This Floating World

In Peru, on Lake Titicaca, my class visited people living on floating islands of reeds. Their main dish was little fish they dried on the tin roofs of their reed huts. They sold little trinkets. I can't remember what the little trinkets were. I bought one. I wanted to buy a dried fish so I could experience what life was like for them. But they stunk.

In Japan, geishas were part of what was called The Floating World. They were avatars of skillful and elegant music and form. They existed to please wealthy clients. They escaped membership in landed society. They floated from lotus to lotus.

In Nova Scotia, along the Granite Coast near Peggy's Cove, I saw a house on the water. Not beside the water but on it. I don't know the story. I felt as if someone's wish had been fulfilled. I wondered if it was a me I hadn't met.

At heart, I know we all want certainty. And that we look for it in all the wrong places, and are dismayed when things don't turn out as planned. We all want things to stand still. But things won't. They inherently can't. The largest mountain is always moving. There is really only one world, and it is this floating world.

The good news is, it doesn't hurt when you laugh.

29 October 2024
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca