I went outdoors. I ventured forth down the street. But that didn't take me very far. My street is boring. But I remembered that I went outdoors from my house, and there's lots of interesting things inside my house. It's the place where I'm writing this essay, after all (we still meet from home on zoom). I have my TV, my organ to play, my computer to check in on facebook and argue with conservatives and conspiracy theorists. The great outdoors? Who needs it.
So as I walked down my street, I wondered what was indoors at each house. What interesting things are there? Is there rocket science? Paintings? Music? More conspiracy theories? Should I choose a door to knock on and find out? That would be too invasive, and I am shy. So I put it off and kept walking. Then I saw this very colorful house, and a guy was already standing outside tending his lawn. That's a boring thing to do, but the dude was young and handsome, and who knows what interesting things he did indoors. So I stopped and asked him, whaz-up, dude? What is happening in your great indoors? Come on in, I'll show you, he said. We went in, and first he showed me his model train, set in Europe. It reminded him of his many trips there. He had climbed to the top of a mountain in the Bavarian Alps. Then he said, I also met with strange people there. The stranger the better, he said. Some people he met wore funny hats and spoke Chinese. Others liked to roam naked and shout Hallelujah, I am clean and pure. Now THAT is being out in the great outdoors, I thought! And I didn't even have to go.
So I said, Hallelujah, and we did a hand slap, and I went back out onto Leigh Avenue and continued walking south toward the hills a couple of miles. What will occur to my imagination as I write to you about Part 2 of this imaginary journey outdoors?
I know there's a park almost directly south past Blossom Hill Road that I only recently discovered after over 30 years of living here, so I thought I might visit it again. But I saw another person out on her lawn and said hi, and she invited me indoors too. She had a huge pagoda sitting in her living room. She was Chinese, and said the model reminded her of her trip to China. She said she met lots of strange people there who wore funny hats and spoke English or German. There were no naked people though, since China is a very controlled society. But instead of saying Hallelujah, they chanted very relaxing and inspiring words in soothing tones that opened her to realize her spiritual nature, and the pagoda was very well-crafted. So was her model. So we sat and chanted and soon I was transported to another world in my imagination where all beings were serene and peaceful and connected to each other and the cosmos. I said again, the great outdoors? Who needs it!
But I went on with my journey south to the park. I walked the steep pathway and noticed that every tree was like a pagoda. I chanted as I walked, and a couple of people joined me. Was I indoors or outdoors now? Was I becoming clean and pure? Namaste, I said, as my fellow chanters went on their way. I guess the great outdoors is pretty good too, if every tree is a pagoda, and Nature herself is spiritual. I didn't even have to go to the Alps or the Himalayas.