Dragon
07.15.2012
A great green dragon lies to the West, watching over the town. I look up at her ruffled spine, the green and gold of her flanks, and see her dragon breath drifting down from above. It looks like the mist above Chinese mountain peaks.
But no, it’s smoke from the Colorado fires, beyond the Rocky Mountains at the edge of town.
I’m standing outside the Whole Foods Market on Pearl Street in Boulder. What has brought me here, so far from Richard and our Paris home?
Love and health. Health and love.
On July 4, 2012, great news came from physicists at CERN in Geneva about the Higgs boson particle: the only manifestation of an invisible force field, a cosmic molasses that permeates space and imbues elementary particles with mass. It is responsible for life on earth, human beings, the stars—everything in the universe, and the forces that work between them. Without this miracle, we would have no weight, would be ricocheting around at the speed of light.
This energy field that physicists have been predicting since 1964 can be seen from other perspectives, too. The perspective of love, for instance. The power of love to transform someone’s health, for instance, my sister, Jane’s.
Here are a few of the elements in Jane’s energy field:
Her daughter, Rachel, helping her to get to medical appointments and being vigilantly protective of her health.
Her daughter, Bayu, flying in from Wellington, New Zealand for a month and planning to return this fall when she has completed her art and design studies.
Her mother and four siblings ready to help in whatever ways we can.
A caring, expert Western medical team.
A brilliant acupuncturist and sage, Dr. Maoshing Ni, prescribing Chinese herbal teas and Eastern healing.
A gifted local acupuncturist.
A friend, Liza, flying in for several days.
Friends in Boulder and beyond.
Friend, Susan, connecting Jane to a healing group who are meditating on her health.
Jane’s own excellent health habits: yoga, walking and eating well.
A town where, for an entire month, I didn’t encounter a single surly or obstructive attitude (although the motorcyclist who honked at me as I fumbled for my ringing phone while driving was entirely justified).
A town that’s so wholesome—5,430 feet high (great for the lungs and heart), with clean air, open protected space, cycling, hiking, mountain climbing, free yoga classes, healthy food, people drunk on endorphins—that it might be the healthiest town in the U. S.
A town where the restaurant food is astonishingly good: the scallops and truffles at Riffs, the paella at the Mediterranean, the chicken salad at Brasserie Ten Ten, the vegetable omelette at Tangerine, the Coquilles St.-Jacques at Arugula, the vegetable tempura and beer at Hapa Sushi Grill, the guacamole and enchiladas Veracruz at Cantina Laredo. I haven’t had a bad meal yet. Even the gourmet cheeseburger at Salt the Bistro I ate with Rachel and Brandon (the first such meal I’ve had in some twenty years, making me feel like a real American again) was delicious.
Jane seems healthier by the day, surrounded as she is by an energy field of healing and love.
All this in a larger context that’s frightening: the fires in Colorado were so extreme this year that half the fire fighters in the nation were brought in to fight them. They have resulted in the loss of 346 homes, 32,000 people evacuated from their homes, and are the most destructive in Colorado history. When I last checked on July 13, they were still not contained.
A map of weather conditions across the U. S. showed an alarming degree of heat, dryness, high winds and out-of-control fires in western states.
We know there is an energy field all around us which affects us and which we affect.
Can we extend this force of love and healing beyond our families and friends, and offer it to the whole planet?
How?
How can we do this?
Reader Comments (14)
I want to do that too! Yes, how? I can feel the great energy your story has generated. A start....
Thank you Kaaren and Richard for this beautiful photo-journalistic tale of love and healing.
You two write and photograph and weave a story together so beautifully.
Sending you energetic (and "bosonic") love and thanks and hope for a better world!
Dear Kaaren,
You remind me of the connections of the universe that all point to the power of love.
I feel so much gratitude for my dear family, friends and daughters.
Thank you for coming across the ocean to visit and remind me of what matters,
for being my chauffeur, and house hunter and loving sister.
love,
Jane
Dear Catherine,
If you are Catherine T., you're already doing this work at the local level for Ballona Wetlands. If everyone did as much as you, our planet would be in fine shape.
Love,
Kaaren (& Richard)
Dear Suki,
Thank you from both of us--thank you!
I do believe you've coined a new word. Maybe "bosonic love" is related to the word "bo's'n," and so implies that we're all responsible for the maintenance of our earth-ship and everything on it?
boatswain , bosun or bo's'n (ˈbəʊs ə n)
— n
a petty officer on a merchant ship or a warrant officer on a warship who is responsible for the maintenance of the ship and its equipment
[Old English bātswegen ; see boat , swain ]
With hopes for better care of our planet,
and much love,
Kaaren (& Richard)
Dear Jane,
As if you need reminding! You attract love, because you give so much of it.
I didn't begin to describe in this post all the adventures we had in Boulder, the meals, talks, films and books, the poetry reading, the fun.
Thank you for inspiring me to return to the U. S., after a year and a half in Paris. Hopping across the Atlantic seems pretty easy now, and I'll do it more often.
Much love,
Kaaren (& Richard)
I was very moved by this, and as usual, the illustations are fabulous. Anne Hines Reese placed this on Facebook. I just thought I would add that there is a world-wide meditation for compassion every day that takes place at 10 a.m. EST (which I figure is 11 a.m. daylight saving time on the East Coast) and I have no idea what time that is in Paris. Your sister is blessed to have your family and all the positive attributes and vibrations of Boulder.
Love, Jessica Abramson Ledwith (from the 60's on College Ave. in Berkeley)
Jessica!
I was moved to hear from you, and Richard thanks you, too. This is the first I've heard of this world-wide daily meditation for compassion. It is clear to me from experience that our thoughts have real power. So I'd like to find a link to this and post it here, and then join in the meditation. (It's six hours later in Paris than EST.)
Yes, Jane is blessed indeed, and so are we all who live on this earth.
Now to get to the personal with you... message coming by way of Facebook. (Thanks, Anne, for connecting us.)
Love,
Kaaren
“Aye de mi, aye de todos,” as the great Cesar Vallejo says… My heart and thoughts and prayers join with this sweet chorus here to lap at Jane’s shores and ease her into perfect health from wherever she is right now… Malika and I also knew her back in the Berkeley heyday of the 60s, and both Kitchells were noble and courageous and adventurous and brave… and so they continue today!
I would be remiss not to send my love and godly thoughts to Jane, having myself received such a sweet outpouring from known and unknown hearts here… (and my treatment is finishing up now, and things look very good… God willing… so I deeply thank everyone for their fine intentions).
Ah Jane, recover from whatever gulley you’re in and get back on the plateau where you belong…
with all my love
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
Dear Daniel,
We are so glad to hear that your treatment is going well. And thank you for sending such loving healthful prayers to Jane.
Here's to vibrant health for all of us!
Much love,
Kaaren & Richard
Dear Kaaren,
This post is so filled with love, generosity, healing, compassion, unity and stewardship that it makes my heart soar — it’s going “super-bosonic." Suki, I adore the new “translation” of the Higgs Boson as "bosonic love" and will spread it in all ways.
I’m happy that science is “getting” (and thereby spreading the understanding) that the Universe IS an invisible force, as is Love which becomes manifest by our expression of it. We are all star dust particles of an infinite Universe of life forces yet to be “discovered”. (It’s always there we just need to align with it to see it..). Each of us holds such unique potential for all things stellar. Ahhhh, the wonderful mysteries of life.
So I’m sending Love with all its massive invisible particles to Jane for her excelled healing and regeneration, to you Dear Kaaren for the Love you potentiate and, to you o’ bātswegen, Richard, for sailing it into form through your photos. Love to everyone….
Boson Besos,
Joanne
Dear Joanne,
Love is your language, all right. What a wonderful message from you. And I especially love the address to Richard, "bātswegen [Old English for boat boy/boat man] sailing [love] into form through your photos."
Bosonic love and Boson besos--you and Suki have coined new phrases!
Bosonic hugs,
Kaaren & Richard
*;* It's my inner Heartist speaking. *;*
Busons of Love,
Joanne
Joanne,
C'est ca!
XO,
Kaaren (& Richard)