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Day 928 Surrender in all Directions |
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Friday, 06 November 2009 |
Day 928 - November 6, 2009
Wind Becalmed, Drifting NE 1.3, Position 8*50n by 20*14w
Surrender in all Directions
When I finished drawing the heart, many people asked me what I was going to do next. If I answered at all, I said, "I don't know, but it will be what no man has done before." I had some options, but I wanted to try not to impress my will upon the sea. I also did not want to hope or have expectations.
My first efforts to adapt to the sea I called Zen sailing, but I still was not able to surrender. My plan was to catch the winds and currents, but I still had to raise my mainsail to maneuver where I wanted. Somehow, at some time and I don't know when, I let that concept go. I stopped trying to do anything and I put my position on the chart less and less and then I stopped all together. I stopped looking at the compass. It was harder not to look at the GPS.
I started to realize I had found the place where the winds and currents play back and forth. Then whatever direction I was going, I didn't know if I wanted to go that direction or not, but I didn't know which direction to go to make things better. Often the wind comes from one direction and the current from another and we go one way for awhile and then another way for awhile. Then it makes no difference to me.
If it is slightly overcast, I look around and have no idea which way I am looking. A few clouds in the sky at night, a breeze and even when the moon is up I have no idea which way I am going or where the wind is coming from. The days and time mean nothing. "Does anybody really know what time it is?" I hear that near the equator the earth is rotating over 1000 miles an hour. That is fast enough for me now. I do remember to stay attentive and present to the situation while I surrender in all directions to God.
The computer is acting up on me, so I am sorry I can't answer everybody's supportive letters, though I do appreciate them. The computer cuts off and won't cut back on. It just froze up and a sign popped up on the screen, "The driver got stuck in the infinite loop". Isn't that crazy, here I am trying to get stuck in an infinite loop and the computer does it too?? |
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Day 926 The Transformation of Sailing |
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 |
Day 926 - November 4, 2009
Wind NE 12 knots, Course S, Speed 1 knot, Position 9*19n by 20*34w
The Transformation of Sailing
Anyone with an open mind who looks at what I am doing and reads even part of what I am writing will see I am in the process of transforming sailing. Mans' sojourn on the sea will soon be seen and understood by a larger public in a way people have never imagined before.
The reality of the physical act verifies the unprecedented strategies, observations and illuminations. This altering of what we can do on the sea takes place on many more levels now and expresses qualities different that just the physical act of sailing. This voyage does not look like pre-transformative sailing and I make very little attempt to present it that way.
Something was missing that connected sailing to the general public. I have abstracted sailing by changing its traditional concept and presenting it apart from its material embodiment and circumstances. Close attention to this voyage will reveal multiple layers of meaning and speak to everyone more clearly as we grow more spiritually aware and closer to God.
On this voyage I live in the flux of the search for oneness with all and dissolving in oneness with the euphoric oceanic majesty, but I am not apart from all things and everyone. I remain acutely aware of my situation and duties. This sailing state is supported by an unbounded eternal connectedness with my fellow beings. This takes away fear, heals me and gives limitless energy to the compassionate love I feel for all of creation. I am not the only one who lives this.
As I try to transform sailing I realize its potential to serve as a positive force in the world. I try to enliven and reanimate the world with spiritual qualities and express the divine nature of the universe. Because I am blessed to be able to sail on the wide open free seas of the world, I feel it is my responsibility and place to be at the cutting edge of consciousness growth, living the role as the sharer: the sailor as seer. |
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Tuesday, 03 November 2009 |
Day 924 - November 2, 2009
Wind, Becalmed, Drifting NE, Position 9*36n by 20*29w
Yellow Healing
I have been feeling a lot of yellow healing lately because it has been hot and I have heavy duty yellow tarps pulled over the pilothouse and sail temple skylights. I also have a smaller transparent yellow vinyl that goes over the pilothouse cupola.
Sometimes in my mind's eye I see myself moving around and the yellow is following me. I meditate on the yellow most strongly in the stomach region. When I lay down I always invigorate the colors and let them flow through each other and my body. Once a voice in my mind said, "Will I always have to do this?" I quickly answered, "Yes! Yes!"
Meditation, healing, any kind of visualization, prayer practice is work. It requires a special kind of human and divine energy combined to transcend our lower human attachments and lift our spirits. It takes work, commitment, belief and strength to activate our forces and guide them up to our higher calling, to awaken our latent energies and get glimpse of our divine potential and then keep going. It is our life's calling to rise above sloth, ignorance and all the negative traits we humans have.
"Yes!" I answer, I will always keep rising to the situation. That is one of the aspects of the mission that I want to make clear and spread worldwide. It takes work and we must work to heal ourselves and the world and all creation. These nights as the moon gets big I lay spread eagle naked and soak in the healing rainbow colors. "Yes!"
The clouds that make the rainbow are not always there, but when the moon rainbow halo happens I am ready and take full advantage. Great desire and concentration become meditation and I soak each color in again and again. I see vitality globules swirl around me. |
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Day 922 Shangri-La of the Sea |
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Saturday, 31 October 2009 |
Day 922 - October 31, 2009
Wind ENE 10 knots, Course W, Speed 0.8, Position 9*14n by 20*28w
Shangri-La of the Sea
I think I have found the Shangri-La of the Sea, but how can I know after only 100 days or so? An experience so new needs at least a few 100 days to try to figure out, bring into focus, study and contemplate. It is like a dream or fantasy setting where life approaches perfection and I am just on the schooner passing through.
Later I'll have to snap to and look back to better understand and describe a place so intense because my experience here and now is one of ecstasy and awe rather than reasonable observation. Other explorers and sailors have missed the subtle gate and hidden passes into these utopias of splendid wonders.
This eternal sublime paradise of the sea, tinged with terror and exaltation is often bypassed for more worldly pursuits. All this grandeur has its physical aspects. Many moon rainbow haloes, giant schools of tuna exciting the sea into effervescent phosphorescent spectacles. The water is crystal clear and the sea life abounds; funny triggerfish, giant whale sharks, mantas, whales and marlin.
There are sea spiders that run on glassy water and fish that slide on the surface like snakes while bigger fish chase them. In the sky there are frigate birds, terns, birds I can't name, sparrow-like birds, herons and a dove. Moths and butterflies flutter around. Pink-bellied porpoises play ritual games. Then come the rains. Then the sounds of many waters.
When I come back to tell the tale, this will be the Shangri-La of the Sea. |
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Day 920 Needlefish and Sea Creatures |
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Thursday, 29 October 2009 |
Day 920 - October 29, 2009
Wind NE 5 knots, Course SE, Speed 1.2 knots, Position 9*27n by 20*25w
Needlefish and Sea Creatures
The day the heron passed away I found some kind of needlefish and a big flying fish on deck right next to each other. This is the first needlefish I have had on deck and he does not have wings, but he can leap very high out of the water. I measured him at 14 inches long and his needle was 4 and a-half inches long.
I wonder what in the world he uses it for? Perhaps like bigger swordfish, he kills or stuns his prey with it. He has a very tiny mouth on top of the needle. I can't imagine he uses his needle like a sword to turn and defend himself from slightly larger fish.
After I cleaned the fish I threw their heads in the water and the triggerfish swarmed around and had fun fighting over the morsels and gobbling them up.
The next day I saw six smaller herons with their distinctive long necks and legs. They flew around the schooner three times and I thought, "Oh no, now six lost herons". They turned and flew away and I thought, "There's hope". Then I looked at the compass. They were flying west! If the most intelligent sea creatures, whales, strand themselves on beaches, then that is the way of nature. Even humans get lost.
Then I sat outside painting under the awning. A herd of whales with fins on their backs lazed around the schooner. Then they sounded and I watched and waited, but I never saw them reappear again as I gazed over the big smooth ocean. A sea turtle popped his head up and said ," Hello"... |
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Day 918 The Blue Heron Passes Away |
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Wednesday, 28 October 2009 |
Day 918 - October 27, 2009
Wind NE 5 knots, Course SW 1.1, Speed 1.1, Position 9*19n by 20*28w
The Blue Heron Passes Away
As the days passed I realized the Great Blue Heron was going to die. He would not take water or sprouts from bowls and my salt fish has dried into pieces that I knew were too hard for him. I would have liked to try to feed him fish, but I have not had a flying fish on deck in weeks. Triggerfish and Cobia are the only fish around the schooner now and they won't take my lures.
When he made it back to the schooner the second time completely exhausted, he did not try to fly again and seemed to know his end was near. He has his own journey. He was not afraid of me and always stood in front of the pilothouse hatch or he came inside if he wanted to be near me. He was big, so he had his better days in the marsh with his family and friends stalking crabs and little fish.
I imagine he was crossing a bay and got caught by a strong rainstorm and the wind shifted and he just tried to survive and fly with the wind. In a way he was lucky he found me so he could live out his last days in peace. He remained stately through the process and slowly sank lower and lower. I laid outside with him as the crescent moon set under the curve of his dropping neck.
In the morning he died. I made his memorial painting during the day. In the afternoon I stretched him out on deck and measured his wing span at five and a half feet. I saved a few feathers and gave him a burial at sea.
Thanks a lot everybody for your concern and advice. I am sorry I can't write everyone back, but the computer keeps freezing up and I have trouble cutting it back on, often for a long time. So I feel lucky when I can get my updates off. |
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