36 Views

Good Morning -

A lot of people know the famous Japanese woodblock print "The Wave" by Hokusai. What they may not know is that the print is actually the first in a series called "Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji". A lot of people don't even know Mt. Fuji is in the print - they have to look a second time at the space in the background created by the curve of the wave in the foreground before they notice, "Hey - There's a mountain peak in this image."

That peak is Mt. Fuji and it is the central character in the series - the reason the series was created in the first place.

We could choose to talk now about how the print is famous for something for which it was not meant to be famous - the wave. We could talk about what that says about us as an art-viewing people. We could ponder about how that relates to our ability to get distracted by the foreground when it's the background that holds the purpose.

We could go a number of different routes with this one, but I'd like to stick with the mountain.

Oh, more than that. I'd like not just to stick with the mountain - I'd like to be on the mountain. I'd like to be surrounded by the mountain. I'd like to have 36 of my own views of the mountain as I move through my day. I'd like to be able to lean west and rest myself against the strong back of the mountain. I'd like to lean forward and give the mountain a full body hug, wrapping my arms around her hard pink and grey and blue and white bones, pressing my finger tips into her dark soft soil made from the mulch of ages.

Some locals will say, "But we have mountains here in Tucson - go hug a mountain here. Here are your 36 views. Here are your granite bones."

Yes - and no.

These mountains are different. These are the last tail end bones of the spinal chord called the Rockies. These are sacrum when you want scapula. These are coccyx when you want ribs.

So, yes - when all you've got are phalanges, the sacrum and coccyx look pretty good - but they are nothing on the scapula, they don't hold a candle to the ribs.

I want ribs. I want scapula. I want mountains I can lean into without getting pricked by a thousand cactus needles. I want the cool-air nights created by the mountain's exhale.

So, it's time. As we move forward, I'll honor my intent with Virgen views of the mountains.

Here's to that. Here's to intent. Here's to manifesting. Here's to bones and here's to mountains.