In the woods...

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.

- Mother Teresa

When I moved in to my cabin at Jawbone I entered a realm that was to become for me a complete immersion in an intimate setting unlike anything previous in my life. An attachment to this place is inevitable if you spend even part of a day here. When the sound of the river is the lullaby that puts you to sleep and the rock tune that wakes you up in the morning... it becomes the theme song, the rythm that moves you. One thing that every resident of Jawbone accepts is the power of the place to make you welcomed, sheltered, safe...

I very well remember the feeling of "oh boy. A town trip!" And then, after just a couple of hours the novelty of the city is worn and tired. The place is crowded. Crowded with people and sounds and smells and activity... and it is time to go home. Time to get back to the safety inside that locked gate.

As close to a perfect sense of freedom as I've ever enjoyed was at Jawbone. The nature of self sufficiency is a draw that many people ignore or are not even cognizant of. And it is absolutely understandable to rely on the services of modern living. ... heh... I mean... I do it all the time. But Opal Creek... where the water that is your power is also your coffee, your hot shower and it is the best water in the world. Cold. Filtered through a forest, through moss and root and rock. Water as fresh as most of the world's fresh water was before our mad migration through the realm of technology and the planet's human population explosion. I read once that when the final battles of the middle east are fought they won't be fighting over oil. The war will be for water. We can live without oil. We dry up and blow away without water...

Water flows humbly to the lowest level.
Nothing is weaker than water,
Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong,
Nothing surpasses it.

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching