Falling into the Abyss

Map to Somewhere New / 2019 / Mixed media collage on paper / RCS

Falling into the abyss, we fall upwards and become who we were always meant to become. Falling asleep while watching the X-Files, as one does. Falling asleep at the wheel. Instantly reincarnated as a Stock Car Demolition Derby driver. Grinding gears and rounding turns at 110 miles an hour. These and thousands more options pop up on the drop-down menu as the world ends. Revolts. Revolutionizes. Melts away. Burns up. Floods over. Or gets covered with hundreds of feet of snow and ice. Gradually, or abruptly. Who’s to say. So anyway, we awaken every day and continue on our journey. Saying hello to where we are in the world, to our partners, pets, and possibilities. The birds outside the window fly in an arrowhead pattern, cutting through the sky like scissors cut through paper. The radio announcer just said, “Thank you for joining you.” She attempted to say “us” to fix her on-air mistake, but the program ended. I’m thinking, no, it was perfect as spoken over the airwaves. “Thank you for joining you.” We really do need to join ourselves, now more than ever. Is there a message more perfectly aligned to this moment? We’re always in some form of becoming – even when feeling stuck – especially when feeling stuck in the mud, stuck in maddening mental patterns, stuck in reverse, stuck in Nowheresville, stuck following rules not aligned with our current reality, stuck at the bottom of a faraway canyon, stuck in circular systems that long-ago lost any true purpose, stuck in a room with no doors, and stuck in between one stage of life and the next.