Beneath the Surface

Calcite crystal formations on limestone rock [HORNE LAKE CAVES, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada]

I am sitting in pitch black… deep within a hollowed out subterranean earth womb / cave. My senses awaken to the intermittent sound of water seeping in from the outside …drip, drip, drip…dripping.

I call to mind how rare this kind of darkness is, where all traces of light pollution are gone, and begin to attune to the animate intelligence within this ecosystem that has been evolving since time immemorial.

With eyes wide open, not seeing a thing, I sense into the stillness and feel exhilarated. I want time to stop so I can freeze this moment forever ~ a feeling of emptiness and fullness, at the same time, begin to seep into my embodied felt sense. I shine my headlamp onto a small section of the cave wall and peer into the pores of earth's living, breathing skin - my imagination is activated as three dimensional calcite crystal structures protruding from limestone walls in front of me form images that draw me into another world.

Afterwards, I take time to reflect and think about my experience in the limestone cave, both as a practice to develop my consciousness toward a Gaia-centric worldview and a wondering about dominant human culture’s expression of extraction, consumption, waste and tourism and the subsequent impact on these fragile karst ecosystems.