While I was on vacation I found something amazing! It is the piece of pipe you see in the picture above with the Calcite growth inside. Let me tell you a little bit about it!

There is a natural geyser is Calistoga, CA. There are also a number of natural springs that are home to some amazing spas, offering mud baths, steam treatments, scrubs, massage, soaks and more. One of these spas uses the water from the geyser to feed its natural mineral bath. The water is piped from the geyser to this location.

What you are looking at is a small section of one of the pipes that is used to direct the flow of water to the spa! The mineral content of the water is so high, that these Calcite crystals form and then grow – quickly. So quickly that they have to replace the pipes (3 different sizes and this is the largest) every nine months to a year!

I know crystals live and grow in all kinds of environments, but this still kinda amazes me! The speed at which they form.

I was sharing this story with a friend whose name is Trish, last week. We were both marveling at the uniqueness and the story of these pipes. And it opened up a metaphor for me, that I have been thinking about for the past few days!

We humans are like these pipes. We are an essential part of All-That-Is. Just as these pipes are essential to the system that connects the hot springs to their source – the geyser.

We may not think of ourselves as hard or as inflexible as an iron pipe… but we do think of ourselves as separate. We see ourselves as not only separate ‘pipes’.., but separate from Source.

Most of us don’t see or recognize ourselves as being a critical part of the overall system. Moving energy from Source to the pool of life. But that is what we are doing. Instead of mineral rich water, we move experience rich thoughts and emotions though our unique channels and bring them to life.

We are all channels or pipes.., side by side, crisscrossing and circling around one another moving energies in our own unique way to create this reality we call Life. We may have our own unique path and content, but we are all adding to and taking from the the same Source.

The other thing this metaphor revealed as we talked, was how we grow.

For most of the time I have spent learning about the spiritual nature of our lives, I have imagined our expansion, awareness and growth to be external… something that would reveals itself as a part of our exterior. . Meaning the crystal growth would be visible on the outside of this pipe!

But when I see our growth through the metaphor of this pipe and it’s internal growing crystals; suddenly that feels more real to me. It is not about growing or changing who we are on the outside. Our expansion, awareness or level of consciousness expands us on the inside.

We are becoming more by filling ourselves up on the inside… and maybe when we are so filled with Light and Energy, like a pipe we will burst and let go of our attachment to seeing ourselves as separate.

I am still pondering all this.., but in the meantime, I am thinking of this pipe as a Circle of Life! Queue Elton John! 🙂

With Light, Love, and Laughter
Charles