What's behind the mind ? ...and what's behind that ?

Seven hundred meters of sheer cliff forced the air from the great desert Umi-Jabour up into the forested lands above.
The Buteo hawks rode the air currents in long leisurely circles, barely moving a wing. They were expert gliders and used the natural air flow to spiral up.


Orion, had been sitting in meditation for hours, facing the desert, from his cave in the side of the cliff, when the room was filled with tension.

The heavy curtain behind him separated noiselessly in the middle and a face with bright eyes and dark hair watched him. 
"Please make us some tea Elsa" Orion's quiet voice carried just far enough for her to hear. 
Just as noiselessly the newcomer entered, filled a kettle and put it on the hotplate. 
Her movements betrayed the calmness of the long distance windrider. 
She sat on a mat by the table behind Orion and waited.
Orion remained sitting as he had been for the last three hours. 

The kettle boiled and Elsa moved to prepare the tea. 
She pulled the power cord from the kettle in a hard sharp jerk and poured the hot water into the already prepared pot.
Of all the guilds, windriders were the most opposed to the ways the technocrats. They utterly loathed electricity and all things electronic. Waste was anathema to their creed and everything was put to purpose. 

She wore the elegant and smooth clothing of a master windrider.  Cloth mended and tended, repaired re-formed over a lifetime.

"What's behind the mind ?", she whispered. 
Orion remained as he had been. 
The wind soughed and ruffled her hair. 
The dry dusty scent of the desert made her feel at home. 
Originally from the far North, where snow and ice covered the ground for most of the year, Elsa had found her calling in the hot dry desert winds, soaring and gliding like one of the hawks. 
She had found again the old ways of entering a deep level of awareness, where mind and body fused and time moved differently, dream-waking.  
Windriders now used dream-waking, to cover vast unimaginable distances, flying for days even weeks on end. 

Yet some never returned. 
Their families blamed Elsa. 
Some brought back news of settlements isolated since the great cataclysm three thousand years ago. 
They praised Elsa. 

Orion, stood, stretched, and faced his visitor as he continued to bend and stretch.
"You mean who chooses what your mind thinks about ? 
The fears, the desires ?"
Elsa nodded.
"I", Orion smiled, "I AM -- behind, within, through, all, I think and do."
He walked to the back, carried the steaming teapot to the center of the table and poured tea for Elsa and himself. 
"Some people would say your mind chooses."
"Yes. My mind finds reasons for a choice, once it is made. 
But the choice is made elsewhere."
"You are sure ?" 
"Yes." Elsa fixed her eyes on him.

Orion sipped his tea, savouring the scent of cinnamon and liquorice root and watching a hawk soar past his cave.
"That's what I found too," he said after a while.  
Elsa knew better than to ask him, she waited for him to continue.
"You are wondering why you chose to be a windrider, and found the way of dream-waking ?"
Elsa shrugged, "in a way, yes. But not only."
"Who am I?" Orion asked. 
"Yes. Exactly."
Orion took a deep breath, "the answer can't be put into words." 
"Elsa nodded, "yes. Words compare, describe in terms of the known."
"And who you are is not describable that way." 
"Yes. I am who I am." 
Orion nodded his head and watched Elsa intensely. 

Tengra Ngiam,
20Sep2017 
Hong Kong

 ---o---

References:

Buteos.

These soaring hawks have long, broad wings and wide, fanned tails. Buteos are built to glide effortlessly on air currents. They can soar for long stretches without flapping their wings. Their soaring ability lets them hunt for prey while circling over open areas. They will perch on trees and utility poles and wait for unsuspecting prey to move below. Buteos include the Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk and Rough-legged Hawk.  http://www.hawkmountain.org/raptorpedia/how-to-identify-hawks/page.aspx?id=353