick trip to the grocery store and post office. 

I look at pictures and videos of places I would one day like to visit, or visit again the way someone lost in the desert imagines a cool flowing rivulet. That’s OK; it’s nice to have something to draw one forward. Right now, it’s Sedona/Cottonwood. We have unfinished time there.  I’m ready to go but not in a hurry.  Even if having two places of the soul is a pipe dream, that dream is even now preparing the materials of a home for the next body of experience.

We can futilely watch the world news but aren’t in the know about who is behind the flare-ups in the Middle East, nor can we defeat the Illuminati, or corporate and government corruption. But, everything out there is also in here and that is where the future is conceived and nurtured in this holographic universe.