Gloriousness of the Mountains

Kundera speaks of the unbearable lightness of being because it is poignant and wrenching and somehow uniquely human. But there is also the buoyant lightness of being. There are days when the stars melt away in the morning mist, the sun inflates you like a balloon and every step you take adds little pumps of happiness into your deepest being. The cool breeze washes away the cares of the past and the future, but it is not escaping, it is supposed to be that way. You are balanced on so many levels of consciousness that the levels themselves seem to be in harmonious choir, humming the anthem of a beautiful day. And you might stop and wonder for a little while why every day can't be like this, but it is only a brief thought because on these days you are detached enough from 'reason' that this doesn't even seem a valid question.

I was biking down a street around sunset on such a day and I saw a bit of a mountain rising up out of the mists. I couldn't see its base or its summit, but I knew it from the many times I have seen it before. Nevertheless, that mountain struck me and looked into my eyes in a way that few people ever have, and seemed to caress my heart in a way that I've known and lived for since I became a thinking person. I wondered why I love mountains so much, and I think I have a bit more of an answer because of today. It is because mountains have layers and depth which they bear to the world, offer up to be molded, used, marveled at from afar and struggled with at close range. Flat places seem a paltry option, where things are hidden, static, uniform and safe, qualities that throw my soul out of balance. It is only when one rises up bravely, regardless of the insurmountable forces wearing away; tearing, pulling and limiting, that we can expose more of our layers to the choir of life and let the harmony of our beings ring out in all the more complex and wonderful expressions we are capable of. May we never forget how amazing mountains are and how necessary they are to us.