Staircase to the dark mysteries

Stylized Staircase of Destiny: 5/7/15 Long Sands, York ME
CC Jean Stimmell

Clumsy rocks like words tossed about 
haphazardly on the beach by the tide:

Crude approximations of reality.

Leaving stony words and convention behind,

I descend downward toward my destiny:

Kneeling in the surf to taste the salty waves.

Gaining strength, I wade into the depths,

immersing myself in the waters of life,

 the dark mysteries of the unconscious,

Knower of all things

Commentary: 

Although we are always being lulled into complacency by denial and the sameness of our everyday routine, the Buddhists are right: life is change. As I grow older – I will be 70-years-old this year – I am increasingly reminded of this immutable fact by all the things I can no longer do.

On top of that, I’ve already had two major surgeries for Melanoma cancer. While Melanoma appears to be in remission now, her ever-present reality focuses the mind. Then, last week, I found out that I have prostate cancer – and not the wait-and-watch type.

I’m not reaching out for sympathy. Just telling you how I have learned to cope from first-hand experience. By being forced to deal with issues of sickness, old age and death, I am learning to progressively detach myself from conventional appearances and the overwhelming materiality of our everyday world. Thanks to Buddhism and Carl Jung, I have been able to move away from the world of appearance toward what I feel is a deeper, more fundamental reality – one I am learning to access through reverie and dreams; writing, doing art and meditating.

The idea for this blog came together for me when I took a photograph of a staircase that appears to go nowhere. However – being the eternal outlier – it appeared to me a sacred portal to what is really real.

My image and poem above is my humble attempt to make this sacred portal come alive to my readers.