On the back of our house, we have two patios and one
balcony/deck which extends only two meters past the sliding glass doors which
open up to it. The balcony/deck does connect to a patio by stairs, but it still
is much higher than the others. It has a panoramic view. It is a great place to
sit and read. In all directions – 180 degrees – we see nothing but forest. This
picture was taken from the balcony, in the most urbanized direction of all the
directions we can see from the balcony/deck. (It is a little urbanized, because
one can sometimes see a few cars in this direction, through the trees, on the
road which leads to our cul-de-sac.) Looking straight back from the house,
there is usually a wall of trees, but in winter one can see al the way down to Four
Mile Run, the creek along which George Washington would transport trees he cut
from his land in this area down to Alexandria to transport further. He
frequently came to our neighbor’s house (the house two doors down, still as it
was) to buy clothes, from a tailor of the Carlin family, which my mother says
are cousins.
In this picture you see what I think of as our “nature made
totem pole.” I was somewhat stunned a few years ago when I first saw this tree.
On the lower side... the human face about 40% of the way up... was a lot
stronger than it is now. (The ears seem to have eroded a bit through the
years). But the very top looked less like the face of a deer than it does now.
That is a fitting image, since we humans in the house and the deer which live
in the back yard are the two main mammals here now – now that the coyote has
died (probably in an all-out fight with our old cat, a fight which killed them
both) and the raccoons are no longer living in the mouth of the human face.
(Maybe someday we will post that older picture.) I suppose that the famous
totem poles of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest were initially inspired when
trees like this appeared at times in their places.
(A few years ago, we took a cruise to Alaska – the most
expensive trip we ever took – where we found a real authentic shaman to discuss
this with, as we explored on our own at one of the ports. I still remember him
saying: “No, you are not an eagle, as our people see eagles; you are an
octopus. Here is YOUR totem.” And on the balcony of that cruise ship, I read a
book entitled Shamanism which was inspiring enough.)
We bought this house from Sohini Patel, who inherited the
aryuveda practice which served the Ghandi family. We only had a few real human
meetings with her, as we were buying the house and soon after, but I will
remember things she said forever. I also remember meeting in the late evening,
over herb tea... and as she talked about how “everything is energy,” how we
could actually see crackling energy in the twilight around us. I asked where in the house she practiced
meditation, and she smilled “in every room, of course. Different meditations in
different room, but every room has its energy now.” She gave us a very good deal on the house (not
outrageous, but really quite good), and explained that she had been waiting
until a proper new family should come. In fact, that time was one of the two or
three times in my life when I had really severe economic fears and problems,
and this opportunity was a life-saver for me.
(Luda and Chris actually found the house, as we were taking long walks
in the area.) She showed me the “fu” she had placed, and explained how the feng
shue also meets the highest standards. It is truly a “house between the worlds”
in more ways than one; though it is all deep historic forest on the back, it
also is one mile walk from “government funding alley” (where DARPA, NSF and ONR
are al located for now) and the Ballston Metro station, and a ten minute drive
from Congress or the White House at times of average traffic. It only has 2100 square feet (not counting
basement or attic), but four bedrooms really is more than enough for a family
of three people; more would be a burden.
I remember a time when we subscribed to the Financial Times
for several years. It came at first to our driveway, for free, not even
ordered, we are not sure how. A year or two later, we subscribed for half
price, because it was extremely informative for what our friend Yeshua calls “the
watch.” But as we read some sections... it was hard not to notice people with
incomes much, much higher than ours. It was hard to avoid a little bit of
controlled, quit envy of their wealth – even though we remembered firmly that
we still agree with the value choice which led me here, and not to a possible
future I once had wide open as a wealthy banker with a wife who was a wonderful
good sweet person – but not my highest karma. But one day, I read the section
of the Financial Times describing what those wealthy people had to choose from
as places to live – for a price ten times the original cost of my house, either
a big place far away from where they work (so many hours in soul-grinding
commuting reducing family communication) or a town house far away from nature
and light and real fresh air... suddenly my gratitude for being better off
became much stronger.
I have always given a high recommendation to the book by
George Valliant of the Harvard Psychology Department, reporting on who is successful
and who is not, of Harvard graduates... touching on the question of what
success and happiness really mean.
So I have only bought two houses in my life. The other was a relatively
solid detached brick house in College Park, Maryland, back when I was an
assistant professor with a salary of only $15,000 per year. That too was a bit
of an adventure. I bought it from Dr, Perl, author of The Four-Front War, the
true story of how he saved thousands of lives of Jewish people esacpaing from
the Nazis. Dr. Perl was then head of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a practicing
psychiatrist (specializing in disturbed youth) and a VERY serious cabbalist. He
showed us a very special antique writing desk he had in the dining room, with
lots and lots of secret compartments which he still found useful. He showed us
the room upstairs (which later became the bedroom of my daughters – one at a
time), which was then a cabbala meditation room, complete with two long shelves
of ancient cabbalas in many languages
At that time, I was an active member of the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC)
and also an initiate of the Order of Pythagoras (yes, it still exists), and we
had some serious discussion of our various approaches, including issues of
energy and healing, as with Sohini. He discussed how important Carl Jung was in
his practice of psychiatry. (I also
treasure some discussion with therapist mystics in the local Quaker Meeting –
which is not so sectarian, and more elevated in my view.)
It was a bit amusing to read in the Washington Post a few
weeks later that the FBI had indicted Perl on charges of encouraging someone to
shoot out windows in the Russian embassy or such, and that they had delayed the indictment a few weeks to
allow him to complete closing on the sale of his house. I guess we owe one to
the FBI – or at least to the old FBI, before the last chapter depicted in the book
A G-Man’s Journal. (After that last chapter came Cheney, beyond the scope of
this blog post.) It was also amusing
when he called a few weeks later to ask about a telegram form a guy named Meier
(sp?), which he asked us to open and describe immediately. We were also very grateful when Dr. Perl
invited us later to a magnificent dinner in his new house in Beltsville (with
no stairs to climb, a growing problem for him as he aged), but... now it is my
turn to bump into the annoyances of aging... at least not stairs. (Like many I
know, I had terrifying problems with knees a few years ago, trying to walk down
a mountain after my knees gave out... but a tight coupling of exercise and
glucosamine+ seems to have solved most of that, at least for now.)
Perhaps someday I will even post our picture of a serious
hawk (or eagle?) perched on our balcony/deck, only a foot from our sliding
glass door. And little birds constantly try to make their nest just inside of
that door, in the beautiful sun room which is only very rarely used as a dining
room... but they understand when we explain the difficulties of that to them.
(Chipmunks have at times walked in the lower sliding glass doors from the stone
patio, but have also been good sports about not moving in.)
All for now.
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