At the end of all our exploring...

The mysterious moon as recorded from 39 degrees latitude,
-121 degrees longitude April 24, 1:29am Pacific time zone

Tonight I watched a documentary called "Ballerina". It describes the training of ballerinas in St. Petersburg, Russia, the most highly regarded training-ground for this art. The limits these women push their bodies to is so extreme that 20 years is the longest they can expect their performing careers to last (that is, if their bodies hold out that long). The girls they interviewed all sounded driven to succeed in this external quest to become the prima ballerina and dance the lead roles. What carrot hangs in front of them that makes them put aside other goals such as having a family, or a more relaxed lifestyle that most of us enjoy? Is their drive very different than our own perhaps more modest drives to have a family, to work with a horse, and have a successful career?

Something drives all humans to the external quest. It is probably similar to the drive that animals feel to procreate, to nest, to feed and play. Through machines we've created as a result of our human intelligence, we have also gone to the moon and explored other stars, and become masters of places our bodies have not adapted for, the oceans and skies.

For probably as long as we've been pursuing the external quest, we humans have also been on an internal quest. With our eyes we can see the monasteries, ashrams, gurus, nunneries, churches, stupas, chelas, priests and ascetics to name but a few, but the actual quest that these people and places represent are not so easily named.

Meditation.

Prayer.

Mindfulness.

Not doing.

These are words that represent aspects of turning inward, but the experience can never be touched if these remain as words. My suspicion is that this internal quest is what is unique to humans. Perhaps animals have never left this internally-focused state, or have no reason to seek it.

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

T. S. Eliot - Little Gidding, from Four Quartets

This quote seems to be a wink from T.S. Eliot regarding this internal quest. The following quote might be a finger pointing at where to look to find our way home.

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

T. S. Eliot - The Rock

To me, the Path of the Horse has aspects of both external and internal quests. There is a dynamic balance between the two, a dance that can be explored in each moment with the animal.

After rain, sleet and hail, the clouds parted slightly giving me enough time to bring the horses in and get firewood without getting too wet.


Sunny however, got wet from the ground up.


Here are the horses coming in.

Patrik is testing to see if I'm on guard enough to keep him away from Sundance's grain. He tries to coax me into allowing him some by demonstrating how sweet and obedient he is. Sometimes it does get him a handful.

Name that thought