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As Rolf’s colon cancer reduced his body from a broad-shouldered 210
pounds to a frail, starving 145, the future of his life was increasingly clear.
And so I sought to look to the past, to distill the story of our brotherhood
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video called “Waterfall Display,” which is narrated by her hero, Jane
Goodall. In the video, a solitary chimpanzee approaches a roaring waterfall.
He piloerects (fluffs up his fur). He moves in swaying, rhythmic motions,
swinging from one branch to another near the rushing river. He pushes large
rocks into the river. At the end of this “dance” he sits quietly, absorbed in
the flow of water. Jane Goodall observes that chimpanzees do the waterfall
dance near waterfalls and roaring rivers, as well as during heavy rainstorms
and sudden winds. She then speculates:
I can’t help feeling that this waterfall display, or dance, is perhaps
triggered by feelings of awe, wonder, that we feel. . . . So why
wouldn’t they also have feelings of some kind of spirituality, which
is really being amazed at things outside yourself?
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The straightforward approach to practice is worthy. As the Nike ad says, “Just do it.” Become still, quiet the mind, sit like the mountain and sky—stable and undivided in the face of everything that comes up.Diane Musho Hamilton, “Practice Is the Way”
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