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The lower right corner photo in today’s post depicts the country intersection of Hurd and West Shore roads as of last month. Thirty six years ago, this junction was the scene of the historic Woodstock concert.
Right now, earthmovers are reshaping Yasgur’s farm into a permanent performing arts center that will play summer host to the New York Philharmonic Symphony - from one long haired music to another.
Alternately urban-expat and pastoral, wild then downright citified, Sullivan County is balancing in-between country and city. It’s become a place where the ground beneath your feet is changing, often literally, right before your eyes.
Addressing this in-between as it pertains to one’s inner life and journey is the focus of a recent book, “The Places That Scare You - A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times,” by American Buddhist nun and writer, Pema Chodron:
“Anxiety, heartbreak and tenderness mark the in-between state. It’s the kind of place we usually want to avoid. The challenge is to stay in the middle rather than buy into struggle and complaint. The challenge is to let it soften us rather than make us more rigid and afraid. Becoming intimate with the queasy feeling of being in the middle of nowhere only makes our hearts more tender. When we are brave enough to stay in the middle, compassion arises spontaneously. By not knowing, not hoping to know, and not acting like we know what’s happening, we begin to access our inner strength.”
Or, as another famous American writer queried during one of our nation’s many transitions, “How does it feel/To be on your own/With no direction home/Like a complete unknown/Like a rolling stone?”
No worries if Buddhist practice is not your cup of tea. Nature delivers to us an unsolicited, tailor-made in-between moment everyday. This fertile hypnopompic state is the topic of poet Wanda Phipps’ newest book “Wake Up Calls - 66 Morning Poems.” Fresh to each morning, she chronicles a spirit emergent from dreaming, born into the unformed day and notes whatever gifts and perplexities arise from the in-between.
Whet your appetite on some of Wanda’s animated morning poems at Mind Honey. In addition to offering her performance schedule and selected works, the site is a good portal to poetry resources on the web.
Sensing the changes underfoot, registering ill-ease or waking to a new morning, we spend a lot of time in the middle - knowingly or otherwise. As Pema says, “This juicy spot is a fruitful place to be.”