GAUNTS HOUSE SUMMER GATHERING from where I was sitting.
For those who stayed over the 4 or 5 days this was a full gathering, of tents and vans, sitting around fires, music stages, over 40 free workshops each day, an occasional rain shower, and warm nights. There were a lots of groups, and family groups, who got together again, after years of coming here, and a few who turned-up on their own, either to re-acquaint with previous friends, or make new friends with total strangers. The whole gathering was at ease with itself, and the space it was in. All of this, to those who camped, was a collective and friendly, layed-back, EXPERIENCE over a few days, away from the conventions of routine and work.
From where I was sitting I could look out 'symbolically' at the scene. A view of trees and grass, tents and people, sun and sky. A scene without involvement or emotion {how to look 'symbolically'}, and yet full of presence. Why bother to leave the world of relationships and involvements just to view this ?
The biggest sensation is of you looking, and in that observer, if you let it, a silence and settled peace. The inner peace doesn't come from the peaceful scene around you, (although lots of people look there for it), but from within. And the 'symbolic looking' ? Just imagine your life and involvements as a group of large letters, maybe 6 or 10 feet high, such is the prominence of this word EXPERIENCE. Now look between the letters, and I'm sure you'll see.
O.K., so the large letters aren't actually there, so just look between the tents, and in that space beyond the things we've added in, with our attachments and involvements, is the world waiting to be seen. It's a strange place. Faraway, so close.
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