Great Experiences Talk

“The world has laid low, and the wind blows away like ashes Alexander, Caesar, and all who were in their trust; grass-grown is Tara, and see Troy now how it is--and the English themselves, perhaps they too will pass!”

That's an Irish saying from the 18^th century. It's just a political twist on the concept of impermanence, which is the central idea of Buddhism and is often emphasized in Christianity too- but is frequently overlooked by people in both the East and the West, who want their pleasures and their luxuries to last forever, and too often act as if they will.

Have you ever had a great experience involving quicksand? Well, so have I! Quicksand is pretty fun when you encounter it in the right context. Such as a four-hour hike bent double through a wilderness of thorn bushes, using a backpack as a battering ram and an old wool coat as a form of armor.

When you've been bushwhacking- and that term has never been more literal- through such a thick and tangled jungle of needle-sharp thorns, so thick that you can't even see the sun, then you are really prepared to encounter quicksand. It is only in circumstances such as these that a good pool of really sticky quicksand takes on its most sublime and poignant qualities.

A few years after my failed attempt to climb Mt. Washington with my high school hiking club, I decided to make another attempt- once again with the same club. My main goal in this climb was not just to reach the top, but to do so as rapidly as possible. Why?