An Afternoon on the Trails - Welcoming the Autumn Equinox 2020
by Sean Jobst 25 September 2020 Last Tuesday, I spent all afternoon hiking the trails in the nearby forests. These form part of the Talladega National Forest along the slopes of Mount Cheaha (2,413 ft / 735 metres), the tallest mountain in my state. Getting out on these trails remind me of how blessed I am to live at the southern foothills of Appalachia, for the alternative reality of life - what actually matters and will be truly sustained (not "sustainable") in the future - is within landscapes such as these and not some larger, "smart" cities the elites want to engineer as the new reality. Just as the events of 2020 have seen an acceleration of such schemes, we who have the insights to make and live our own parallel reality can and should accelerate our own efforts. But such thoughts were not my main focus as I reflected on more primal matters of spirituality. For just as these forests - sacred and teeming with life - have withered all the storms (literal a