A Flute Journey

I stand in a clearing. It’s just an opening in the woods with a little sun light penetrating to the forest floor. Down the path in the direction we call the Future lies a larger meadow, filled with light. From that meadow you can see the mountains in the distance. The sky is clear and the mountaintops are covered with snow. That clearing is my death. On a day not many days away I will enter that meadow. I will look around lovingly at the beauty of a world that I walked for too short a time. I will take a long look back down the path we call the Past. I will lovingly revisit the events of my life. Events that struck me with all the weight of a reality that now seem somehow just a dream. I will take my flute out of its bag and play my last tune. In that song will be all the joy and pain that I encountered on the path. Love and loss. What a wonderful journey. And, when the last note sounds and it’s echo has faded into silence. I will leave.

I remember picking up my first Native American style flute. It was a crooked piece of river cane lying on a blanket on the ground. Isn’t it wonderful how things are arranged so that we get every thing we need at the perfect time and place. It’s as if some divine intelligence were orchestrating each event. Is it not so?

The sounds that came out of that flute were weak and breathy but for me they were a wondrous discovery. Music was coming out of a hollow tube. Moving my fingers changed the sounds. A space of relaxation and discovery began to open up inside me. I had no goal in mind. I wasn’t intent on learning anything. I felt no need to do it the right way or be good at it. And, I didn’t care what others might think of these sounds. What a relief.

The flute has been my companion ever since. A friend whose gentle voice has soothing powers. The flute has been the catalyst for so many wonderful people coming into my life. It has become my profession and the source of my sustenance. It has taught many lessons and I’m sure has more yet to impart.

Thank you all for sharing this wonderful path with me.