The Past is in the Present

What memories do rocks hold?

For the first few weeks, we’re going to focus on the past - the history of your place - for it hasn’t always looked the way it does now, and it won’t look the same way in the future. But, you don’t have to look in books to learn the history of your place because there are clues all around you if you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Your place has a memory. The past is contained in the present.

Part of this year’s project is realizing that we humans are not the only participants in the drama unfolding around us. So, let’s begin with something a little unusual, with perhaps one of the oldest inhabitants of your place, the very rock that serves as the foundation upon which you live. It was here long before you and will surely be here long after. What memories do rock hold?

Deep-Time Geology

There are always powerful forces at work, from within the Earth and without. Your place has evolved over billions of years and is still evolving, whether you can see it or not. I’m lucky to live near the powerful force that is Niagara Falls. And, it boggles my mind when I realize that it has receded seven miles in the last 12,500 years. That’s quite a dramatic geologic story.

Rock is formed over deep-time through processes of melting, cooling, eroding, compacting, and eventual wearing away. At the base of the Niagara Gorge, where rock meets river, I can touch rock that is 400 million years old. 

Consider these questions. Is there a geological formation - a mountain or range, valley, plains - in your place where you feel a special connection? Why is that? Where is the oldest rock in your place?

David Abram speaks beautifully about rock in his book, Becoming Animal, paraphrased below.

“The apparent fixity and inertness of rocks is an inherited concept rather than any direct, sensory experience of the mineral world. Stones seemingly have no agency or experience, yet simply to exist is an active thing. You and the rock are not related as a mental ‘subject’ to a material ‘object,’ but rather as one kind of dynamism to another kind of dynamism—as two different ways of being animate. The stillness, the quietude of this rock is its very activity, the steady gesture by which it enters and alters your life.”

Practice

Your main practice for this week is to be aware of rocks throughout the week as some of the oldest inhabitants of your place. Notice their colors and textures, their unique rock-ness. Although rock seems inanimate, it is wearing away slowly over time. 

Ideally, I’d like for us all to spend at least 15 minutes sitting on a rock, doing nothing but sensing and observing. You could go to your favourite geological formation or to a high place where you can survey the landscape or to the oldest rock you can find. Feel the connection. Imagine what this rock might have experienced over the years. If sitting is not possible, due to weather or other reasons, just notice and touch rock as much as possible.

Remember: Each practice has a specific purpose but the overarching goal of all of the practices is to redirect your attention, away from a screen and even your thoughts, to the place where you are. So, even if you don’t feel the practice itself is of interest to you, please do it anyway. You’re developing a habit of being in the moment and asking yourself, “What is this moment asking of me?” The answer may be as simple as giving your full attention. 

I’d love to know, how did you listen to rock? And, what did you hear or feel, if anything? If nothing else, just be grateful for rock and it’s role in your place. Please share your experiences in the comments or on Instagram (add the hashtag #seeingyourplace2022).

Resources

Read my post: An Obsession with Rocks

The Rock Cycle from National Geographic