There are at least two ways to cross a bottomless pit.
A sinkhole in the South-West. Hasselblad 500C/M, Portra 160, Feb 2022.
Sometimes in life, we can see the place we need to go, but between us and our destination lies an abyss, which could simply be a chasm, or it may be of metaphorical meaning, which at first appears to be impossible to cross.
The idea of an abyss comes from Greek mythology, in which this is the place where demons are banished to. It’s dark, it’s deep and it’s probably a place we would rather not go. But cross the abyss we must, if we are to end up in the place where we wish to be.
Glacial Lake in the South-West. Hasselblad 500C/M, Portra 160, Feb 2022.
And so the first and preferred method of crossing the abyss is to find a bridge, a link between this side and the other side. This allows us to avoid the abyss altogether by simply walking over the top of it and we end up on the other side. The only problem with this method is that it requires a bridge.
Some places, we’d just rather not go. Hasselblad 500C/M, Portra 160, Feb 2022.
There isn’t always a bridge. So in this case, if we wish to get to the other side of the abyss, there is only one way to do it. We must descend to the bottom, then climb up the other side.
This presents a number of difficulties. An abyss is generally a dark place, where we can’t see very well, so it will be nearly impossible to gauge our progress. It will feel as if we are making no progress at all. Our mind may be overcome with fear of this unknown that we cannot see, and we may imagine monsters that don’t actually exist. Then again, we may be brave but fail to see the actual monsters lurking in the dark and fail to return from our noble quest. The abyss is not for the faint-hearted.
Afternoon light. Hasselblad 500C/M, Portra 160, Feb 2022.
If we are determined, and keep going down, eventually we will arrive to the bottom. This, by no means is the halfway point. It is actually past the halfway mark. For now we have reached the point of no return and we will naturally continue. Even though the hard task of climbing is ahead of us, we are aided by one fact: we do not want to remain in the abyss. We want to find our way out. And so we climb, one little step at a time, until we see light again, and eventually return from the underworld, and find ourself on the other side.
-A.S. 27/10/2022, Lenah Valley