Dress rehearsal for living

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you Don’t go back to sleep! You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep! People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch, The door is round and open Don’t go back to sleep!” Rumi That quote was saved in my journal 3 years ago today. I always feel ahead. Lost in the ether but wondering when others will start to ask questions. Not even the right questions. I don’t think there are right answers. I once wrote; “I’m an educationalist who doesn’t need the right answer.” The themes this week for me have been – how so many have poured their souls into work to never live to see the results. Good or bad. Finished or unfinished. How fitting for a time when we fear losing so many pioneers before their prime. Some of them have needed to wait decades for their day. I’ve distracted my woes by absorbing as much online culture from across the globe. Using the time zones to advantage. I’ve often joked that I don’t know where unicorns hang out. Last night, I had a clear sighting as nearly 5,000 hung out at Universe In Verse. Streamed from New York. It was this vibrantly awake gathering. Merging science and expression to honour Rachel Carson. And yet I have this sense that many are only changing for now. This is temporary. We’ll go back to normal soon. What iteration of life can you dream up this week? How are we going to create abnormal in normal? Because for some of us, the unicorns, this isn’t that for from normal you know. Except we cut our own hair now. This isn’t a dress rehearsal for living. It’s an invitation to a new show. A simpler one. One with more unicorn gathering to honour those pioneers who didn’t live to see us all awake. Please don’t go back to sleep. Naoisé 26th April 2020