I never found refuge. I owned a giant house for six years and never found it. Then I lived in a Buddhist monastery. I didn’t find it there either.
Photo by Jay Parker
It’s not just any place you stay. It’s the place where you feel totally at peace, totally safe and protected and provided for.
My friend built a farm from a ruined pioneer cabin using her own hands. She was a hippie back when that meant something and she searched the whole country for this one ruined cabin. I’ve sacrificed pigs there. I went on a one-man meditation retreat there. Walked in on a broken ankle, terrified I was a failure. I was only 28 and I thought I had failed. I began the heroic life there.
That was refuge.
On my journey I found it in Dubuque, Vicksburg, Natchez and other places. Those were the great moments, alongside disaster. Spend some time in refuge and disaster you will become a pretty effective person. One or the other will just leave you damaged, but take both in a cocktail and you won’t need religion.
A month ago I couldn’t sleep. I was afraid. Getting out of bed was worse. I had no money and I was going to disappoint everyone. 1800 miles to get here and all I could think of was running away. It was my fantasy.
Business was bad then, but business picked up. Not rags to riches but rags to new secondhand jeans. I even got a real bed. Beds don’t fit on bikes so when I got here I didn’t have one. My first night in the Chateau I slept on the couch. The couch is so big it doesn’t fit through the double French doors and the previous guy left it. Then for a while I was on a mattress on the floor.
But this month I bought a futon so I’m a real boy now.
My roommate also improved things. He moved here from California with only his car. You can’t fit much in a single car but when he packed he chose well. We have curtains. I can make coffee without using a frying pan. There’s a rug in the bathroom. Little things, but they matter.
Then there was refuge.
I fell asleep in my futon, incense burning in the dark, six gods over the fireplace, good vegetables in my tummy, a wool blanket to my chin, The Antichrist with crooked notes on the floor, a to-do list done, new work for tomorrow, and the budget for eggs and coffee in the morning.
I felt totally at peace, totally at home, refuged. What does the mind think in a moment like this?
My eyes blinked open:
I have to get out of here.
I have to get back on the road, keep moving, seek the next challenge. This is my psychosis, and this is my zen.
I told my ex girlfriend (better than therapy). “Maybe this is the difference between people who want to travel and people who like staying settled,” she said.
Maybe. “I’m not sure if it’s part of my nature, or if it’s a learned response. The last time I let myself get settled down I lost sight of my dream. Maybe it’s once burned, twice shy.”
Refuge is momentary, it’s borrowed. Almost by definition it’s a shelter along a difficult path, not a destination in itself. And while we’re all wired to seek it, I’m wired to flee again into the sun, into the wind, into the struggle.
What did I do that night? I blinked my eyes back shut, I sighed in the dark. “Give it time, Drew.”
In less than five months I will leave my favorite city, and embrace the blistering road once more. That day will be a fine day, then comes the swamp. “The joy is in the struggle.” Yes, yes it is.
I’ll be leaving for my first overseas adventure in 5 months, too:) But it will be different for me because I still have a home to return to, at least as far I know. It’s funny hearing the predictions of friends and family about what could happen. Financially, I also am not in a great position to take off for 2 months by conventional standards, but I need to do this, so I am. Thanks for the inspiration.
Where are you heading to, Grace? I’d love to hear more.
France, with my home away from home being Lyon. I look forward to the food and wine (but not too much wine).
Sounds delightful. Hope it brings many good things to you… or you to many good things.
Lovely area – I spent 2 summers in Coligny, north of Lyon (where the Druidic Coligny Calendar was found, actually). If you want a rural place to stay I’ve got some friends who have a house there and were trying to do short term rentals there. Wonderful biking around that area, too.
I have not heard of Coligny. Might have to check it out. If you want to send me your friend’s info (or url if they have one), you can contact me here: http://gracefulsimplicity.blogspot.ca/p/contact-me.html
Not sure if that form works though!
I forwarded your contact info to Dasha. There’s info about the Coligny calendar on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coligny_calendar . The area’s lovely – a wide valley bordered by the foothills of the alps, full of oak forests, grain fields, white cattle, and absolutely delicious fruit. (We pilfered rather a lot when we were 15.)
Most if not all of what you write resonates with me. We kindred souls. Please. Write more. I’m listening.
Well, maybe I will…
Meant to say: We are kindred souls.
Beautiful. The deepest insights are found in the deepest discomfort, no? Welcome to humanity and have a nice day :) xo
Ha. That should be my email signature, Meg.
LOL Do it. It’s just slightly too snarky for my TIFM sign…
If oneis being drawn towards something, then it is wonderful to pursue the dream. If one is running away from something, then that could be more negative. As long as you are sure of reasons for moving, then keep on truckin’.
Thanks Jen. That’s very insightful. It is definitely being drawn onward. A month ago when I was scared of finances it would have been running. I was asking myself what’s the difference between wanting to leave then and wanting to leave now, and you said it perfectly. Thank you.
I can feel the wind of Fate.
Yeah, true enough. Mostly it’s others touching my life, though. I can’t believe how much I learn here.
So how did they get in the couch in the building in the first place? I’m dying to know:)
It’s a mystery! It doesn’t seem to come apart into constituent pieces. My roommate (who builds props and film sets for a living) and I have not puzzled it out.
perhaps a wall was put up later on, or taken down and replaced. I’ve seen people move things through a second story window as well.
What did you mean by “I’ve sacrificed pigs there”?
Pretty much what it says on the tin. My wedding was held there and we had three organic piglets for the wedding banquet. In the morning my druidic students and I humanely ritually sacrificed them, then they were butchered and slow-cooked all day. It was without exception the best pork, probably the best meat, I’ve ever had.
Notably, we also read the livers for omens. The one sacrificed on behalf of my wife and I predicted marriage troubles at the three year mark, which was accurate.
Looking forward to reading about your next journey….;) Lisa
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My heart aches that I cannot join you on your great journey. I miss you and send nothing but good energy to you.
This makes me think of the movie Chocolate, where the main character can’t stay in one place for too long, especially if there are things that begin to tie them down. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you do. The way they shake up that little town might be something you do too in your own way.
Ha, I’ll try it out. Thanks Rua!