I have yet to sleep a night on the boat myself, but there were years that I traversed the sea and land, shifting between land legs and sea legs daily.
Now I just go on the boat, switch out the sheets, clean her tiny berths and heads, and make my way to land again. But even just these short, almost daily traipses onto this water platform give me the shifting feeling everyday. I’ve always had a bit of an unsteady inner ear. When I sit still to type this, cozy at my land home kitchen table, the world is still swaying with the rocking of the waves. I feel movement for hours and days after being on a boat. What a gift, moment by moment, to be reminded, though on solid land, that nothing is steady or still. Nothing is permement. I can remember to hold on to my hat. I am sure that kansas is a state of mind and that I create a wake on land from the sway of my perceptions.
Our planet is most certainly a spaceship, perhaps moving in a whirling hole behind the sun who is in a hurry to go somewhere. When I look at stars, I feel like we are allowed on deck of the ship of earth to watch our travels as we hurtle through space. What an amazing vessel is she, designed so that we do not have to wear seat belts or wait for the captain’s light to move about.
I am not a scientist. I do not know if this model is right, but I like the way it makes my mind open to the sway of possibilities. I like to zoom out past my seat and look on us from a new angle. I like to be a bit unsteady, for then I am prompted to be on my toes, ready for anything.
Life as Improv 
Nicely done!
I’ve often said that if I’m a little unsteady,
It’s because I’m on a planet hurtling through space. Knowing that, what stability can we count on? How much time do any of us have left? What really matters? Where are we all going?
These questions often seem tough to me, and the perspective you’ve shared reminds me to get busy finding answers soon.
Thanks,
Vincent
Hi Vincent,
Where are we all going??? Good Question!
In the face of all those questions, I find myself leaning into the uncertainty. Feeling glad to share the ride with thee! Marga
“I am sure that kansas is a state of mind and that I create a wake on land from the sway of my perceptions.” This! Brilliant! I try too hard to be steady. A little more letting the rhythm of the sway carry me would be beneficial I think.
Alison
Switching from steady to unsteady comes at a price, I think – I might look a little drunk with no alcohol in sight 😉 I hope the New Year celebrations close to your origin were fun! I wonder how many hours ahead of me you were stepping into 2015. Much love and good wishes to you! Marga
I think we’re about 15 or so hours ahead (depending if you’re on the east or west coast). Even so we celebrated NZ new year in OZ (ie about 10pm our local time). Well really. It was already the new year in Samoa and NZ while Hawaii still had about 20 hours to go. Time is such a mockery 🙂
Much love and good wishes to you too, and may 2015 be all you would wish for.
Alison
Your unsteady inner ear serves you well on the hole (sic) I think, ‘though it may sway your perceptions as you say, it could be worse. For example, I have an unsteady mind myself, a swaying cloud of vapours within which I dwell never at any time to escape. From this billowing mantle, one can hardly detect the sea nor land at all. Occasionally spaceships drift past, emitting detectable signals, the content of which remains forever an enigma to me. As you say though, as long as one holds on to one’s hat then little can go wrong.
I think you are right, Hariod, holding on to our hats is a good thing even if we start mistaking our companions for hats. That guy, as described by Oliver Sacks, was still rather cheerful, as was his wife/hat 🙂 Love these illustrations: http://cutitout.co.uk/projects/folio-society-the-man-who xo! m
An excellent book indeed. Have you read “Phantoms in the Brain” by V.S. Ramachandran? It too is really excellent if that sort of thing grabs you. Happy New Year Marga! H ❤
oooh, found this book on a pdf. I had read an article years ago about an individual helped with these phantom pains with a mirror – now I know the source of inspiration. So interesting, these brains. Thanks Hariod. Bright New Year’s wishes back to you.
That was quick work; and I’m honoured that you would follow up on my casual suggestion Marga. V.S. Ramachandran is a very interesting writer as you will discover if you delve further. It was through him that I came to greatly appreciate the work of the late Zoltan Torey – another quite remarkable writer with exceptional insights into the workings of the mind. H ❤
Dig it!
:)))
I grew up in Kansas, and you’re right: It *is* a state of mind. Isn’t it all? Certainly steadiness is. And yet, not.
I am trying to think of a good way to open this semester with the basic idea of ambiguity. No thing is absolute, but often at 17 or 18 the gradual shifting between polar opposites is difficult to see and express. Gracious, I still can’t see and express clearly 🙂 Hoping telepathy kicks in soon!
That problem is a very vivid memory that I hold from my teaching days. As a writing teacher, I always through that langauge itself was my biggest ally. My best lesson along those lines was working through Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” very short and apparently simple, yet immediately complex. Good luck :~)
Hi! Loved these pictures, your video… and wow, nice post. I like your view of the twirling universe racing through space, too. Static cling is so annoying.
Happy New Year, friend. 🙂
~M
We are such a clingy planet 🙂
Yes – a real plus that we don’t need seat belts on this ship. And chuck the “science” — from what I hear, most of it is far from the truth of how Reality works or occurs. Blessings to you in this new, rocking, tipsy year! ♥
Precious Alia! Off to a rocking, tipsy start, for sure as I send those blessing back to you and Tomas. (btw – love your beautiful face!) xo! marga
I couldn’t resist some amateur hour astonomy this morning. (I’m the amateur.) (These notes may not be rigorously correct, so think of them as more anecdotal, adding to the beauty you have begun…)
Kansas is even more beautiful in its spiral dance than the video suggested. There is some evidence our sun is orbiting Alcyon, the central sun of the Pleiades, and of course altogether we’re whipping around the center of the galaxy at terrific speeds. Speed being a relatively meaningless parameter at astronomical scales where space and time are wobbly themselves. I had read about our sun orbiting Alcyon once long ago, and in trying to pull that back, found the following:
A Mayan Grand Cycle is five Great Cycles, or roughly 25,000 years. This is the length of time, approximately and probably not coincidentally, that it takes us to orbit Alcyon, and also the length of time required for our planet to complete one full precession through the Zodiac. So, we’re spiraling within spirals, within spirals, but these cycles are aligned with our deepest observations of influence, myth, and evolution. And all of this reduces beautifully to the simple movement of the sea, such a subtle reminder of all this perfect cosmic motion…
The video uses the comet tails from the sun and planets beautifully to show the motion, but it creates this sense that the sun is dragging everyone along, and I think it may moreso be the case that the sun and all of its offspring are falling together through a common sky. As if we were to take the whole ensemble and drop it down an infinite elevator shaft. I think that is a closer approximation to the “reality” of it. The sun’s presence keeps us moving in circles around it, but I don’t know that the sun is literally “pulling” the planets along against any great resistance. More likely we are all whirling around in circles as we fall, drawn on by the same gravitational threads.
Michael
Good googlelly moogelly – What a delicious can of gummy worms! The numbers and cycles are familiar, except I had heard that we are a sister star with sirius, but with a little digging, I found Alcyonic 🙂 implications, as well. I am happy to fall down many of the rabbit holes you are pointing out, Michael. Arm-chair astronomy away – you are great at it! Each zoom spot out from the current frame of reference causes a shift in perception, but lingering at each shifting point becomes impossible with the exponential factors that take us outta this neighborhood might fast. It would be a great fun thought experiment if it weren’t so dang dizzying. Sending you dramamine to ease the sensations for the spiraling trip down while also starting the post holiday work week tomorrow! xo! marga
We have recently rented our first boat (not counting the sweet but ancient pontoon in Maine, which required much patience and a healthy dose of prayer to start the engine). A 23 foot angler; older, well used, nothing fancy, and my husband fell in love with her like a school boy would fall in love with a poster of a glamorous movie star. She was, his first. It was very sweet and somewhat romantic to observe, as watching someone fall in love often is. She carried us over many frolicking and feisty waves to the most exquisite coral reefs. Every night we would be exhausted from our daytime adventures and yet every night I would struggle to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes my head would start rocking around, to the point where I held my hands over my ears to steady my swirling brain! It was like it was sloshing around in a bucket of saltwater! Thus, I can very much relate to your tale above, and I really like the metaphor you draw, from the human vortex of ‘creating a wake on land from the sway of our own perceptions’, to the zooming out of spiraling around the sun. And what is that, except for an earth literally falling in love with the sun, like a man with his boat. 🙂 Ain’t love grand!
Sea swaying sister! How beautifully and lovingly you describe the love affair you witnessed! I am so happy to think of your adventures on coral reefs. I think part of the reason people want to rent my boat is that some romantic and adventuresome spirit of the sea is buried deep within them and it is seeking tangible expression. I watch people daily as their eyes start to gleam and they open little nooks and pop their heads out of hatches, all while still tied to the dock. But the great attractors are pulling us on to adventure and areas unknown; great once you can settle the sway and get some sleep. Are you all back home or lingering still in the warm air of FL? Much love sent to you! Marga
Oh how I love to be on a spaceship adventure with you! You’re intention to maintain ‘unsteadiness’ reminds me of one of the first times I remember ‘blending dimensions’. I was about 12, laying on my bed, contemplating God outside of time…I started traveling out of my room, out of my town, out of my country, out of the ‘spaceship’, out of our galaxy, and then into utter, black stillness…Nothingness…. Which promptly freaked me out and I zoomed back home. But oh the wobbliness!!! My bedroom felt like a boat to me after that! Ha. Thanks for encouraging, unsteady reminders…xoxo
Amanda,
What an intrepid explorer you were and are! I am stuck on the phrasing, “contemplating God outside of time…” That is a powerful collection of words that does create a zooming out, intrinsically, to anyone who might dwell upon them, it seems to me this morning. I have a little overlap with you here from childhood – probably a very necessary part of our Space Training from Higher MIssion Control 🙂 Such a gift to get to visit with you here and out in the greater mysteries! xo!! m
Reporting for duty! Heehee 🙂