The day starts on a magical extension of light and edge
glossy colour marks the corners of the mouth
a subdued sky in the company of a White-faced Heron.
Nameless Creek has been flowing with the rains,
a tyre wedged in the sand with sand is too heavy.
Miilba is gnawing the forest.
~
Yurrun.Ga wetlands
On our way, another regular bird survey entwined
with the fascinating geometries of three Black Swans,
the Paperbarks are all in flower, I want more light,
more colours and many more birds, as in the past.
In today’s Guardian Mark Cocker writes: ‘Look up, listen, and be very concerned. Birds are vanishing – and their crisis is our crisis. More than 40m birds have disappeared from UK’s skies since 1970: a trend that imperils the network that gives us life.’
~
I went just for a check-up, as Wyn was going. I hadn’t seen a chiro or osteo for a decade or so. I saw Bob a friendly guy, and as I walked out realised, with amazement, that he didn’t want to see me again.
How many Osteopaths does it take to change a light bulb? Only 1, but it takes 6 visits.
I look up at the offerings, and only today get around to Googling ‘Metaphysical Massage’ today (17 May) . I studied Peter Strawson’s descriptive metaphysics at uni, which, at the time, seemed to have nothing to do with girlfriends’ massages.[i]
‘Metaphysical Combination Massage. These sessions focus on the emotional, physical and spiritual to address the subconscious and the cranio sacral system. The goal is to regulate the rhythm of the craniosacral system, clear energy cysts in the body and to address possible root causes of pain and illness.’
‘Metaphysical massage is a unique holistic massage service, with an ethos to heal both body and mind. Our treatments incorporate massage to combat physical stresses, which can also be combined with bespoke spiritual rituals to promote well-being, rejuvenation, and clarity.
This is inspired by Ancient Egypt, where massage was considered a sacred art that represented synergy between medicine and spiritual ritual. We bring these beliefs to the modern age at Metaphysical Massage, providing services that aim to help illuminate not only the physical body but also the soul, and hence help our clients transcend the physical.’
And I thought modernity was the upheaval though late capitalism and consumerism in social conditions. As Zygmunt Bauman put it, economic and cultural forms have become private and individualised – increasingly ‘light and liquid’. [ii]
He later considered globalisation as resulting in change, uncertainty, flux, conflict, and revolution. A world of refugees and people moving for economic reasons and well as conflict. He warned, ‘No longer can democracy and freedom be fully and truly secure in one country, or even in a group of countries; their defence in a world saturated with injustice and inhabited by billions of humans denied human dignity will inevitably corrupt the very values they are meant to defend.’[iii]
I have cancer, not cysts, as far as I know, though what we know is never enough.
~
While Wyn is with Bob, I go down to the Bellinger. William Miles, a stockman from Kempsey, was the first European to explore this valley searching for new valleys north of the Macleay River in 1840. Government Surveyor, Clement Hodgkinson, recognised the rich prospects of cedar in these rainforests a little later. He described, ‘gigantic trees matted and interwoven together almost to their summits by wild vines and creepers, and often presenting the appearance of an enormous wall . . . it would puzzle a bird to pass through it.’ 13 January 1841.
Red Cedars are a rare deciduous tree, easy to spot in winter, even in thick bush. These are just starting to turn. We have guerrilla planted some around our village.
[i] Peter Strawson, Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics, Methuen, 1959. His metaphysics was opposed to Kantian transcendental idealism.
[ii] Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity, Polity, 2000.
[iii] Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty, Polity Press, 2007.
