I turn on the water faucet and wait. Not a single drip comes out. While in the middle of cooking dinner, I pause, stare at the nothingness. For those of us living on a private well, as my boyfriend and I do, such a moment causes an immediate jolt to the body, flush of the skin, and zap of fear in the brain. I take a deep breath and chant my mantra.
Heading to Amalesh’s shop at the back of the house, I tell him. His face reflects mine, I’m sure, a sudden helpless sagging of his cheeks and mouth.
The next day, a well specialist tells us our well has gone slow. Where once it easily pumped 35 gallons per hour, now it’s only putting out five. “You are not alone,” he says. “Two other wells in this valley have also slowed.”
He lays out two solutions: putting in a storage tank or drilling a new, deeper well. We choose the latter and agree to an exorbitant cost. Fortunately, our neighbors, who share the well with us, will help with the expenses.
In the coming weeks, as we prepare to drill, we curb our water use. We view this as a reality check: we live in the high desert, a forest of piñon and juniper trees, and so the lush garden we spent last summer inventing, must go. Climate change, accompanied by years of drought, are forcing us to alter our ideas about how we live in this new landscape of heat and dryness.
I recognize the repeat of this well challenge. Years ago, my house was on a community well, and I spent a great deal of time and money in a legal battle with one contentious well member. So, as the karmic wheel churns, this well challenge has returned. This time, I don’t own the house, my boyfriend does, so the burden is lighter for me, but I’m determined to be here for him and for the home we share.
When the drilling starts, we wait with our neighbors, as day after day the well goes deeper. It’s like waiting to see if an oil well strikes, thus bringing riches, except this outcome is more primal—water is survival.
As the well deepens, we bow our heads in consternation, since it’s only pumping seven gallons per hour. Every foot costs seventy dollars more. Finally, at 500 feet, the drilling stops, and we’re left with a sobering reality: two slow wells, our original and this new one.
I chant my mantra, call on the Beloved to help me stay centered, neither for nor against, though I admit I wanted a great flow. I see that the only true and lasting Source is within. The material world will always fluctuate between abundance and lack. All I can do is rely on the Infinite—inside—and then do my best to navigate the outer.
In our own little climate event, I see Love. This well reflects outflow. How am I using my precious energy? To create more garden—more anything—in the material world? Or am I always feeding back to the Beloved, honoring the true self within?
Maybe that is why even climate change is Love. We are all being called to task, to examine how we use our resources. We Earth inhabitants have lived so long in a state of full-out greed, as though our only goal is selfish realization, rather than living for our Godly essence and seeking self-realization.
Will we change? Of course, we must, and the pressure will continue until we do, just as our own private pressures help us let go, so that we may live in pure freedom, high above the swinging pendulum, that constantly moves from joy to sorrow, fulfillment to disappointment, gushing to dripping.
Inside, with the Beloved, there is no climate change. This inner world always maintains an atmosphere of complete Love.
As for our well, we install a storage tank that both slow wells pump into, so we should have enough water to keep our taps running. Meanwhile, we dig up and give away all but our most cherished plants from the garden, modifying our attachments, directing yet more energy inward, where it will flourish and grow the most verdant, forever garden.
Thank you Lesley for your beautiful ability to share how you spiritualize the challenging experiences that come to you. What a blessing.
Thank you, Linda. I so appreciate you reading and joining in the conversation, all about Love!
So wonderful. 🎈
Thank you, Kate!
Dearest Lesley, I don’t even have words to express how deeply this touched me. Your complete reliance on the Beloved in the most challenging moments is such an inspiration and reminder for me. Much love to you and Amalesh.
Thank you, Marian. I’m happy this touched you. It is such a joy to experience life through our Beloved’s eyes, isn’t it?
I have lived all my New Mexico years, more than 50, in 4 different homes in 4 different villages, with 4 different wells none of which pump more than 5 gallons a minute. I have also, for much of that time, lived with unreliable electric power and so unreliable water flow. Without adequate income to afford solar installation, this unsteadiness has been an undertone to my life, instilling a necessary flexibility into every plan for every day. As Leslie elaborates, the outer circumstances can be of great benefit to inner spiritual development, so long as we keep an open attitude of appreciation for the guidance being offered.
Wow, Niki, your comment is sobering! Kudos to you for living life so on the edge, and being okay with the outer world’s limitations. You are an inspiration, and it’s so true what you wrote. The outer exists purely to benefit the inner.
Oh Leslie! You have described with such eloquence and humility the constant journey of leaving the outer world, seeing the perfection of it and relying on the beautiful blooming garden within. For that is truly the source of our sustenance. Thank you for this beautiful and thoughtful reminder.
Helen, Thank you for your lovely enthusiasm and for succinctly summing up this post. We really can rely on the beautiful blooming garden within. It is everything!
Lovely contemplation on the vagaries of life. Serious stuff this need for water and it seeming lack definitely a trigger for fear of what’s to come in this yuga.
So appreciate your example of adapting and adjusting to best of your abilities and resources.
I’m going through losing keys on the regular and see it as a reflection of how much more I need to rely on my Master’s teaching and specifically the many times he offers a “key.”
Sheila, thank you, what you say is so true. We go in and find what we need and then adapt and adjust on the outer. Such a beautiful dance with the Beloved. And as for keys, I sympathize and love your insight!
Hi Lesley:
I read your post today and have a great deal of empathy for your situation—-Water; I remember your episode with the neighbor and the shared well.
As a transplanted New Mexican living in Oregon, coming up on twelve years, your words really hit home with me. I often watch people here just waste this precious Natural Resource and I tell them it’s something I do not do to this day; pressure washing the side walk, constantly washing their vehicles, fountains and on and on.
So some thoughts of mine are: I bought my water for drinking, cooking, pets etc. in five gallon jugs from a place in Albuquerque called Water to Go. I did not have to collect water because I was on a community well so I was fine for showering, washing clothes etc. Maybe when you get your tank installed you could have someone deliver you water for purposes other than drinking and he augmented water can help the slow well recover.
I will put positive energy into your situation knowing that all things happen for a reason and sometimes repeat themselves. I often wear my Navajo Rain Bracelet while praying for rain in New Mexico. Every place I have lived has had it’s own unique challenges. Leaving you with a quote I used in NM “when it’s yellow let it mellow; when it’s brown flush it down.
John
Thank you, John. It’s interesting that you have lived in the dryness of NM and now in the wetness of the Northwest. What you say is so true: Wherever we live, we will face challenges, and isn’t that the perfection of life, that we are always asked to go deeper, to learn how to live and love beyond the dry and wet, in the constant of our consciousness. Thank you!