March 31, 2007

Nine-banded satori

You know how it is when your whole life seems to have been the setup for a punchline, and then the Golden Moment arrives?

At Kripalu there's this Labyrinth, a landscape construction involving spiraling pathways punctuated by items left by visitors, displaying intentions of various sorts (decipherable and otherwise), fairly obviously mystically inflected and semi-informed by various Traditions. Watches left as memento mori, keys as metaphors for... coins, rocks, pinecones... well, you get the idea:
IMG_2391

Somebody has contributed a road-kill armadillo:
IMG_2389
Now, this is western Massachusetts, and the nearest armadillo on the hoof is maybe Texas... so SOMEbody has to have brought this road-kill armadillo from maybe Texas, in order to commit it to its place in the Labyrinth. Setting aside the questions of why and with what mystical intention, we can ask the practical question

HOW was it brought?
And the answer leapt to my mind immediately:
It was brought
as carry-on
There. My life is now complete.

Posted by oook at March 31, 2007 03:38 PM
Comments

Sounds like your retreat was a great success!

Posted by: Ron at March 31, 2007 09:59 PM

I'm thinking that it was more an ADVANCE than a retreat...

Posted by: oook himself at March 31, 2007 10:40 PM

And more than likely they'll be out tonight a-wanderin' from the farms;
Waddlin' down 1291 to keep their bodies warm.
I'm talking walkin' belts and neckties, and boots for rodeo;
They don't run too fast, don't waste much gas. I'm makin' lots o'dough.
The armadillo....o....o...o
The armadillo....o....o...o
The armadillo

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. - Armadillo Jackal

Posted by: KuiperCliff at March 31, 2007 11:24 PM

The term "retreat" always discourages me. Why flee the battlefield? I wonder. Is this a defeat?

PS: http://www.armadillorun.com/

Posted by: Bryan Alexander at April 2, 2007 05:42 AM