Mountains and Metaphors – Have You Reached Your Peak?

With there being so much hostility and division in the world, I wonder if there is at least one thing that religious and mythological stories have in common? A God or Goddess is the obvious answer but there is another link that comes to my mind.

This common denominator is tall, robust, sturdy and when reached can take you to new heights. Not made of blood or bones but from elements born from this Earth of ALL of ours. Whilst the world and the beliefs of its inhabitants change at an alarming rate, there are mountains that can’t be moved.

Mount Sinai, Mount Olympus and Mount Zion (to name a few) will bring you closer to God if you reach their heady snow laden tops according to scriptures dating back thousands of years. This mountain metaphor is an interesting one and prompts theologists, scientists, spiritualists and atheists to ask questions and passionately debate the origins of the mountainous myth.

Most of us hold on to myths because they somehow fit within our own level of thinking, feelings and make up part of our family fabric. Reaching your peak however, is no myth but a fact. It is a fact that we are all trying to rise without a harness or net to fall into if we loosen our grip. It is also a fact that the epic and romantic stories of the past see one person starting out alone but ending the journey with a multitude of people by their side.

People will fall, lose their footing, have their sight inhibited by storms and freak conditions. Some will look at the mountain and think, “Not today”. Inquisitive others will look up, unable to see the top through the clouds and wonder what they will find when they get there.

Not everything is as it seems and there are disappointments when you realise something is not how you imagined, no one said the mountain would be kind but it’s worth the journey, experience and may even surprise you.