The Mountain

What is Real? What is Perception? Can one alter the other? Cancer, though not perceived, can certainly have real results. Yet I know many people who faced with real cancer, perceive the balance of their life to be years longer than their doctors would have them believe, and through their perception they make it so. I admit I’ve had little luck perceiving that the car in front of me doing thirty in the left-hand lane is speeding up. It just continues to go real slow! On the other hand, though I live by the Sea on a thin strip of land whose highest point is a condominium roof full of A/C units and the calling cards of endless sea gulls, I perceive that I also dwell on the side of a mountain, and THAT is the most real thing in the universe!

I was sitting on the side of that mountain the other day. Actually, I tend to think of it as “The Mountain,” it’s size and beauty being of such magnitude that all other mountains dwindle and grow pale by comparison. Mighty Everest is reduced to little more than a snow covered speed bump. I told myself that I was simply resting between climbs, but the truth of the matter is that I’ve not been making much of an effort to climb higher of late. I’ve been content to just hang about and admire the view from where I am.

Many others sat around me, though whether they are stopped due to fatigue, the view, or an apathy similar to my own, I cannot say. They seem as unconcerned about their time being frittered away not climbing as I am. It is a very big mountain and few of us still believe that we will reach the actual summit in one climb. Oddly enough, none of us seem to doubt that we will reach that summit one day. I enjoy their company, and I believe they enjoy mine. We do after all have the most important thing imaginable in common. We’re all climbing The Mountain.

I do wonder how many of them would still enjoy my company if the knew of the Path that had led me here, indeed the Path that I intend to follow all the way to the top. You see there are a great many trails that wind and turn their way across the face of The Mountain. Over the years many have been defined and improved by the people who have traveled them in an effort to make easier the journey of those who will come after. These are now Paths rather than merely trails. Many have stairs cut into the rock to help over the rougher spots, and where cliff faces are unavoidable, handholds have been clearly marked and safety lines have been installed. All of this is a good thing. The climb can be quite treacherous at times.

The only problem with this is that many of those who have invested so much effort in constructing such Paths, have become increasingly strict about who can use their Path. Most of the more elaborate Paths have been color coded, supposedly in an effort to help those who begin on, say, the Yellow Path, to stay on the Yellow Path all the way to the top. It is possible, of course, to start out on the Red Path and later switch over to say the Yellow. I know many who have done just that, but it is generally frowned upon, at least by those who maintain the Paths.

This confuses me further because many of the Paths have shared starting points. The Orange, for example begins very far down in the mists at the very foot of the mountain, then the Yellow branches off from it, and, higher still, the Red branches off from the Orange as well. Both the Red and the Yellow later divide as well, the Red into two different Paths, the Yellow into dozens. These Paths are marked with signs the original color, yet modified in some way. The Red with vertical white stripes and the Red with horizontal white stripes, for example.

My confusion arises with the fact that both of the Red Paths claim to be the only true Red Path, and that each HATES the other! The dozens of split-off Yellow Paths are only slightly less jealous of their own sole claims to Yellow supremacy, and often just as vehement in their derision of any who would doubt them. And here’s where it gets really weird! Although they ALL began on the Orange, the Reds HATE each other, they HATE the Yellows more, and they HATE the Orange most of all! The Yellows, on their best days only distrust the Reds and the Orange, but as often as not, they too can work up a frothing-at-the-mouth HATRED for either! Were their HATRED only internal, or, at most, verbal, it would be easy enough to ignore, but the base of The Mountain is littered with the bones Yellows thrown to their deaths by Reds, and vice versa. There are also countless bones of Oranges pushed off The Mountain by BOTH!

Personally, I believe there is no place on The Mountain for HATRED, and I dearly wish the others would learn to just enjoy the climb. The Blue and the Purple don’t seem to have any problem tolerating others, and their Paths begin as close to the foot of The Mountain as the Orange. I have tried on several occasions to share this message, but I follow the Green Path, (though my parents followed the Yellow) and once this is known few if any of the Orange, Red, or Yellow care to hear anything I have to say. Many of them go so far as to question my right to even be on The Mountain! I remember at such times that there are vast numbers of Green bones at the base of The Mountain as well, most cast off before their time by the very groups I’m trying to convince to be tolerant.

If I see someone stumble and fall on The Mountain, I do not think about what Path they may be on. I simply reach out and catch them. Should I find a fellow climber sheltering from a storm, and believe me the storms on The Mountain can be quite fierce, I will share my fire, my food, or even my blanket until the storm passes, or until they are warmed and renourished enough to continue on their way. I have, however, been quite amazed on many such occasions to find that once they learn that I travel the Green Path, many would rather suffer hungry in the cold than accept my aid! Again with the HATE!

As a Green, I believe I am one with the ENTIRE Mountain. I am kin to every tree and bush, every badger and bird. I am also brother to every man, woman, and child who climbs The Mountain, though many, were my Path known, wouldn’t have me as a fifth cousin. This is the very reason so many on the Green Path do not freely share the true nature of their Path with anyone save the trees, the bushes, the badgers, and the birds. Who among us will go up to a stranger and say, “Hello, HATE me!” I can do nothing about this, but I do know that their refusal to acknowledge any kinship with me does not negate my responsibility to them.

I was born on The Mountain, so were all of my family. So were you and all of yours. I enjoy the climb, and even when facing the worst of the storms and the sheerest of cliffs, I can do naught but climb. The Summit calls to me. I would hope that it calls to us all. That is why we’re on The Mountain in the first place. As for the choice of Paths, I say to each their own. So long as they climb toward the Summit and the Light, we’re ALL on the SAME Mountain! I wish you all luck on your climb! Maybe I’ll see you on The Mountain, if not, I’ll see you at the Summit!

Blessed Be