Hall #5 Spirit Journey
This hall takes me down memory lane, on a journey into the Red Heart of Australia. The Spirit Journey I made in 2015. Not an ordinary journey, but one which gave me unexpected experiences of Land:
flooding rains in the middle of a hot and arid country
the sound of water coursing through the veins of red mulga trees
featureless gibber plains disappearing into the Never Never
bogged cars later freed from Land’s embrace
warm hot springs refreshing mud-stained and weary travellers
abandoned homesteads once home to unrealised dreams
painted deserts of coloured rock
dingoes howling forlornly in the middle of the night
campfire companionship under a luminescent Milky Way
spectacular sunrises and sunsets
a moonscape of mine tailings surrounding Coober Pedy
underground homes, snug and safe in Land’s welcoming womb
a desert storm singing farewell to Land’s occasional guests

Photo: Chris Dalton

Photo: Chris Dalton
It’s a spiritual encounter for sure, but not one that focusses on pleasure, beauty and food for the soul. Here is Land freely giving, but showing life in the raw, vulnerable, and both witness and victim to our selfish ambitions – the greed of the anthropocene.
This is the same Land from which I take natural resources and land for farming and housing, and to which I escape for spiritual retreats. And what do I give Land in return – just a commitment to try to control the extent of the harm I cause it? Is this fair? Would I put up with Land treating me like this?
It’s a confronting hall to walk through, and as I hasten towards the exit I hear Land’s Voice softly whispering to me:
We played, you and I, on that day,
children wrestling in the mud,
delighting in life, together –
cars bogged, but land abundant
with the Spirit's blessings.
I, ecstatic with the sweet, soft rain
and you to share my joy;
you with horsepower, spade and rope,
proud of my mud that dressed
your car in glory and in hope.
"She'll be right, mate!"
we thought in silent concert,
barely knowing the other voiced
a mutual longing for Grace:
a prayer of life for all.
Later, my caresses bathed your mind,
reclaimed that mud and
refreshed your weary body
floating peacefully in
my warm embrace, freely given.
You loved me then
but did you love me when
you crossed the gibber plain,
rocks stretching to my
vast, flat horizon of unending shame?
I let you see me as I am,
undressed, vulnerable . . . exposed
to your probing eye that seeks
the soaring mountain, moonlit beach,
and pulsing, bountiful rainforest.
I did not hide my nakedness,
my soul stripped bare, honest to God
in all its barren emptiness,
but wounded by your cry
"There's nothing there".
And will you love me when
my scorching heat undresses you
and seeks you out, another Job to test?
Or will you curse the day
my harsh embrace may squeeze you dry?
We're so alike, you and I,
hidden and safe in Eden's clothes;
but dare you shed those skins and leaves
and trust in God's Shalom?
Will I still love you then?

Photo: Chris Dalton
I see the scales of justice close by the entrance to the next hall. I’m not sure now I want to enter, but memories urge me on.
#ChrisDalton #Spiritjourney #FLoods #HeartofAustralia #TerraNullius