"There Be Monsters"

Abraham Ortelius 1570

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"Armand Gamache was the explorer. He went ahead of the rest, into territory unknown and uncharted. He was drawn to the edge of things. To the places old mariners knew, and warned, 'Beyond here be Monsters.'"

--Louise Penny

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There was an interview on npr about the Grand Canyon and the artists who have painted it. I was particularly impressed with one who has lived with his wife and three children at the bottom of the canyon tending to the park's water supply for nigh on thirty years. What I really appreciated were the remarks about how modern art critics reject beauty. "They don't take a beautiful painting seriously." How sad that beauty is not serious. How differently the "Walk in beauty" Navajo prayer speaks to that!

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again

Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me

I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.

I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.

I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.

I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.

I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.

In beauty all day long may I walk.

Through the returning seasons, may I walk.

On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.

With dew about my feet, may I walk.

With beauty before me may I walk.

With beauty behind me may I walk.

With beauty below me may I walk.

With beauty above me may I walk.

With beauty all around me may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

My words will be beautiful.

It strikes me that the Grand Canyon artists are a courageous bunch, very like the explorers of old facing a cruel tide. But is it courage that makes an explorer? Is it curiosity? Perhaps it is transcending love. I am not a risk taker. You won't find me on ski slopes or high in the skies in a hot air balloon. However, I have definitely been an explorer. Places call me and I go, no questions asked. For me, setting out on an adventure, stepping onto unknown land, has no element of fear; it is all joy of living. Experience has taught me that danger is everywhere so whether or not I venture timidly or boldly, something can always happen. Consequently, my choice is Boo! to fear. The Grand Canyon artist is right. Choose Beauty. Choose Example. Phooey to the betrayers, the stab in the backers. Piffle to those who let cynicism reign, depravity rule, who claim a sophisticated superiority. Bah! to realists who unbalance the real world by forgetting the very deep seriousness of goodness. An explorer is one who lets his or her passion overwhelm fear. My mantra: Watch out, Monsters, here I come!

...may the blessings of true spirits be yours...