Prologue: In the Beginning
In
the beginning,
There
was nothing at all, just a void and hollow space.
Somehow, in that uninhabited setting, two clouds began to form.
Somehow, in that uninhabited setting, two clouds began to form.
One
cloud was called Vacant, and the other was named Empty.
Vacant
began to stretch herself out and her body became the Earth.
Empty
ascended as high as he possibly could and he transformed into the ethereal sky.
And
from these two, celestial brother and sister; all creatures and the entire world;
Everything
was born.
- Creation Myth of the Luiseño People of Southern California
- Creation Myth of the Luiseño People of Southern California
“Direct your Eye right inward,
and you’ll find
A thousand regions in your mind
Yet undiscovered. Travel them,
and be
Expert in home-cosmography.”
- Henry David
Thoreau, “Walden”
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T
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hough Thoreau constantly challenges us to fix our gazes
inward and hike those glorious trails through the pastures of our mind; it is
quite difficult to read his eloquent words without pondering what majesty
inspired them. His fondness for the natural world, his admiration for the
magnificence of his hometown, and his adoration for all living things both
great and small; they beckon me to journey not just inwardly, but beyond my
concrete cookie-cutter confines, outside my yuppie real-estate landmine in the
valley, far from the dry and arid ninety-degree-November dessert of Corona
California, to New England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to Plymouth and
Boston, to Salem and to Amherst, to Cape Cod and Concord, and yes, to Walden!
To Next Chapter: "Tuesday - The Descent "