One of the 16,0000 year old paintings found in the Lascaux Caves."When I "dream the fire"--more specifically the campfire--I see my ancestors of 10,000 years ago or more, in some Eurasian forest or on the Steppes, or huddled in some cave, drawing pictures of the hunt in pigment upon the walls by dim torchlight...and in some strange way beyond articulation I am one with them in that moment of staring into the fire...."
I found it rather serendipitous that yesterday, as I posted about "The Cave," The-Grizzled-but-still-incorrigible-scribe-himself! was posting about "Dreaming the Fire." I recommend his post. I felt a connection between the two posts, though it may not have been obvious. Bella--in her comment on yesterday's post--used the word "primordial." That word may come close.... In any case, the comment above spilled out of me in Grizzled's comment box...and yes, I have often thought...felt just that beside some campfire here in the Northwoods. I think that's all I'll say. Just let it stand without further comment or explanation.
Along similar lines is my post 6000 Years Ago.
A parting shot...I dream of the coming season when I can be right here once again:
Boundary Waters campfire
Oh, that is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask did you mean you will be RIGHT there? Or right there?
Val,
ReplyDeleteI may indeed actually be RIGHT there. :)
I think there's something about fire and the womb of a cave that connects us through time and space. Connects us with our ancestors, with our creativity as human beings and with our deepest longings.
ReplyDeleteNot to be too self-promoting, but what you and Grizzled are talking about reminded me of a poem I read about pre-history that touched me and that I posted here a while back: http://www.pilgrimsmoon.com/2008/10/12/routes/
Forest…
ReplyDeleteWhen you and I exchanged comments re. my “Dreaming the Fire” blog yesterday, after you wrote that which you’ve quoted at the start of your blog today, I replied with this:
“A good campfire is a window to the primeval, a window back through time. At least for some of us…though in my case it's the old ones in their skins and rough clothing, their distinctive carvings decorating bits of bone; there's the smell of roasting meat mixed in with the woodsmoke, the sizzle of grease along with the pop and crackle of flames…and across the fire, a storyteller leans close, eyes reflecting the light, and begins to speak…”
What strikes me this morning is how so many of the same words keep reappearing in the comments of various readers, on both blogs. I believe this is because fire is so elemental. The control and usage of fire separates mankind from all other creatures. It is a human trait that can be traced back throughout the ages.
But if I think “deeper” about the elemental factor of fire, I realize it invokes in me certain unique, though similarly based reactions common to other elemental moments and experiences. For example when I stand alone on a windswept beach, I feel the mystery of water and distance, and an almost certainty that other worlds lie beyond the soft blue horizon. Or when I’m atop a high mountain, and the all the land lies below, spread out like a cloth; a land to be tramped and explored.
And the sky—on the beach the sky is just one of the linear swathes, blue-above-blue-above-pale sand; on the mountain the sky is a great canopy, almost as if it were pushing all that land down and away, stretching to the milky horizons in a 360 panorama; on the prairie the swaying bluestem underfoot is dwarfed by the vast sky, a sky so wide and high and blue that I feel exposed, vulnerable, fearful that some fearsome winged creature might momentarily swoop down and lift me off, kicking helplessly, to become dinner.
What I think is common here is that it’s the elementalism that resides within our human DNA that summons such moods or reactions. Fire may be only the easiest to discern.
Tess,
ReplyDeleteI concur. :)
And no worries about any "self-promotion." Thanks for leaving the link. I'll check it out.
Peace
Wow, Grizzled.
ReplyDeleteYes.
You often have a way of "nailing it," my friend. Thank you.
Oh dear I've got lost in blogworld of caves, the spirit and the soul....I visited your post and hit the link to Grizzled's blog, left a comment and got lost in SW blog, left a comment, and then forgot to come back to your blog.
ReplyDeleteWow, did you write that about caves - think I will have to put that in my quote book :)
Grizzled comments do "hit the nail".
Our ancestors used fire to warm, protect and feed...in our modern world one would be lucky to see fire at all, perhaps only then in its destructive ways.
Bella
Bella,
ReplyDelete:)
Your comment makes me smile.
Peace
Oh how beautiful. I long for it too. I rode (my bike) outside yesterday...I didn't even need gloves. It was above 60 degrees........finally these warmish days will begin showing themselves in Boulder.
ReplyDeleteYou're post on those who lived 6000 years ago. I just had a thought realization that I've never had before. If oyu believe n reincarnation...then those ancestors might actually, in some crazy way, be us.
Hmmmmmm......
Great post, FW.
Peace,
Molly
Thanks Molly. :)
ReplyDeleteI actually don't believe in reincarnation, and yet, in some inexplicable way I do still think they are us.... If that makes any sense.... :)
Peace back to you
Bella, I know how you feel! I did a post once called "Lost In A Vortex Of Blogs", I think it was.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful shot.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, for stopping by my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteI picture a little mist and then a rainbow, somewhere right past
ReplyDeletedawn. . .
Your words have sparked my imagination. I tried leaving a comment earlier but my response kept getting longer and longer... so I decided to respond with a post on my blog instead at http://flandrumhill.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/on-fire/
ReplyDeleteamylynn,
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
I'm looking forward to reading that post.