DRAFT

They say this about the big mountain in Hawaii, they say this in Santa Fe, Taos… probably Flagstaff, I am spicious that people say this every place that has a mountain. Send me a note if they say this where your mountain is.

This repeated advice? is not an easily google-able phrase. It is oral legend. I hear it from many a kindred stranger. IF the mountain likes you, you will be embraced and life will flow easily and you might even be hugged so much that you aren’t able to untangle yourself from this place. Hotel California style. Otherwise, the mountain will make your life difficult and spit you out… like a pinon nut. The mountain.

When I hear this understanding/advice? repeated, I have to consider stopping myself from pointing out how this comes out of many mouths, many mouths near many mountains. Like, hey, this might be a cliche passed from mountain town to mountain town/ In other words, it was compelling the first time I heard it, in Taos… long ago.

As with many things, It is in the repeating of “things people say” that I have grown confused, and my “think for yourself,” and “quit regurgitating information that you have not considered the effects of..” flags go up.    I do enjoy the poetry of this one. How can one be a denier of mountain powers… you cannot, yet I just wonder how to respond appropriately to the knowledge ofthe  powers out there, what signs and signals to read into with this in mind, what to sacrifice.  How does one work with this Mountain, or know which of the many hard facts of managing a life in a place like this, are in the mountain kicking me, vs. the real and difficult economy of these places. The reality of these (often tourist) towns, many with with difficult economies for the working person, that attract a lot of artists, and seekers… . Attractive, beautiful, nearly functional, dreamy towns…near mountains.  Places with bad internet, limited infrastructure, systemic poverty and cultural clashes… photogenic places, with beautiful people, seekers, artists.

We are just going to blame the mountain? Perhaps she is sick of being villainized, gatekeeping is not her thing. She has nothing to do with relationship disasters, your real estate messes/landlord, nor the apocalyptic roads, nor the inability to find a job that pays you in proportions even remotely close to expenses, nor in rates and other sophistications that a big cool-ugly city might pay. Get off her back, quit blaming the mountain, maybe then she will let you stay.

Just sayin’

here are some quotes I did find online:
From a yoga instructor in Taos: “That’s the way it is here. If the mountain likes you, you get to stay whether you like it or not and if it doesn’t, it’ll spit you out faster than you can blink.