Well hidden in a jumble of an ancient volcanic rocks on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada is a petroglyph that sends a message across the ages. Early humans in this valley expressing something unknown, but perhaps, somehow knowable. The poet Robinson Jeffers speaks about the mystery of another such place in the mountains of Big Sur in this way:
"There's no one to say
Whether the brown shy quite people who are dead intended
Religion or magic, or made their tracings
In the idleness of art..."
I appreciate Jeffer's honesty. Over the years and on many continents I have visited sites not unlike this, where people long gone or in a lost language left us intentional or unintentional messages. I have often felt suspicious when some great story is told about what they mean and why the works were created. As far as I can tell, we often don't know... yet we can let ourselves feel the beauty of such a place. We can feel the shared human lineage in the wonder of "not knowing" and feel the mystery.
I do not know what the intentions of the creators of these rock etchings were. I do know I feel blessed and grateful as I stand before them. In awe and wonder I kneel down and touch the rock and so clearly feel the rock alive — touching me back across time — grateful for the message.
Wildly,
Steven
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