word of the day: anfractuous
Marin County resident Gary Thorp has set himself the task of seeing a mountain lion, and Caught in Fading Light is the record of his search — along with the musings of a student of Zen. At this point in the narrative Thorp spots his first lion and is “elated”! Sadly, the sighting turns out to be a dream:
I have continued to experience periodic, anfractuous dreams … They spread themselves out a few weeks apart. Each lasts for only a few moments; but they are all intense enough to awaken me. A salient feature of these dreams is their utter casualness. A lion crosses a path, drinks water from a stream, or sits in sunlight. There is never any foreboding of drama, confrontation, or danger. There is no hint of any significance or symbolic importance. Indeed, these many lion sightings, which occur only while I dream, have almost become nonevents.
definition (Merriam-Webster): full of windings and intricate turnings
Although it’s in the nature of dreams to be full of windings and intricate turnings, the lion-sighting dreams Thorp describes seem almost anti-anfractuous. “A lion crosses a path, drinks water … sits …” That’s a pretty simple dream.
source:
Caught in Fading Light: mountain lions, zen masters, and wild nature
by Gary Thorp
2002. Walker & Co., New York
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