Gratitude: Riddling Enigmas

Le Guin Series: Chapter 6, Verse 1

A mountain in the Siguniang National Park, 2024.

I’m a practical person, at least I like to think so. A realist who favours logic and explainable theories that have a sound ring. Not everybody is like me, there are many minds, but my mind is like everyone's in this way, only able to filter incoming information through my web of experience.

I also like to get down to things; to the point, to the action. Starting to sound less practical, now that I think about it, and more impatient. Maybe that’s why my life’s story is chapter upon chapter of ploughing ahead. One can give and take a lot of damage that way. A bold but impulsive and clumsy plunderer, who needs his Belit*.

WHAT IS COMPLETE

The valley spirit never dies. Call it the mystery, the woman.

The mystery, the Door of the Woman, is the root of earth and heaven.

Forever this endures, forever. And all its uses are easy.

Mountains hit different in person. The slopes towering overhead feel overpowering. Maybe seeing how life struggles to hang on, petering out, leaving a lonely spear thrusting into heaven. I imagine being marooned on those slopes and the urgency to get off as quickly as possible. Madness comes a step closer in the close presence of mountains. Or maybe I read too much Lovecraft.

Valleys pull us in, beckoning seductively with their promise of life and ease. Flowing water rushes away from the mountain, the steeper the faster. Ceaseless, cutting me — it — down slowly but relentlessly, leaving behind a grandiose tower reaching to heaven while the valley plunges further, always away, into the earth.

So What is Complete? Not me. Not without Her.

I’m grateful to have finally met a lovely lady who mysteriously accepts me as long as I keep working on myself.

[Author’s Note: Belit is a creation of Robert E. Howard and is character Conan’s first and greatest love.]*

There’s a wilderness survival tip: first seek the valley, then follow the waters flow to civilization and safety.

Find the Introduction to the Le Guin Gratitude Series here.

Explore the Le Guin Daodejing and Gratitude Journals using this list:

[embed]List: Ursula Le Guin Daodejing Gratitude Series | Curated by Paul Dotta | Medium Ursula Le Guin Daodejing Gratitude Series · 4 stories on Mediummedium.com

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[Author’s Note: Thank you for taking the time to visit. All pictures were taken by the author or family member, unless otherwise noted.]