June 22, 2015
(This is part of a 365 project
during my 70th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each
day’s gift.)
From the land of super connectedness at home in
Pasadena—cell phones, Internet, cable television—to isolation with no cell
phone, Internet connection and only television antennae reception, we arrived
in Etlan, Virginia today. I opened the car door to the sound of a cicada chant
welcoming us to our friends’ Spirit Dancer Lodge.
I have read that chanting has a healing effect on
those who chant but I think certain sounds also have a spiritual healing effect
for a listener. The cicada sounds reached out through a hot humid day and
invited me to stop and listen. There is something about the chant that travels
through my body and massages my spirit.
Not everyone agrees. I remember years ago, sitting
outside with a group of friends while the cicadas were singing their mating
song. One of my friends began to grow frantic and finally had to go inside
because the cicada noise irritated her like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Today I arrived in a place of digital disconnection
and wound up connecting—with friends Geri and Gary and with nature. Although we
seniors are quite active, all of us are retired and some of our conversation naturally
concerned our aging and shortening lives. I thought of the energy I heard in
the cicada chorus that gave no indication that the singers would only live for
a couple of weeks. I hope my spirit will continue to sing, regardless of my
life cycle.
Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests they are about to die." Matsuo Bashō
My
gift today is a cicada chanting chorus.
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