About 7 years ago through pure chance I was given the chance to go to Stonehenge for the summer solstice. Within a couple of hours of being asked if I wanted to go I was at the site in a caveman costume (don’t ask). It was a truly amazing but super intense experience where I felt like I was getting punched in the face with experiences (in a good but hectic way) with experiences
Seven years and many close but missed opportunities later I finally made it back to Stonehenge for the solstice and it was much a different experience to the first time I was there. It was much more of a calming experience than the first time I was there. I was able to take it all in better in the wider sense. I could feel better the unity of all the people there from different walks of life and there for many different reasons from the religious, to the curious to those that were there just to get lit up
I could better feel the spiritual nature of the site. You can feel through your feet that you are standing on sacred ground and it has a humbling and meditative effect. I spent hours on the site not just looking into myself but also my place on this planet – not in a self important sense but more in the sense of what Slavoj Žižek called in The Parallax View the “unbearable heaviness of being divine shit” and the “unbearable lightness of being no-one” in the wider world and universal sense
I did plenty of people watching and met some amazing people, the most profound of which was Phil Wyman a pastor from Salem, Massachusetts who is not your typical pastor if you were to try and picture one in your minds eye. A very forward thinking guy and embraces many spiritual principles outside of that of the church – I had an amazing conversation with him for hours over 12 year aged whiskey and cigars which he happily shared. It was through talking to him that I realised that the reason why my experience here was so different compared to 7 years ago was no so much the people but I am in a different place compared to 7 years ago – if I wanted that same sort of experience this time I could have easily found it there if I so wished
Before we all knew it the sun was beginning to rise and we all gathered around the heel stone. The moment that the first beam of sunlight broke through the horizon was a sight to behold and will stay with me forever, it was both touching and humbling – it is the perfect warm up for Glastonbury this week
Tendai out
P.S. Phil has an amazing blog which you can check here – http://http://burningreligion.com