Wild
I think what struck me so much about Iceland is not that it is untouched wilderness. It is a place where people have cut down trees and built their roads. The Earth, however, will not always stay tamed. She spits out ash to bury buildings and conspires with the wind to make some parts of herself too harsh to ever truly conquer.There may be something in us humans that drives us to subdue the landscape, but increasingly I am intrigued by those parts of the Earth that she refuses to subvert to the ravages of time or sky or even humanity. She still creates fire and life in those small, sacred spaces.
Vermont has become so familiar to me that sometimes I have trouble seeing those places anymore. I have trouble finding those places in my life for the same reason, but I think, for me, the lesson of a place like Iceland isn't just about getting in touch with Mother Nature. It's about getting in touc with those small sacred spaces in our lives where fire and life are still burning strong.
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