In my dream I was being drawn with great force through the sea; there were terrifying abysses, with here and there a rock to which it was possible to hold.
–Ignaz Jezower, Das Buch der Traume, quoted in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Here & There is a column that appeared monthly in the e-newsletter of Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, where I worked for 20 years as an editor and program developer. I will be posting new columns on my blogs, writingandmeditation.com and theleapintothevoid.wordpress.com.
The personal essays in Here & There explored the realities and ideals of living and working in two places, both as geographical locations and as places in the mind and heart.
For a long time it has seemed to me that our lives are a balancing act between the two—being here (in the moment) and there (daydreaming, spacing out—basically anywhere but here). And also between being content with where we are (the physical space in which we live and work) and who we are (self-acceptance), and wanting to be somewhere else and be someone else.
Beginning early in 2008, I spent a lot of time on the road. I had a relationship in Nova Scotia that was just beginning and a father in Florida who was dying. I usually like to drive, and in 2008 I drove the entire eastern seaboard of the North American continent several times. This column was born amidst all this coming and going as I reached for “a rock to which it was possible to hold.”
Though my father has since died and the relationship ended, the search for that place in my life—and in my mind and heart—where I feel completely at home continues to be the grist that, in its own special way, feeds my soul.
Through this column, I took readers on a journey through the warp and the woof of my life—the good, the bad, and everything in between—all within the context of my attempt to be more mindful of the things I do and the way I am.