A New Chapter
If this were a book that I was writing (and it may indeed become a new book!), today I would begin a new chapter.
As I begin to type, frankly, I do not know where I am heading; as I begin I do not know what to write.
I feel that I am in new territory. I begin with this feeling.
When I was younger I hiked a great deal in the several mountain ranges near my home in Tucson (Arizona). Often I ventured on new trails and did not know what I would see and how difficult or easy the trail might be.
I remember one day when I set out to hike that it was early morning. It was daylight, but the sun was not yet visible. The trail was new to me. As I walked it meandered slowly but continually upward and sometimes along rugged terrain where the trail became almost indistinguishable among the rocks. All day I hiked; I had water and food, but I ventured too far and nearly did not make it back to my truck before dark.
Thus this morning I ask: Where am I going today on this trail that I have called
My New year’s Experience? Will I get lost in my words and provide only confusion to those who may be reading this?
I have titled today’s writing “a new chapter.” A new chapter means a new chapter in my life. What does this invoke to write that I am to begin a new chapter in my life? Isn’t this supposed to happen only to younger people, and not to a man who will soon be 77? Is this true?
And a thought immediately popped into my head … could it be that I really will soon transition to a new life in the spirit world? Could it be? Is this my new chapter?
Possibly, this is true – and I will soon enough find out. And so will my readers, in one way or another.
But until that glorious day arrives when I pass into the greater life awaiting me, I will continue to write about a new chapter in this life that I feel awaits me today.
Before I close my writing for today, I want to share a dream that I had early this morning.
I awoke from a dream that had both inspiring aspects and troubling aspects. The inspiring part of the dream was that I saw myself involved in a beautiful situation that appeared to be
a new school environment. I felt happy to be there and particularly with the people that I was with. When it was time to leave, I headed to a gathering in an amphitheater in a beautiful park, and yet on the way I got sidetracked within a huge natural setting for large animals, like elephants and tigers and others. I felt safe until I saw a rhinoceros looking straight at me and pawing the ground, poised and ready to charge. The only way out was to climb a steep sandy hill. I started to climb but had great difficulty; and the charging rhino came closer. This dream ended with me successfully inching over the crest of the sand dune.
Strangely, in the dream I was holding a book; it was old and tattered. It had a homemade cover; the cover was yellow and had a title written by hand, and the title was
Canon.
I am beginning to see that the two are related; that is, my telling of my experiences hiking mountain trails, and sharing the dream that I had this morning.
To me the meaning is this: As I begin a new chapter in my life, I have in front of me wonderful experiences awaiting me, but there will also be difficulties, even dangerous sidetracks … yet in the end I will be safe.
But what about the book that I was carrying, the book with the title
Canon? What does this mean?
My immediate thought it that it is a message to me that I will need to learn how to discard additional old baggage. I did not have this book in my hand while I was within the environment of the new school. I saw it in my hand only during the time that I was sidetracked in the environment with the animals, and particularly with the rhinoceros.
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To be continued ….
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