(c) John, Rekesh 2004-2008. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission
3. Desert (Part 2)
Indeed, all the terrains of the earth, like the deserts, forests, grasslands and others, were created by the interplay of the elements of earth, wind, water and heat. And so were the storms, the lightning, clouds, rain, and in fact, everything she could observe. Does a similar interplay in the realms of body, mind, emotions and spirit create similar phenomena? If the allegory with the four elements were true, then this had to be so! Was it possible that these stones, dust, heat and the few clouds above are parallels or allegories of things that happen within human beings? Would it mean that all the ecosystems of the earth had corresponding allegories in human lives?
This was an exciting thought to her. Her musings on the sandy desert and rains did correspond to a spiritual message from the desert. Then thinking about rains, the phenomenon of acid rain came to mind. The acidity in the water, she knew, was due to pollutants in the air. As the air element seemed to represent the mind, by analogy the pollution of the air pointed out a corresponding pollution of the human mind. And the rain that fell through the air picked up the pollutants, pointing to a parallel corruption of emotions that resulted in corrosive and destructive behavior, much like acid. The pollutants, she observed, mostly came from the burning of fossil fuels, like petroleum and coal mined from the bowels of the earth. These fuels, both solid and liquid, corresponded to her basic instincts or bodily drives, the physical and emotional cravings, originating deep within her own animal nature. Or did they?
The coal taken deep from the bowels of the earth, by analogy, corresponded to physical drives of the body, its genetic inheritance of aggression and sexuality that generated so much power. Petroleum pointed to deep-seated and flammable emotions that also originated from within the body. Indeed, the fossil fuels were the solid and liquefied remains of organisms taken from the depths of the earth, representing natures that originated deep within the physical body. And these fuels had tremendous energy in them, just as there existed tremendous compulsions arising from basic instincts. These fuels had to be burnt to release their energy, the burning representing the fire element. This corresponded to the spirit that indulged in these experiences, with each instance of indulgence leaving its mark in the mind, polluting it further, and creating corrosive emotions. Likewise, the fossil fuels burned and polluted the air and turned rain acidic. Indeed, human civilization at large was driven by these fossil fuels, and likewise most human beings were also driven by their basic instincts. The allegories seemed valid, and she felt she had stumbled onto something. Perhaps there was a real connection between the earth-wind-water-fire system and body-mind-emotion-spirit system!
Could she combine the acid rain phenomenon with the allegory of the spiritual message from the desert? It seemed she could. The human mind had twisted even those life-giving spiritual showers into deadly ones, and she needed to look no further than the activities of destructive religious bigots and terrorists to find their echoes in the acid rain. The allegories still appeared valid.
What about the destructive storms, the tornadoes, the tsunamis and other phenomena that wreak havoc on the earth? She thought these too might have their analogies in human lives, for they too were actions of water, wind and heat on the earth. The strong winds and the huge waves were representative of a turbulent and violent mind giving way to emotional outbursts and physical destruction. Such natures existed within her, and in fact within everyone, from the scale of individuals to groups and even to nations. And their outcomes were as destructive as the storms, tornadoes or tsunamis. Once again, the association rang true.
But wasn’t it just a coincidence, she wondered, or simply poetic imagination? Do the various phenomena in the realm of earth, wind, water and fire really reflect those in the realm of body, mind, emotions and spirit? What was spirit anyway? She was aware of religious and spiritual lore about various myths of hells and heavens, realms of the so-called spirit. If the fire-spirit analogy were true, then it meant that various patterns created on the earth by the elements reflected patterns from the so-called hells to the highest heavens! Indeed, her comparison of the desert to a religious purgatory did fall in line with this notion.
“Beware of the skeleton!” came an eerie voice from behind. Aliyah jumped and almost fell down. She turned around to find Emma doubled up in laughter.
“You really scared me there for a moment!” Aliyah exclaimed. Emma was referring to the old sun-bleached remains of a steer, which seemed to fascinate Aliyah so much that she made a point of visiting it every time she arrived here.
“Here, dab some of this on yourself.” Emma held out a bottle of suntan lotion. “And damn this heat! I hope it’s doing my complexion some good. I’m already half-cooked.”
Aliyah laughed as she took the proffered bottle. She was touched by her friend’s concern.
“Well, I hope we don’t get stranded in this place. My shoes are not made for walking,” Emma tried again.
“You could leave them here for Prince Peter. I’m sure he will come to your rescue!” replied Aliyah, referring to Emma’s boyfriend, who had a persistent habit of keeping tabs on her.
Emma smiled and looked around.
“If only he knew where we were! But cell phones are no use here. I’m afraid we may not have enough beetle juice to get us all the way back home.” Beetle juice was Emma’s term for gasoline.
“Well, it’s only a hundred miles of rocks, cacti and poisonous critters. I’m sure we can leg it.”
Emma laughed and looked at Aliyah curiously. Trying to scare her was fun. But there was something else going on.
“What were you so engrossed in that you didn’t hear me coming? That skeleton told you something new today?”
“No, Emma,” Aliyah poured out to her friend. “But I think I found another skeleton, a live one that holds worlds in its sinews. Do you know what it means to see a world in a grain of sand?”
“The world? In a grain of sand?” laughed Emma. “I read that in some poetry lessons in high school. It’s stuff for dreaming minds, pretty daft, if you ask me.”
But then Emma paused and reflected on what Aliyah had said. She knew Aliyah was not kidding, and perhaps there was something in it, after all.
“Well, tell me all about it, hon, but not now,” Emma continued, “The weather seems to be turning for the worse. We’d better get out of here.”
Aliyah looked towards the western horizon. Indeed, the light was fading and clouds were gathering in the evening sky. It seemed that the desert was finally being visited by rain! Aliyah turned around, excited. She really wanted to stay back, but then saw Emma’s disapproving look, and sighed.
“Going back so soon! I wish we could have stayed longer!”
“Yeah, and grow roots like a cactus! You hardly move from where you sit. If prairie dogs were really dogs, you would be all wet by now.”
They both laughed. Aliyah promised herself to be back again soon, for this was something she did not want to miss – the wonderful and incomparable transformation of a desert! For now, they had to leave.
They walked back to the Beetle and got inside. Emma gave a sigh of relief when the car started without a hitch.
“Whew!” she said, “I was kind of scared that she may not start. Like in those movies you know? Get stranded here and ...”
“Come on, you worry wart! What could possibly happen?”
“Well, for me, it could be getting stuck in the middle of this desert. For you, it could be running into Prince Charming!” Emma took a jibe at Aliyah’s inherent distrust of men that had kept her away from a serious relationship. Emma had really tried some matchmaking in the past, with little success.
“Well, don’t look at me! Your princes have always turned into frogs, sooner or later.”
Emma laughed, and then sighed. She had really hoped that Aliyah would pull out of all this nonsense if she were to get herself into a serious relationship. So far, that had not materialized.
“Just keep your eyes on the road, and we’ll be fine.” Aliyah admonished her.
The car pulled out from the shade of the big rock, soon entered the lone desert road, and headed west.
“Yeah, what could possibly happen?” Emma repeated to herself.
* * *