{"id":3574,"date":"2015-11-03T17:48:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T01:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=3574"},"modified":"2015-11-03T17:49:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T01:49:32","slug":"november-3-2015-deep-space-deep-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-3-2015-deep-space-deep-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"November 3, 2015 – Deep space, deep faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
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\"deep<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to this post:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20151103-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

When my husband Joe moved in with me, in my little house in San Anselmo 17 years ago, he brought with him his portable Jacuzzi spa. As Marin-clich\u00e9 as this is, there has always been a hot tub in our backyard since. They are just one of the great things (along with, of course, black Labrador boy-dogs) that came along with my sweetheart. Most nights, just before bed, I wrap myself in a towel, and go outside into the dark and slip my bare body into the warm water. I leave the jets off, so it\u2019s still and quiet. The temperature is just right, warm enough that it feels really good, but not so hot that I have to get used to it. It\u2019s heaven. It warms me to my bones, so I can crawl into bed with a really warm body and can fall asleep right away. I don\u2019t know about you, but if I\u2019m cold when I go to bed \u2013 especially, if it\u2019s my feet for some reason \u2013 I just cannot<\/em> get to sleep.<\/p>\n

While I\u2019m soaking, I gaze up at the night sky. Most nights seem to be clear around here, so I can almost always see the stars. Sometimes I can pick out the Big Dipper – pretty much the only constellation that I can easily recognize. Now and then a plane goes by, and I imagine the human beings up inside it, most likely headed to SFO. Part of the month the moon is up and full enough, to cast shadows in the backyard. It\u2019s a special time \u2013 I\u2019m alone and really present to being alive on our little planet, amidst a vast universe beyond my comprehension. I feel small in the very best way.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about this time I spend out there in the dark, that re-frames my challenges and worries. It has me feel both insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and very precious at the same time. The ways in which I worry if I \u201cdo enough\u201d to further the causes of good settle down, and I can be happy that I get to appreciate beauty and make art, and have people in my life who love me and who I love too. I am also really embodied. It\u2019s intensely pleasurable to be submerged in warm water, breathing cool air, and I cannot help but be aware of how good it feels to be incarnate.<\/p>\n

\"Betsey's<\/a>

Betsey’s photo from Route 97 in British Columbia, \u00a92015 Betsey Crawford<\/p><\/div>\n

I read a post a couple of weeks ago, written by a treasured person in my world. Betsey and I met at the Sausalito Art Festival two or three years ago, and she showed up the very next Friday to paint with us. She and I now belong to each other. Since the early part of the year, Betsey has been on a road trip to follow the wild flowers from the Mexican border to Alaska. She takes absolutely exquisite photographs of the flowers and landscapes along her way and posts them, along with her always perceptive, often funny and sometimes provocative thoughts at: theSouloftheEarth.com<\/a>. This post was called \u201cWayside Beauty\u201d, where she shares the magnificent scenery that she passes, as she drives her truck and trailer along the highway \u2013 stunning photos included. Nature that has been untouched by humans has a particular kind of magic, that can be like looking up into the night sky \u2013 it evokes a particular kind of wonder.<\/p>\n

In addition to appreciating the beauty Betsey saw though, I had another reaction to this post: \u201cbut what about the beauty we<\/em> create?\u201d I\u2019d just returned from Paris, having gorged on human-made beauty in the form of art, architecture, style, design and use of color. And then there was the beauty of sound \u2013 the bells of Notre Dame, and the concert in St. Chapelle \u2013 the other day I heard Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and it took me right back to listening to the sounds Mozart crafted, coming out of the musicians\u2019 instruments, while surrounded by all that stained glass \u2013 a moment with its own kind of wonder. Then there was the beauty in food \u2013 to look at, to smell and oh, the taste! We humans have ideas, inspirations and then we create things that weren\u2019t there before, or we transform what was to something altogether different. What we create can be just as inspiring to me as a pristine landscape.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of my favorite of Monet’s: (Les Roses, oil on canvas, Paris, Mus\u00e9e Marmottan) I loved seeing it again a few weeks ago.<\/p><\/div>\n

Certainly plenty of what we have created is not<\/em> beautiful. We seem to be seriously waking up to this now, in our impact on the environment and the climate. This is behind the idea that humans are viewed as separate<\/em> from nature \u2013 as counter<\/em> to nature \u2013 nature vs. humans, natural vs. synthetic. The thing about this that puzzles me is, how can we not<\/em> be nature? We evolved out of other creatures \u2013 we and our consciousness are part of the evolution of the universe \u2013 of all-of-creation. And our creations<\/em> are also part of-all-creation. Nothing that we make, not Impressionist paintings or stone cathedrals, not plastic candy wrappers from Halloween or chemicals that pollute our waterways, nothing that we make came from anywhere or anything else than nature. We and all our trappings are<\/em> nature – part of all that is.<\/p>\n

I just have to believe that the point of evolution of life on earth is not that life, or even human life goes to hell in a handbasket. I believe we are going to continue to evolve, and come up with creative solutions for the problems we\u2019ve created. Crisis is what draws creativity from us. When things are all going along smoothly we aren\u2019t spurred to act. I\u2019m hearing the word \u201cpartnership\u201d all the time these days. I think it\u2019s where we are heading. Co-creating the future \u2013 humans and<\/em> nature. Partnership, as I\u2019m learning from Alison<\/a>, is an act of what she calls \u201chuman spirit.\u201d It\u2019s not something that comes out of our \u2013 largely unconscious – survival instinct. In order to be in partnership, we need to be in relationship. My evenings with deep space, Betsey\u2019s reports from the wild lands between here and Alaska, and painting the beauty I see in a flower – all this connects me – I am part of nature.<\/p>\n

I tend to the trash at my mom\u2019s office where we paint. I\u2019ve set up three bins: compost, where our used paper towels go, recycle for metal, most plastic and glass and the garbage, which ends up in the landfill. Not everyone reads the signs or knows where it all goes, so I regularly re-sort it. And usually when someone sees me, they ask about what goes where. Sorting trash is not my favorite thing to do, but I do it because I care, because I\u2019m compelled – to do my \u201cpart\u201d to be in partnership with nature. I really work to not get preachy and righteous about it, but I do want help, I do want others to join me in re-using as much of our resources as we can and putting as little as possible into the waste fields, where still the vast majority of what we discard ends up.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, I read a quote attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which has been echoing in me. It included the phrase \u201cdeep faith in the future.\u201d As I read it, I realized I have this. I am absolutely faithful in our future. Because there is so much suffering and violence in our world, to stay out of despair I have<\/em> to have faith that everything is alright in the end, and if it\u2019s not alright, it\u2019s not the end (I love this line from the movie, \u201cThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel\u201d).<\/p>\n

Gazing up into deep space before I sleep feeds my faith. It brings me out beyond even the massive human challenge of climate change. It expands time and space out to infinity. And, it brings me right into my<\/em> space, my body, and this<\/em> moment. I sleep and then wake to do my part \u2013 record the beauty I see in paint and write to you, and sort trash and love my loved ones.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to this post: When my husband Joe moved in with me, in my little house in San Anselmo 17 years ago, he brought with him his portable Jacuzzi spa. As Marin-clich\u00e9 as this is, there has always been a hot tub in our backyard since. They are just one of the great things (along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNovember 3, 2015 - Deep space, deep faith - Life in Full Color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-3-2015-deep-space-deep-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"November 3, 2015 - Deep space, deep faith - Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Listen to this post: When my husband Joe moved in with me, in my little house in San Anselmo 17 years ago, he brought with him his portable Jacuzzi spa. 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