Monday, November 16, 2020 - An electric current (that pulsates here).

Even when the city is sleeping and going to bed
early there’s a current, an electric current that
pulsates here. You don’t have to look for it.

It’s here all the same. You can go days, weeks
even without noticing it. But still, it’s here.
It’s easy to let the electric current that pulsates

here drive you mad. It happens all the time.
This is why it’s not possible to stay here forever,
or even for too long. And by stay here I don’t

mean live here. One can live here forever but if
he does he has to get away at least for a while.
Or else he will lose his mind. And his heart will

weaken.The city can lift weakened hearts but it
cannot restore them. It cannot repair them.
This city does not have what a tree in the middle

of a forest way out in the distant woods thousands
upon thousands of miles away has: quietude,
simplicity. One can go without quietude and

simplicity for a long while. Some longer than
others. But no one can go without quietude
and simplicity forever. There are places in

Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island
and the Bronx where the population is not
as dense as it is in Manhattan. Brooklyn has

Prospect Park and Queens has Flushing
Meadows Corona Park and the Bronx has
Pelham Bay Park and Staten Island has

Freshkills Park and Manhattan of course
has Central Park, but each of these parks ––––
they’re stand-ins. They get the job done

when in a jam. These parks have trees
and water and leaves and places to sit
and watch the sunset and to look up

into the sky. Even so these parks are short-term
solutions. This doesn’t mean they lack value.
They have value. These parks have a great deal

of value. But quietude and simplicity, these
parks do not have. They’re too close to the engine
that is this city. They’re too close to the electric

current that pulsates here. They’re too close.
If you want to live here forever you’ve got to go
away from here for a while and come back.

Otherwise what happens? The electric current
that pulsates here will take you too far away
from yourself. Be careful. It can take you too far

away from yourself. And it can happen in an instant
and you might not even notice it. Years and years
could pass before you notice it. There’s a thin line

–––– it’s a fine line between having the electric current
that pulsates here lift you up and inspire you and give
you energy and faith versus having that same electric current

that pulsates here take everything away from you all at once.
Mindfulness helps. Staying alert and aware. Keeping one’s
senses steady, acute, and balanced. Living with a heart

that’s capable of changing, growing, adapting –––– a heart
that’s cued up and able to give and receive loving energy.
The loving energy filters the electric current that pulsates here.

By filter I mean the heart is able to transmute the electric current
that pulsates here into more and more loving and healing energy.
But this takes work. It doesn’t happen without intention.

And by filter I also mean that this loving energy makes sure
that when the body and the mind and the heart have had enough
of the electric current that pulsates here, one is able to leave,

and regroup for however long it takes. A few days, a week, a month,
years even. & then when the timing is right: return, come back –––
Come back, refreshed & again to the electric current that pulsates here.