-Rinchen Angmo

A green vale. She was walking in the space in-between. The magical space between the stream and the grass. Magical? well, let’s just call it an otherworldly realm. It’s quite a happy place, at least happier than the tangible world. You have to balance well as you walk along. She suddenly saw a raven chase an eagle; even in this far away realm you couldn’t escape the tangible world’s sky. but that’s okay.

Now getting back. it was actually a green vale across a white wall. Or maybe it wasn’t. the point is, it didn’t matter. She enjoyed walking in that space in-between, so far away from the tangible world, tangible problems, seemingly tangible answers that were hollow.

But having access to that green vale came at a cost. The tangible world became all the more unbearable. And the more unbearable the tangible world became, the more wonderful the green vale did. It was a paradox of sorts. And she didn’t know what to make of it.. One moment it was the sparkling waters of the green vale, the other moment the unrelenting winds of the tangible world. There was never a balance, never ..why? Each time she tried to attain it, it all kind of tumbled down.

But she was grateful that she at least had access to the green vale, what would she do otherwise..but didn’t precisely that make things worse…no, that’s only as per theory…and she didn’t believe in theories unless she had verified them herself. 

Yesterday I saw her skipping in the green vale, today she’s back in the tangible world. The venue keeps changing unpredictably. But even in the tangible world she seems to have visions of the green vale and that makes her hopeful. I guess she’s better now…now that she’s accepted that these two worlds exist..and that she’s a part of both….and that she’s got to accept it all despite her ideal wishes.

but hey, no worries.. it’s all an illusion anyway..places and things only exist in our minds don’t they?

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The green vale.

The entry was unknown to most. You either chanced upon it or you didn’t. there were some who put in an effort to discover it; but Skalzang was inherently a member. 

In fact, she belonged more to the green vale than she did to the tangible world (t world). But she was stuck in the t world, and well, there wasn’t much she could do ..was there? was there?

was there? that was the looming question? Furthermore, she didn’t know whether she was really stuck.. I mean what if there was neither a green vale nor a t world and it was all an illusion after all. But she had to deal with what seemed real at least for the time being. 

The green vale was an indescribable place. There was so much to it, that one almost forgot what it was all about. Though it was an in-between place, it was a place of no in-betweens. As in, it was an intermediary realm between the t world and the unknown, but the innate nature of the green vale can be described as ‘a realm of extremes’. Here, you were either on one end of the spectrum or the opposite end. So you never traveled the terrain in-between..you never knew how you landed from one end to the other..you never knew what to make of things. It was either wonderful or horrible. 

As Skalzang says, “It’s like sitting on a swing, but never knowing how to oscillate from one end to the other. So while you’re at the utmost top, there’s a shower of euphoria..but then you wonder how you got there and before you know it you’re at the other end …and suddenly it’s dark. But you know that just as soon there will be light. 

And you can’t do anything because you see, you’re on a swing which never stops. If you try to get off, you’ll hurt yourself terribly. The longing to get off becomes really strong at times, but you realize that you’ll just transport yourself from one swing to another. So, there isn’t really a point is there? ….now the next important question is ..what do you do then?”

Despite always having been a member of the green vale, Skalzang had never asked herself this question until now. So I guess she had come at least one step ahead. She had recognized her predicament and she was willing to probe into plausible answers. 

Answers? The only answer was acceptance of how one feels. It wasn’t anywhere near a solution, but it was an answer…an answer that was helping her more than all those empty words of consolation. The answers also entailed emptiness…what a paradox, it was no where near empty precisely becauseit entailed emptiness. The only solution ?

Cascading from the vale to real..

when would she wake up

and wipe that tear,

But was a tear such a bad thing?

wasn’t it

a diamond cutting and cut from your joys

water in dreary terrain

an expression of …?

something

..

a piece, as true as the truth the eye can release

a stream…a stream called…a dream…stream..stream called