A new dream inspired painting has this question for a title: Is there another way to get there? The more I think about this question, after completing this 9th painting in a series of 47 dream images inspired by the Journey Oracle cards, the more I wonder where "there" is.
Is there downhill? This rushing toward comfort and convenience. Go with the flow, just be, which sometimes means just be happy more than be awake.
Is there a place where we need to be bundled for protection against the elements? Is there a place where we bundle up certain kinds of animals in order to protect them from the nature that is their goodness of fit?
Is there a place where we expose ourselves to peculiar rites and rituals, or maybe a place where we just go back to sleep and forget the difficulty of seeking the truth in the journey?
Maybe there is another there. A place that requires us to be fully flighted. Richard Maclean Smith states that there is "the powerful idea that beyond the realities we can comprehend lie other, more majestic places waiting to be discovered if only we had the requisite knowledge and tools to get there."
Or maybe, actually, the there is really here. Staring right back at us from just outside the door. This present moment. Is there another way to get there? Is there another way to get here? There are as many ways as there are teachers. Ask everything to be your teacher.
