Fire on the Mountain

'Out of the frying pan, into the fire' only partly characterizes my recent relocation, since prior to getting fully settled in this land of flame and contradictions, i was proverbially stewing in a very, very, VERY slow-cooking dutch oven.  The mind works in mysterious ways, or sometimes doesn't function well at all.  A brief moment of epiphany in which the depth and effect of stress on my being came to light, then avenues appeared out of that abyss until suddenly - wham bam thank you ma'am - a flash of sentence-forming adrenalin and here i am opening the link to my blog again, after a much too long hiatus.  My new place of residence is the city of Baku, the largest port on the Caspian Sea and yet another place i never in a million guesses would have placed myself in for more than a week or two.  C'est la vie, ou peut-etre la mode... i'm sure the Tao is actively at work here; as a committed atheist, i'm always eager to point out that (unlike many religious zealots) i strongly believe in The Future, that even entropy is systematic in its inclusiveness: everything has a niche, however small and inconsequential in the face of big bangs, revolutions, or what have you.

So, welcome back to my frenzied search for meaning in an era in which most people are consumed with the search for money (or look towards money as the fountain that dispenses meaning), or for someplace safe, for people who are friends outside the friend-fantasy land of facebook, or just for a few minutes of real peace and quietude.  What is most transitory is often of utmost immediate importance; to recognize and roll with this at times feels like the only thread of continuity in my grasp, though i doubt it gives my existence much value, least of all to myself.  To be perfectly blunt and admittedly egomaniacal, i simply don't want to accept that this is all that defines me.  The niche should be broader, the channel deeper, the dance, as it were, much more multi-rhythmic. Everyone should have a mission, and it seems that after half a century of wandering around the planet, this is what mine has either come down to or evolved into, the jury is still out on that point.

Azerbaijan has an interesting history, yet another land that's been partitioned again and again over the centuries, such that the terms 'nation' and 'country' are qualified in just about every conversation and shift depending on the time period being referenced.  It also plays a pivotal role in the world's oil and gas distribution networks and is truly a land of eternal fire.  The recent holiday of Nowruz has its roots here, and having visited a couple of natural gas seeps, i am seeing the roots of Zoroastrianism in a whole new light (no pun intended).  The top photo was taken at Atesgah, the Temple of Fire on the Absheron peninsula whose foundations date back to at least the first millenium AD and i'm guessing even earlier.  Below are a couple shots from Yanar Dag (Fire Mountain), up in the hills above Baku, a place which acquired its moniker in much more recent times, after someone tossed a cigarette onto the ground at a spot where natural gas just happened to be leaking out.  Coming from a place (Hungary) where gas prices are exorbitant and supplies somewhat insecure, it requires a total change in attitude to not freak out seeing a local gas supply burned up in the interests of second rate tourism.

Blogspot has changed its design features during my absence so it's going to be a bit touch and go as i acclimate to the new formatting constraints. It feels good to be back here though - no question there are LOTS of things to write about, nukes and the Middle East are, as ever, at the top of my list!  Yet there aren't many english blogs coming out of Azerbaijan so i'm looking forward to exploring this novel facet of my experiential universe as well, getting another view of this place out there into the virtual world.  Please bear with me as i relocate my lexical limbs... caught in slow motion in a dash for the door...