Gaining a new perspective.

Climbing the Mountain

“One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art in conducting oneself in the lower regions by memory of what one has seen higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
Rene Daumal

Over Easter weekend, my son and his wife climbed Mt. Mitchell. It is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River; about 6,700 feet. They are training to climb in the Teton Mountains in June, where their base camp will be at that elevation. Jake’s hips hurt going up and Stephanie’s knees hurt coming down. They are now in their thirties and they work their bodies pretty hard all the time. The mountain top experience will be different for them this summer than it was when they were younger. They have new knowledge of themselves from making the Easter climb. That is the gift of mountain top experiences: new knowledge.

When we climb the mountain, physically or metaphorically, we test our strength and endurance. We discover what we are made of. We learn the extent of our ability to push through pain, or to allow ourselves to rest when we are tired. And, we get a different view of the world. On a clear day, for instance, you can see seven states from the top of Mt. Mitchell. Most of us don’t live on the mountain top, however. Eventually, we have to come down. We descend with a different perspective. We have seen a great distance, we know the exhilaration of being at the peak, and that experience expands us. It gives us a sense of the bigger picture. We see that there aren’t any real boundaries between North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee; between ourselves and others.

New knowledge added to old, changes everything. It changes us. Every time we climb a mountain, whether an actual mountain, or simply a monumental obstacle, we are changed. We grow. We add to our life experience. We gain a new appreciation for others who are climbing the same mountain, and we come down with a broader perspective to share with those on the way up.

In the spirit,
Jane