Dear Reader-Friends:
As I write this blog post, live-fire artillery is blasting Mount Fuji to bits.
Rocket bursts explode the calm of this early March morning.
Even at more than 30 kilometers distance, the earth here shudders.
Windows in my mountain minka rattle.
Blasts reverberate through its ancient beams.
The eyes of my dogs and cats reflect alarm, but they no longer express terror as they once did.
Like me, they have grown accustomed to this frequent disruption of country life rhythms.
For the fifteen years we have lived here, every year, several months a year, the cultural symbol of Japan, revered as Fuji-san, has been blasting to bits in our ears.
Each live-fire artillery exercise lasts several hours and is so sustained we shelter indoors until the assault is over.
I decided to write this blog post in response to readers who noted how much easier it must be for me to connect spiritually because I have fewer distractions, living as I do amidst such natural beauty.
Can live-fire artillery be considered sufficient spiritual distraction?
Or is experiencing a situation akin to a war-zone a peculiar sort of modern mystic training that will somehow deepen my spiritual awareness?
As a metaphor for the splintered reality in which so many of us live, blasting Mount Fuji to bits is particularly fitting.
Both inside and outside Japan, the solitary peak of Fuji-san is showcased in travel poster perfection.
Venture closer, however, and your reaction to the withered lower slopes can be visceral.
Acres upon acres of denuded landscape, fenced off with ominous warnings to sightseers and other careless intruders.
A desolation of decimated flora and fauna.
This ravaged wasteland is never mentioned in the drive to designate Mount Fuji as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
A World Cultural Heritage of what, exactly?
As an example of World Cultural Heritage that perfectly mirrors the reality of the world we have imagined for ourselves?
Is there some spiritual lesson to be gleaned from knowing that approval of World Cultural Heritage status is hampered by the fact that Mount Fuji is a gigantic toilet and garbage dump heaped from the vast amounts of human waste and trash left by climbers?
Year after year, Mount Fuji is portrayed as a singular cultural symbol associated with spiritual pursuits and the purity of Japanese feelings towards nature.
There are some 13,000 shrines on Mount Fuji, and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit annually.
Fuji-san is now a magnet for a new generation of spiritual seeker, including many Westerners, in quest of higher self enlightenment.
Official Japanese promotion efforts include brochures filled with stunning images of shrines, temples, lakes, and other natural wonders of the area around Mount Fuji.
Although some photos show the current “Operation Clean” at Fuji-san’s summit, there is not one picture of the scorched, demolished landscape in the artillery area.
And what of this description from a military support website?
“Camp Fuji was turned over to the Marine Corps from the US Army in 1953… Camp Fuji’s mission is to support military training by US Forces in the adjacent 34,000 acre Fuji Maneuver Area. The Fuji Maneuver Area has been the premier training ground in Japan ever since.”
For close to six decades, the foot of Mount Fuji has shuddered as a shelling range.
As if in recoil, our psyche, too, is denatured, devastated, and divided.
Splintered, we mentally inhabit the landscape of a blighted facade.
The inner contours of our genuine nature remain obscured by a lifetime’s store of our own and other people’s waste and garbage.
How can we live with this splintered self?
My answer is, we are not truly living at all.
We are simply moving through the days of our lives in a shell-shocked numbness that alienates us from our own authentic feelings and senses.
Whether unconsciously or deliberately, we prefer the masks of our cultural, social, religious, and educational conditioning.
Because we do not recognize they are only masks, we allow their destructive hold over us.
All the while, our inner mind desires revival, like the wasted firing grounds of Fuji-san.
So that is why, on an early morning in March, 2010, I am jolted by the blasting to bits of a Japanese national treasure called Fuji-san.
Meantime, the images of a pristine Mount Fuji continue to be shown.
And the illusion of spirituality and nature connection continues to be treasured.
But do we cling to such illusions because in our innermost soul we cry out for a better and more genuine way of connecting with our world?
What kind of a world do you and I live in now?
If blasting Mount Fuji to bits through live-fire artillery does indeed count as spiritual distraction, how can you and I recover the expanded awareness that makes sense of it all to yield authentic meaning in our everyday lives?
Given the choice, and the power to realize our deepest longing, what kind of a world would you and I envision?
What if we recognize our blighted landscape as a distorted mask we need only remove to reveal the fertile growth budding beneath?
What if we clean up our store of inner waste and garbage to uncover the treasures of our own genuine, loving hearts?
What kind of a world would you and I live in, then?
And what prevents us from realizing that world into being right now?
Under a volley of live-fire artillery at the foot of Mount Fuji, I welcome your thoughts.
Catrien Ross
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© 2009-2012 by Catrien Ross, founder and president of Energy Doorways, a Japanese registered publisher and godo kaisha at the foot of Mount Fuji. Catrien Ross teaches and writes about spirituality, personal growth, Japanese society, and lifestyle healing through energy medicine and reconnecting with natural energy wisdom. www.energydoorways.com
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Hi Catrien,
You offer lots to ponder. I was going to start a blog (a while back) called innerbootcamp that would contemplate similar thoughts. Later, I opted for a name that didn’t carry the meaning of an inner war. As you so eloquently phrased it “…What if we clean up our store of inner waste and garbage to uncover the treasures of our own genuine, loving hearts?”
Our environment reflects what man has within — as we are within, so we are without. I think spirituality is not an illusion and that by raising awareness, we can heal scars within and without. May our efforts lean toward positive outcomes.
Be Well,
Kim
Kim, thank you for visiting again. Having shuddered through years of repercussions from the boot camp at the foot of Mount Fuji, I know there must be a better way to live our lives on this beautiful earth. Yes, our scars can be healed, and many of us are beginning that healing of our inner selves, our relationships, our communities, our planet. If you saw the wasteland at the foot of Mount Fuji I believe you would be even more committed to this healing than you already are.
Am I understanding correctly that since 1953 the U.S. military has been creating war-like chaos at the base of Mt. Fuji? I probably know more than most about U.S. troops quartered in more countries than I can count, but I had no idea they were perpetrating such violence in Japan. This is just one more cross I have to bear, as an American citizen. I and many others are now trying to ‘take our country back.’ It has been usurped by corporatists who don’t care anything about the average citizen. What you have written needs to be published widely, Catrien. People need to know. How many world citizens would vote to be dominated by an industrial-military complex?
Jane Anne, thank you for your presence here again. Yes, you understand correctly. It is very quiet here, today. The sun is shining on a landscape opening to spring. Your words affected me deeply.
Hi Catrien
I might be a little naive here. Are the military there for testing, is it a training ground? why are they there? and why are they in Japan?
Your world seems totally different from the world I live in right now and yet you are only a few thousand miles away, isn’t life strange!
I am glad you left a few comments on my blog, I have now have another interesting blog to read
Steven, thank you so much for visiting – welcome to my blog. Well, you asked some big questions that someone else may want to answer in more knowledgeable detail. But briefly, the US placed Japan under occupation in 1945 and the US military has been here since, operating some 90 facilities, including major air bases. Live shelling exercises began on Mount Fuji in the early 1950’s and continues today. Historians have many explanations as to the whys of these decisions. There are days, like yesterday, when the shelling feels particularly bad. Yet when I look at Mount Fuji from a distance, the snow-covered slopes always seem to rise magnificently oblivious of their sustained destruction. But I feel you and I are living in the same world, Steven, especially when I read your insightful blog. When we choose to be authentic we also choose the mental and emotional and spiritual world we want to live in, and that world can now be shared with others whose thoughts resonate with our own. Thank you, Steven – please stop by again.
The biggest question in my life is: Who am I? I believe that I am not my mind. I believe that what I am is not my choice but rather the experiences and conditioning of my mind. The only way I can tackle my true self is going above my mind–which is very difficult. But one way of doing this is to be aware of my mind and catch its every response. The more I do this, the more I get a glimpse of my true self.
Walter, thank you for visiting again and for the important self-reflection of your comment. I agree with you that the surface mind can be a difficult, even tricky thing. Being aware of our habitual responses is one way to catch out this surface mind so that we begin to shift into the deeper levels of our inner self. We stop reacting from patterns and conditioning and start responding from our authentic center. As you say, this journey can be very difficult, but only by undertaking it can we begin to answer the question of “Who am I?” I appreciate your insights here.
Ouch! Living in America, I do all I can during elections and in my professional and personal life to improve the quality of consciousness here.
This isn’t the first time that being an American, for me, has meant having to say “I’m sorry.”
Rose, you raise consciousness every moment that you breathe because you are consciousness. Within each of us lies our true, authentic nature. It may be forgotten, it may be obscured, it may be shunned, but it is there. And more and more we are reconnecting to that genuine nature both within and without ourselves. Thank you for your reminder of who we truly are at heart.
Hi Catrien, frankly I’m in shock and dismay. I feel a special affinity for Japan, mostly because of my love for the ancient art of Bonsai. As I read your article I could not reconcile the Japanese people doing such a thing to their beautiful mountain. Then I came to the real source, the US Military machine. How typical. Such a complete disregard for everything that really matters. I feel terrible that you and your neighbors must endure this constant reminder of this crude, invasive, and barbaric smoking gun mentality. I wish you inner peace as you struggle with this repulsive intrusion.
Hi Catrien,
We are a species that is largely immature, but beneath that broad stroke of judgment there are those who are aware, and evolving, and caring in a way that reaches out to the whole of humanity. Sometimes it is difficult to measure the effects of that caring, But with each moment that we care, and act, and express–a small change is established.
In one sense there is no essential change happening because our ultimate self is already established within us, but we can affect change by expressing that greater self.
The military exercises on Mount Fuji are an expression of the past, and it will one day take its proper place in the history of our species. I know our potential, and I feel that we are cautiously moving into it.
Best,
John
@Jonathan: Thank you so much for visiting – welcome to my blog. You are quite correct in your first assumption – the Japanese Self Defense Force, the “non-army” in this nation which boasts a “peace” constitution, now also conducts both joint (with the US) and separate training exercises on Mount Fuji.
I live deep in the mountains more than 30 km away, but because of the way earth disturbances travel, we receive quite a brunt whenever the live-fire opens. Some citizens in a nearer town received triple glazing in their windows, but farmers on the other side bemoan the constant spooking of their dairy cows. It is a strange unreality. There are so many unexploded shells lying around on Mount Fuji that some Japanese retrieve them for resale, and there have been several deaths due to these shells suddenly becoming “live.” Meantime, hundreds of thousands climb Mount Fuji each year, including thousands chanting Buddhist sutras, and there is an enthusiastic campaign right now to designate Mount Fuji as a World Cultural Heritage site.
Jonathan, I appreciate your expression of dismay. I have been living in the mountains here for more than 15 years, and within myself I have come to see, as John so eloquently expresses in his comment, that what is happening on Mount Fuji belongs to that part of all us which has forgotten our connection and our sense of wonder and reverence for all of life. What you yourself are doing right now in your life, Jonathan – how you perceive, and how you write, and how you help other people perceive – belongs to that raised consciousness Rose reminds us of. Thank you for the caring and conscious light of your existence.
@John: Thank you for the gentle eloquence of your comment. Welcome to my blog. I agree with this wonderful insight you expressed, “In one sense there is no essential change happening because our ultimate self is already established within us, but we can affect change by expressing that greater self.”
How perceptive of you to understand that what is happening on Mount Fuji is an expression of the past. Sadly, it is still very much a human past that continues to dominate at so many levels of our psyche and outer world.
Thank you for sharing your vision, and reminding us of our potential, into which each one of us is now moving, with each small change that happens.
Hi Catrien – What strikes me most about this piece is the illusion part. Mt. Fuji has been ravaged for years, but we’re shown only the beauty of it. Sadly, I’m not surprised. We have something similar here in California, with our Redwood forests, which have been clear cut for years. Drive by on the major highway and they look pristine; walk back into the woods, however, and you will find desolation. But we’re fed a picture of what is true, and so it becomes our truth. This is very much like what we do personally; we stay with the false vision of who we are, rarely entering into our depths and encountering our inner ravages and darkness. And because we don’t do that, we project all that shadowy stuff outward and end up with artillery fire on Mt. Fuji and devastated Redwood forests. You say it perfectly here: “What if we clean up our store of inner waste and garbage to uncover the treasures of our own genuine, loving hearts?” Thanks for the powerful post.
Patty, it’s good to have your insights here again. Thank you for deepening this discussion with your words “we stay with the false vision of who we are, rarely entering into our depths and encountering our inner ravages and darkness.” And don’t you think this vision is so false because it is imposed from outside ourselves? Once we do have the courage to enter our inner ravages and darkness we find that if we continue journeying we eventually emerge into the light and wholeness of who we truly have been all along. It is our false self, our false vision, that misleads and devastates us. Beyond the ravages lies the genuine heart of our existence, and it radiates love.
I am truly shocked.
The Military-Industrial complex is utterly in the past. Afghanistan, Iraq, Mt. Fuji.
I only learned recently on a writers’ site via an innocent photo of a journalist on assignment interviewing troops in Korea – that that ‘initiative’ (1950s) is still alive. It is beyond my comprehension as a European that Americans are still spending gazillions on what John (Zen Moments) calls our Past, when in the Present their own less-able-to-survive citizens in poor communities have no teeth because they can’t afford health care.
The wreckage of sacred spaces on the planet is a subject close to my heart (my blog touching on the N.Pacific Gyre being only one expression of this – >http://youngbloodblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/20092010-el-nino-crazies-or-just-weather/<) and I agree with John (again) that we may affect change by expressing our small contribution in the Greater (Self) Whole. In that category I include a kindly reminder to Pres. Obama to look at some of the ways the older generations in his Office got away with such desolation as Catrien so heart-rendingly describes.
I am writing to him today. And while he may not read the email, one of his triple-degreed aides will, and as a politically-sensitive issue, it may get some attention.
Thank you Catrien for posting something that so few people know about. With your permission, may I also emblazen a link to this blog across my Facebook page? Time for the LIGHT to shine in this dark corner, methinks. Bless you. Marian
Marian, thank you for your historian’s perspective and your impassioned, intelligent comment. Welcome to my blog. Well, I think you said so much here. The initiative may indeed be the Past, but for those of us living here in the area, the repercussions are very much the Present.
When I wrote my post I was uncertain about the number of days in the year live-fire exercises take place. But a February 19, 2010, article by Kyodo News, published in the English language Japan Times, reveals that a “secret” agreement between the US and Japan gives priority to US forces to use the foot of Mount Fuji 270 days a year, every year. That leaves 95 days out of every year for the people living around Mount Fuji to savor some peace.
It is quite interesting, don’t you think, how few people seem to know about this? It is certainly noisy enough when it actually happens.
The light will shine, Marian, because the light already exists within us.
Yes, Catrien, I’d say that live-fire artillery can most certainly be considered sufficient spiritual distraction. Up until the section in the post where you mentioned the U.S. I assumed that you were describing a Japanese military exercise. It’s tragic that the symbol of Japan is mistreated in this way.
Vieques Island, in Puerto Rico, has been used used as a target by the US military for many years. This remains a controversial subject in that people live on the island.
While military preparedness is important, I would think that there are uninhabited and desolate places in the world that are more suited for target practice. Ray
Ray, thank you for visiting again with your comment. I knew nothing about the island in Puerto Rico. There seems to be so much that so few of us know anything about when it comes to subjects considered controversial. Are there desolate places in the natural world, Ray, or have they been made that way through human hubris and disregard for the greater web of life?
Catrien, this is my first proper visit to your blog and what a treasure trove of thoughts and like minded people!
I have read through all the comments and have nothing more to add to the dialogue apart from expressing my own sadness and dismay that such things still carry on today. Especially in the vicinity of such a tranquil place.
I wonder just how many people even know about these artillery exercises. Are the Japanese people well informed about this?
It is really time for more people to voice what they think is right. How else will we let go of the “ghosts” of the past?
As for your headline, yes live-fire artillery does count as spiritual distraction. Maybe the real lesson here for us is how we can traverse this distraction and not only maintain our spiritual pose, but also infuse others along the way.
Arvind, thank you for visiting again, for spending so much time on my blog, and for sharing your feelings of like-mindedness. Your question about being well-informed is an interesting one. As the comments show, not many people outside Japan even know this is happening. What about the Japanese people? It seems that many do indeed know, but perhaps tolerating a situation for close to six decades numbs one’s perceptions and caring response. Thank you for your inspiring words … “how we can traverse this distraction and not only maintain our spiritual pose, but also infuse others along the the way.” I love your word “infuse.” Not defuse – infuse. I always appreciate the wisdom you share in your wonderful blog. Thank you for bringing some of that here.
Catrien,
I have been learning the Inner No process as a way of releasing negative collective-ego energies from my consciousness, but sometimes it is necessary to say the outer no. I believe that this is one of those instances. While you may not be able to do much on your end (I’m not sure what your citizenship is), we Americans can most assuredly do something on our end.
I found the website for the US military installation there. The description of the camp says, “Camp Fuji is an installation of the United States
Marine Corps and the Japan Ground Self Defense
Force. It is located near the town of Gotemba in
the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan, at the base of
Mount Fuji. Camp Fuji is one of several Camps of
the Marine Corps Base Camp Butler complex.”
I think this situation needs to be brought to the attention of the current administration. Perhaps with enough consciousness-raising, the powers that be can think of a better way to train themselves to go to war. My recommendation is for everyone who is motivated, write a letter to President Obama and Robert Gates (Secy of Defense). Make reference to Catrien’s blog post describing the experience. Make sure it is clear which installation you are talking about. Be brief and polite. If we can get any activist groups involved, it will help.
We can of course also set our intention that the truth be known of how out of balance with nature this is and that it be changed. Perhaps the Japanese people will shake off the old feelings left over from 60 years ago when this shelling started. Then they will see how intolerable this is as a way to be treated and to treat the planet.
Thanks for taking the time to inform us of this experience.
Blessings of peace and tranquility,
Terry
Terry, thank you so much for bringing your perspective again to my blog. Your comment speaks very powerfully and your consciousness shines so clearly, too. Thank you for your suggestion about writing letters – it will be interesting to see the response. I especially appreciate your encouragement to “set our intention that the truth be known of how out of balance with nature this is and that it be changed.” Terry, thank you for your blessings for all of us of peace and tranquillity.
Dear Catrien,
“Ignorance is bliss.” My image of you in your restored minka, surrounded by beauty and serenity as you help others reconnect to the loving support and wisdom of the natural world, has been shattered by learning of your bomb-shelled reality. Another wedge in my broken heart! Can the thrum of the loving essence that creates and sustains Life can still be heard and felt in the silences between live-fire artillery exercises? It is what has helped me maintain my sanity in Tucson. The Air Force base here is my almost daily reminder of the Dominator Reality that still prevails on our beleaguered planet. Fighter jets rip the fabric of our bluebird sky with blade-like wings and ear shattering roars, and my awareness of the fuel they’re burning (global climate destabilization!) as their pilots master their Death Machine purpose—and all the money they represent that is therefore not going toward health care or education or housing or food or the arts… well, let’s just say that I am able to empathize with you. Oh, Mt. Fuji! May all of us who have seen the man behind the curtain and recognize the illusions you describe for what they are—and understand the truth of the interconnected nature of reality—continue to raise awareness, participate in the Great Turning, and support one another. Thank you for doing all the above, Catrien! After all, ignorance is only bliss until the consequences of our ignorance catch up with us—because one can only dance on the deck of the Titanic for so long…
With love and blessings,
Allison
Hello again Catrien,
The picture you paint of Mt. Fuji is indeed in contrast to the stories I have heard from my husband; he admits he has only visited once on a class trip, so he was unaware of the “deterioration and vast amounts of human waste and trash left by climbers” that you speak of. How disheartening. Hearing about this reminded me of the disappointment I have sometimes felt when I forgot (refused?) to listen to the inner voice that gently tried to get me back on spiritual track when I was veering off a little bit. I would chide myself for not listening and then vow to do better next time. But I realized that it’s sort of useless to be angry at the gunk that comes up – it’s always there (always has been, always will be), so rather than think of it as a distraction from my spiritual practice or something that keeps me from being my authentic self, I would like to view it as a great reminder to keep my mask off, “uncoil my psyche” and transcend my conditioning. In this respect, my one and only goal is to cut down the lag time between my frustration and my return to the comfort of awakening.
Thanks for another great post…I too am sending you many peaceful thoughts of tranquility.
Tisha, thank you for visiting again and for another insightful comment, particularly your inspiring words, “I would like to view it as a great reminder to keep my mask off, “uncoil my psyche” and transcend my conditioning.” You raise an important reminder – reducing the lag time between any frustration we might feel and our return to the comfort of awakening. Thank you, too, for your peaceful thoughts of tranquillity.
Allison, it’s so wonderful to see you back here again, with your balm of beautiful words. You asked, “Can the thrum of the loving essence that creates and sustains Life still be heard and felt in the silences between live-fire artillery?” Yes, Allison, deeply so. I had forgotten about the base in Tucson – you, too, are experiencing something very similar to what I posted about. Thank you for your eloquent reminder, “…understand the truth of the interconnected nature of reality – continue to raise awareness, participate in the Great Turning, and support one another.” As for your image of my life in Japan, my restored minka still restores me, and I am indeed surrounded by great beauty and serenity. Often our images are shattered so that we may construct them anew in a deeper truth and connection. Thank you for sharing your love and wisdom.
Hi Catrien.
Live-fire artillery sure is a distraction. It could be partially gotten used to, but not fully, as it is unpredictable.
Relevant point to take account of there about the ravaged wasteland not being pointed out. For tourism gains or other goals, problems or imperfections are covered up or left out, in that quest for high returns.
That is a valid point you present about the envisioned world. I’d say many politicians envisioned what it would be like to be in a prominent position and make a difference, only to realize that new battles showed up once they got there, and their original envisioned intent was then set aside.
Armen, thank you for visiting again, and for your important point about how we tend to set aside our original envisioned intent. Along come distractions, or difficulties we did not anticipate, and we set aside our vision because we lose our courage and inspiration. And then, of course, there is the envisioned intent that must be set aside when it no longer resonates with who we have become. That sort of setting aside also requires all our courage and inspiration – to shift into a new phase, a new vision, a new present.
Dear Catrien and all who have replied. I have taken two days to read, contemplate and re-read. I will spread what has been shared here to my friends.
I can see how my post on Power/Leadership reasonated so much at this time with you.
On my recent ‘retreat’ to the Arctic in North Sweden I was met with many contrasts between exquisite beauty and stillness of snow, ice, the dance between sunset and sunrise with colours washing over the stars mapped on the ground that twinkled under the night’s stars in the sky and black star shaped conifers…and man’s noise and haste with snowmobiles, dams and mines culminating at the end of my visit of the sami historical cultural market mass marketed into a mass slaughter fun fair.
And I am returned to living in London. Asking why am I living here?
I did connect with a divine experience which I can only describe as a vastness that I felt such a yearning for. That I had forgotten but lies deep. Even though I have been asleep.
And so I live in a city and am asking what is my work? How to bridge this divide? How to use my skills? How to heal? How to protect? That which I call wilderness which lives deep in the heart. How to draw on that life ~ vibrancy ~ vitality. And so I conclude that it is my work that I am living here in the city. With that remembering. With that yearning. And do not run but BE where I am.
So maybe it is also your work that you witness, that you share, that you sit as guardian of the land.
I call upon the wisdom and memory in the Land ~ Dragon.
I call upon protection and blood memory of women ~ Bear.
I call upon the voice to speak ~ Hawk.
I call upon healing ~ Snake.
Elizabeth, thank you for returning again after your deep contemplation and respect for all the voices here. You have given all of us such a wise, such a compassionate, enfolding of the bigger picture, of our higher self.
The exquisite photos of Arctic Sweden you shared on your blog perfectly express your deep yearning for the vastness that I believe each one of us yearns for, both within and without ourselves. The wildness of the natural world exists as it is, and you and I, all of us, are a part of that. We carry that wildness deep within us, and although many of us have forgotten, it still calls to us, reminding us of our connection, of our spirit, of our genuine nature that cannot truly live without it.
Each time we diminish that wildness in nature, we diminish ourselves, because we are one and the same. The results of our diminished natural world are all around us now. We are experiencing this diminishment as a restlessness and longing that cannot be satisfied, as an inner wound that does not heal. We witness our inner pain mirrored in outer desolation and the continued devastation of the very connections that give us life.
Your comment presents a very beautiful gift of perception – “and so I conclude that it is my work that I am living here in the city. With that remembering. With that yearning. And do not run but BE where I am.”
And I thank you for your gift to me as I continue living here in the natural beauty of Japan that is so ravaged at Mount Fuji, “So maybe it is also your work that you witness, that you share, that you sit as guardian of the land.”
Yes, Elizabeth, perhaps my calling is precisely that, and I thank you for reminding me.
Such hope, Elizabeth! We humans, all of us, you and I, we carry such visions within us, such vastness and grandeur, such wildness, such greatness of heart, and such wisdom of spirit.
And we, too, can shine like the stars and dance our lives in an expression of connection and joy that remembers always who we genuinely are.
I see each one of us as a light, an individual brilliance, in an outpouring of radiance that need never be diminished because you and I, all of us, show the courage to step into the vigilance that ensures the light does not go out.
hi catrien,
how are you?
i hope you are feeling much better and everythings calmed down a bit. it must be really awful and appalling.
i’m still trying hard to understand or picture the whole scenario.
one thing that kept coming to my mind as i read this article was ‘the inner strength you must have.’
you take care of yourself.
Ayo, thank you for visiting again. Such concern for me shines through your comment that I smiled – a huge smile of delight and gratitude. Thank you so much. The scenario is that I live deep in the mountains in an abundance of incredible natural beauty and quiet that reminds me every moment of the interwoven living connections that sustain each one of us.
When the live-fire artillery exercises start the only entity that is actually blasted by shells and rockets is Mount Fuji (one reference describes it as a “rain of steel.”). As the slopes of Mount Fuji explode and the sound travels, the impact arrives here as thunderous booms and shudders through my mountain minka. This solid structure is shaken and rattled, but stands safe, as it has for some 300 years.
The devastation is visible only on the actual slopes of Mount Fuji, and it is desolate indeed.
But what of the numerous communities and towns on and around the slopes of Mount Fuji?
They seem never to have been considered in the decision to turn Mount Fuji into a shelling range.
And what of Mount Fuji?
What kind of mind decides to blast to bits a mountain which for thousands of years has been revered, and which rises in solitary splendor as a nation’s cultural and spiritual symbol, loved both at home and abroad?
Or is this precisely why Mount Fuji was singled out for sustained destruction?
Catrien,
What an intrusion into your peace of mind that must be. I must confess that I had little patience for the noise my neighbors made when I lived in a condominium complex – which is nothing compared to what you must be bombarded with.
I cannot believe that artillery is fired right into the mountainside. Am I correct in this understanding? It sounds as horrible as strip-mining. I think it might make good subject matter for a documentary.
Thank you for informing us about this.
Angela Artemis
Although I was aware of the filth left by climbers, I was not aware of the military exercises around Fuji-san. What a great desecration! I pray the Japanese government can renegotiate some of these military concessions to the USA, as I believe it is attempting to do. I wonder if World Heritage Site designation might be impetus for a better preservation of the sacred character of this mountain.
Here in Canada, I recall a small community of Catholic contemplative monks had to relocate from their isolated home because of the barrage of noise from clearcutting nearby forests. Violence to nature is violence to our very souls.
That’s an astounding contradiction, but, looking at it in a wider scope, I see that it is consistent with the American (Imperial) Dream. Desecrating a holy mountain with military ordinance seems to be Standard Operating Procedure. During the bombing of Afghanistan in 2002, I was horrified to learn that the Hindu Kush were being carpet bombed. In those holy mountains, ancient orders of monks used to live and strive to grow the divine spark within themselves. In that place where Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism blended into a sublime vision of the divine, American warplanes were destroying anything that resembled “a terrorist training camp.” Perhaps they were actually a hermit’s cave or a holy brother’s monastery secluding themselves from the mad apes which inhabit this planet. There’s a lesson in that though. There’s no place remote enough to escape from them. To strive to be holy in isolation permits the madness to deepen in the cities.
Merik, how good to hear from you again – welcome as a commentator to my blog. Thank you for bringing your broad and intelligent perspective to this discussion. The information you share about the carpet bombing of the Hindu Kush must be so little known – what must it have been like for that ancient order of monks who consider those mountains holy? You raise an important observation with, “there’s no place remote enough to escape from them.” And your powerful conclusion ties in wonderfully with Elizabeth’s comment about deciding to not run, but be, when you remind all of us, “To strive to be holy in isolation permits the madness to deepen in the cities.”
@Barbara: Thank you for visiting again. I know you developed a deep fondness for Japan and Japanese culture through your time here – perhaps Mount Fuji and the Japanese people will one day wish for themselves what you also wish and pray. You make an interesting interpretation of the impetus behind World Heritage Site designation that I had not considered. Thank you for your words which speak for all of us, “Violence to nature is violence to our very souls.” Were the contemplative monks able to find another home?
@Angela: Angela, thank you for your comment, and welcome to my blog. Noise is rarely a distraction for me, but when the sound waves travel in a certain way the booms and the shudders from the shelling at Mount Fuji are hard to ignore! I remember hearing that the blasting into the actual slopes of Mount Fuji is akin to awakening a sleeping giant – which may well succeed someday – this is, after all, an active volcano, and at some point, enough will be enough.
Hi Catrien
We live in such an out-of-integrity world that we no longer are aware of the extend. We stand in the sewerage and no longer smell it.
Now wonder we are confused about how to live a life that is congruent with spirituality.
I so love what you say here;
“We are simply moving through the days of our lives in a shell-shocked numbness that alienates us from our own authentic feelings and senses.
Whether unconsciously or deliberately, we prefer the masks of our cultural, social, religious, and educational conditioning.
Because we do not recognize they are only masks, we allow their destructive hold over us.”
Until we make the invisible in-congruency and out-of-integrity in and around us visible we have no chance of enlightenment. We have no chance to become the change we want to see.
It requires a real honest looking at ‘what is so’, it requires cleaning up my own daily life and then have that ripple into the bigger world. That for me is the only way.
Once more and more of us are cleaning up our own Mount Fuji, we will become unstoppable to clean up the world around us.
Wilma, welcome to my blog, and thank you so much for your illuminating comment, and the reminder to become the change we want to see. I really appreciate the passionate insight you express in, “It requires a real honest looking at “what is,” it requires cleaning up my own daily life and then have that ripple into the bigger world.” Please stop by again to share your perspective.
Catrien, you asked if the monks (a generic term, many of the monks were women) were able to relocate. Yes, I believe they relocated to a spot in Scotland.
Barbara, thank you. Since the Romans considered Caledonia – their name for today’s Scotland- to be intractably beyond the reach of even their empire, relocation to this ancient Ultima Thule may have been the wisest decision!
Marian, please pitch in here as a Scottish historian, if there are additional facts you can add.
Amusing, Catrien, that you should call on my historical interests in a meditative context
– but thank the Universe we all have alternate strings to our respective bows… I too was interested in what Barbara said about relocating monks but also on her pointed remarks on the World Heritage question. She’s right: if light is shed (you’re already shedding it!) on this hugely-resonant mountain there will be world response and the US will have to clean up its (military) act. I am – like many who support World Heritage – not of the doubting type: believe the best until proven otherwise. World Heritage implies ‘Nature’. Once the nature lobby is on the beat, I bet your shelling will stop! Worth EXPECTING that MIRACLE, anyway.
I am blessed, too, in my chosen environment in Roman Caledonia. And it is interesting that over the years several communities have settled in the winding, inaccessible, off-the-beaten tracks of Scotland. Nowadays that means motorway-free: which two thirds of the landmass north of the ‘Border’ still is.
Consequently, the Tibetan Buddhist community of Samye Ling has created a wonderful haven in the Borders Uplands; offering year-round retreats and ‘open’ courses available to stressed business people.
The ‘intentional’ community of Findhorn Foundation on the Moray Firth also offers year-round courses, invites world-renowned speakers like Neale Donald Walsch and Caroline Myss, as well as encouraging ‘back-to-the-earth’ principles in their own inner community programs which would-be initiates are encouraged to join. Their organic garden is a matter of historical record, having hit the headlines for mammoth vegetables in their first decade (1960s), assisted by Nature Spirits.
But the least-heard about – and, I suspect (though I don’t know for sure), the community to which Barbara’s Canadian devouts may have gravitated, is the former Benedictine Valliscaulian monastery of Pluscarden in a hidden valley between the Moray coastal hills and inner Banffshire mountains. Partly cloaked by its inaccessible surroundings (only a couple of roads to ‘nowhere’ lead in), and party by its fairly strict discipline of opening its doors to retreat supplicants twice per annum, it has gradually restored a demolished abbey, encouraged women members – but they dine separately – and established a shop to sell their most exquisite candles and wood carving. Everything is either home-grown or crafted. They are totally self-sufficient. The wax in cathedral-size candles to the smallest nightlight wick smells divine because it is gifted by their own bees. The carvings which now adorn restored pews within the abbey are created by the monks. Liturgy and song once more resound in the high arches. It is a magical place. If this is where the Canadian exiles found refuge, they will have thought they died and went to heaven.
Like everywhere else on the planet, they too are not far from an airbase. But around the Moray Firth the once-constant noise of air traffic from Kinloss and Lossiemouth airfields, 57.43 ° N 3.18 ° W, which were hugely active in the Falklands, Afghani and early Iraqi conflicts was suddenly curtailed when Gordon Brown took over Tony Blair’s job in British parliament. It was decided that Tornadoes used on nightly patrols over the skies of Scotland after 9/ll might be better based in rural Oxfordshire – with less fuel consumption. Or that was the sop fed to quell public outcry; whatever the real story, the Moray Firth is a lot quieter in recent years.
So if Barbara’s monks have indeed opted to settle there, they chose a good time.
In the bigger picture, I do believe that we continue to reflect in our world of vibrational ’seeing’ what we – as embryo spirit-beings coming to terms with an earthly body – are resolving within. And I also believe, like Abraham-Hicks, that ‘things aren’t getting worse, they’re moving so fast that we need to keep focus to catch up because they’re getting better…’
Marian, thank you so much for pitching in with your historical erudition in a meditative context. I sense that you enjoyed the exercise. As you do on your wonderful, learned blog, broadcast to the world from your chosen environment of Roman Caledonia, you have provided another mini-tome. I deeply appreciate your insights and conclusions. Barbara, thank you, too, for opening this thread in the discussion. Does it add to your knowledge about the relocation?
This was quite interesting, Marian. I had heard of Pluscarden Abbey and even heard recordings of their chant — heavenly indeed. However, I was mistaken about the destination of the hermit monks displaced from Nova Scotia, Canada. They decamped to northwest Ireland, in county Mayo, where the bishop had invited them to revive Celtic monasticism and with hopes of keeping the people on the land. It is an area characterized by poverty and high emigration. They named their establishment Holy Hill Hermitage.
I agree, too, with Marian about the World Heritage site designation. There are very strict rules surrounding these special places — they can be urban, too. Whether the US Armed Services and Japanese Self-Defense Force can be swayed by Japan’s application for World Heritage site designation for Mt. Fuji is another question. I wish them success in their negotiations.
Barbara and Marian, thank you both – I enjoyed the new information and imagery, and the hope expressed is inspirational. I will post again in the future about developments concerning the Mount Fuji World Cultural Heritage Site petition. There was an unsuccessful push to designate Mount Fuji as a World Natural Heritage Site, so the Cultural campaign seems to be the next step.
Hi Catrien,
I think that the collective consciousness of humanity at present can best be seen with how we treat things around us. And when you see all the distraction that is going around the world, it is very easy to get overwhelmed.
Thank you that you are among the people raising awareness of such things, which are just shadows of the real stuff going on in the collective spirit of humanity.
The best we cam do…. as individuals is to raise our awareness and hence “contribute” to the “collective” consciousness as it stands.
From Lusaka, the Capital city of Zambia I say Thank you for your inspiration.
Christopher, thank you for visiting again, and for your insightful comment about what we can do as individuals – “raise our awareness and hence “contribute” to the collective consciousness.” So much concerned hope was expressed in the comments throughout this discussion, and I very much appreciate your positive addition. Greetings to you in Lusaka.
Such a pleasure reading more of the comments after my own. So many people with such concern and insight.
And yet, it is just a drop in the ocean of humanity. So many people. Such a big world. So many levels of perception creating complete virtual worlds that exclude other versions.
In the end, there is one all-encompassing reality. And the law of humanity has decreed that, as we rise so shall we be challenged. As our perception expands, a force within us will have us contract. As the tree grows, the roots dig deeper; the roots in this case are the anchors of our ego mind, our fear body.
So does live-fire artillery count as a spiritual distraction? Depending upon the virtual world you inhabit, that could be the whole point of it.
The opposing force to our expansion is devious and deep-rooted. Its strength is in response to the threat it perceives to itself. The good part is: in overcoming by understanding and pressing forward, we can transmute the power of this, or any other distraction, into a deepened awareness and an expanded level of being human.
Best,
John
John of Zen-Moments, and it is such a pleasure to see your presence here again. Like you, I am deeply impressed by the the concern and insight expressed in all the comments. And such wonderful writing, such voices. Thank you, my thanks to all of you, who brought the power of your beautifully expressed comments to sing here on this blog. Thank you again, John, for your wonderful words, “we can transmute the power of this, or any other distraction, into a deepened awareness and an expanded level of being human.”
Dear Catrien, I cried reading this. How could I not. I felt discouraged, deeply saddened and disgusted with the shelling going on and what is happening to the wildlife, the mountain and people in the area (so senseless). Having been a bit involved with environmentalism years ago, I am not surprised by what you share here, but no matter how many times I hear things like this I still feel deeply dismayed.
I am glad you wrote about this. And there are so many wise comments here that I hardly know where to start. I had this thought. For me, this is a deeply spiritual issue. One might think it’s about the shelling, the human waste on the mountain, the US military, the environment and so on, and it IS about all those things, but it is also a call to us ALL (not just the military, or the hikers on Fuji), but a call to us ALL to awaken and remember who we ARE. It is a call to reclaim our integrity, dignity, awareness, connection to each other, connection to this living planet, connection to other beings (both plant and animal). It is a call to live in integrity with ALL life. We currently, as a species, are not living in integrity “with”. We have yet to realize that when we harm the world around us, we harm ourselves.
It would be easy to blame the military, but upon close examination of my own life, I have learned that we all are responsible for what is happening in the world. Even if we don’t cause it directly, if we don’t do all we can to bring positive change, awareness, and help to the world, then we still contribute to the problems. THAT is why this article is SO important. You make us feel, even if it is feelings we don’t want to feel. You remind us that we are part of something bigger, part of each other (no matter where we live), you instill hunger for a better life, better world. You remind us that it is not good to fall asleep at the wheel. You remind us that all is not as it seems. You invite us to rise to our full potential and to act with integrity, every day.
Yes, dear Catrien, I am so glad you shared this. Your voice is powerful, true, clear and very awake. I am move to tears by it. Thank you from my heart for sharing YOUR heart. It’s important. You add strength to the world’s awakening. And THAT makes me very very happy. I am so glad you are in the world. Much love, Robin
PS I am sending my thoughts of love and healing to your mountain and all her creatures.
Hi Catrien,
I agree it’s our inner waste and garbage that need to be cleaned up and the rest will take care of itself. How do I do that? Prayer, meditation, trust, gratitude, honesty, integrity…need I go on. My friend Evita says,”Continue to be a consciousness of love and the universe will unfold as it should. That’s my plan as well. I lost that plan for about a year and she reminded me of it recently.
Robin, thank you again for bringing your powerful, vibrant presence to comment so passionately on my blog.
You have said so much. I would like your words to speak for themselves, and I simply say, thank you.
And I know the mountain here, and all her creatures, have the wild generosity of genuine heart to receive and accept your thoughts of love and healing.
Tess, hello, and thank you, and welcome to my blog.
You share such important reminders of how each of us can consciously engage in our daily lives with the unfolding of the world around us.
Thank you for your friend Evita’s reminder, too, “Continue to be a consciousness of love and the universe will unfold as it should.”
The key is our continued consciousness – the mindfulness arising from our deep awareness of our essential connection.
Catrien,
Such a powerful analogy. The thing that awes me about the human spirit and our psyches is resilience.
I love that we share love and realness with those close with us. That love does abound through it all.
That is what carries me through the shell-shocked blasts of life! Love, laughter, and the touch of those we love.
Great post!
Lauren, thank for your inspiring comment, and welcome to my blog. Yes, I, too, am awed by the resilience of the human spirit and psyche – tapping a wellspring of energy that always seems there for us whenever we are ready to draw from it once more.
Thank you for your joyful reminder: “That is what carries me through the shell-shocked blasts of life! Love, laughter, and the touch of those we love.”
I loved your blog, but so sad to hear this news!
Beautifully written.
pEACE AND bLESSINGS – Kavi xx