Lightness of Being

Mammoth Tusk Feathers

Feathers.  They seem to have invaded my consciousness and are coming out as jewelry. Suddenly I have several styles of earrings and some big bold pendants. They make me happy and tickle nostalgia.

My long time friend, Sindona, once found pelican feathers on a Mexican beach. She brought me one that I put on my alter until the Bali bugs eventually ate it. I had to throw away it's nearly naked quill. Sindona knew that Pelicans are an important personal symbol because they'd ushered in my lifelong desire to know Truth.

I was sixteen and sitting at my favorite spot on a breezy Bolinas, California cliff top over looking the crashing surf and beach below. I often came here to think. On this particular day there was a flock of pelicans floating in the calm beyond the waves.

Lightness of Being

Suddenly, as though a signal had been given, one bird rose up, silently inviting the others to join. They swirled through the air, circling, each on their own course until one dove straight down, wings flattened back against his body and disappeared under the surface. Another dove, and another, then more than I could count, each pelican surfacing with a fish in its bill.

The sky was a circus of acrobats rising up, circling, diving, rising up, circling, diving, and in that moment time cracked and shattered into an infinite moment of wonder. My heart burst with bliss, tears streamed down my face, and the landscape of my life changed forever.  I'd experienced the lightness of being and I wanted more.

Whenever I see these birds, even now, my heart quickens.  They're a connection to and a symbol of that infinite moment, that after years of seeking and meditation, I now know is always there in the background when feelings and thoughts are feather swept away.