Okay okay. The title is hyperbole. It’s not so much a stairway to heaven as a ladder to my laughing place.
Then again, I don’t really laugh up there. I smile, feel good, enjoy the silence, daydream.
I guess that makes it more a non-pharmaceutical mood elevator.
Why do we seek high places? We generally look up when we pray. We don’t send our prayers into the dirt, we launch them out and upwards to float into the ether of spiritual space. We certainly don’t ever aspire to the lower moral ground. We don’t say, ‘I’m at the bottom of the world.’ We don’t declare, ‘I had a valley experience.’ When we smoke a joint we don’t get low. In fact, quite a bit of what we do is to attempt to elevate ourselves to a higher level, a higher plane.
I guess we just assume that somewhere “up there” is some comfort. Maybe some answers. And if we don’t get the answers we need, at least we have a nice view or easy exhilaration.
Before I came to Japan, I thought — like I believe most Americans think — Japan was a concrete jungle. Skyscrapers, lots of neon, bright lights, huge flat panels displays on the sides of towering buildings, set on an sprawling basin of cement and asphalt.
70% of Japan is covered in forests. The forests cover the endless peaks and escarpments of countless volcanic mounds, hills, and mountains. They don’t build structures on top of these elevations. Certainly not buildings and luxury homes. Thus the dominant motif is unspoiled natural beauty, just about everywhere you look, except of course the towns and cities. For a small country, Japan has an abundance of breathtaking scenery, hundreds of miles of hiking trails, thousands of miles of back-country roads.
I’ve written two previous articles about my trek up the small mountain near my house. As the seasons change, much about the trek alters enough to keep it fresh. At the same time, it is what remains constant which is the attraction. That and the convenience. I literally ride five minutes from my home to the trail head on my bicycle.
I think of America. Hard as I tried, I could hardly do anything without getting in a car.
How much my life has changed.
(Click on the pictures and they will open up full-scale.)
Peace!
