In  the  Midst  of  the  Eternal  Way

Early in the morning,

almost every day for the last ten years,

I have taken our dog, James, for a walk.

We take various paths, but invariably we walk down a meadow.

Over the years I have noticed a path developing there.

Many times I have looked at this path and thought,

“My Goodness,

the imprint of our walking is going to last a long time!”

A couple of months ago I began to take a different route with James

and we didn’t come through the meadow.

But some days ago I decided to come that way again.

As I looked down from the top

no path was to be seen.

So I walked as best I could along our old route,

loving the tremendous variety and profusion of grasses and wildflowers.

For some reason I felt full of joy that the path had disappeared!

The evidence of ten years of our walking had gone without trace.

I wondered a little afterwards why I was so happy about it.

It could have been just the beauty of what had grown. Or maybe

that I was so delighted at the newness of the scene,

following our prolonged intrusion.

We may think of the world and the billions of human beings

who have trodden, not just paths,

but have created paved highways through the human consciousness,

traveling without review, established thoroughfares

which it is easy to see now are dead ends.

There is no future along these ruts of human consciousness.

This fallen, distorted civilization will also soon be gone without trace.

I was also thrilled because I realized

I wasn’t trying to carve something eternal

to give myself meaning during my sojourn on Earth.

Thus, I found myself transported

into a totally different perspective,

into the wonder of now,

of giving expression to who I Am today,

in the midst of the Eternal Way.

Alan Hammond

transcribed from a lecture given on June 26, 2005

and re-shaped into verse form by david barnes