A short taxi ride and then a ferry ride and then a bus and then a train and then another train, and before you can see, “Wowzers, what a travel day!” we are in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, Scotland is a truly majestic city. It sits on top of seven hills, has stunning views of nearby mountains, and its castle rests on top of the cooled lava of a dormant volcano. We were enthralled immediately.
The word that comes to mind when I think about Edinburgh is balance. There is an Old Town and a New Town; there are spacious parks and crowded streets; there is a grim history and a beautiful one; there are magnificent views of nature and the best of what humanity has to offer.
Edinburgh can be a bit of a maze. And in that way, it reminds me a lot of what the Lord has been bringing me through personally the last few years; the relentless pursuit of spiritual balance. All along the Royal Mile, there are these very narrow downhill walkways called a ‘close’ (appropriately). Originally, these were packed and lined with merchants and now they are secret little walkways to shortcut you through the valleys of the city.
In all of our travels and the changing of the seasons we have gone through, fighting to hold onto a sense of balance and consistency in such a maze has proven to be quite a challenge. Edinburgh is trying to do the same.
While we were there, we heard quite often that Edinburgh is called ‘the Athens of the north’ and indeed a lot of their sculptures and other art around the city are made to look more Athenian. (fun fact: their other nickname is “Old Stinky’ because of the smell that came from having livestock in such close quarters and people launching their toilet buckets onto the streets of the Royal Mile).
It has always been a bit of a pet peeve to me to hear things called ‘the next’ something or the other or, in this case, ‘the Athens of the north.’ It is clearly a compliment, but it kind of steals identity, making Edinburgh try to be like Athens rather than trying to be itself. I’ve thought the same things with pro athletes. Nobody is or will be the next Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan. Because those guys weren’t ‘the next’ or anything, they shone by being uniquely themselves. We try so hard to be like famous, happy, successful people – rather than just being so in our own way, within ourselves.
I confess, I do this myself. I find out that C.S. Lewis read this book while he was learning to write or that Dickens got names for characters through this particular strategy, and I am tempted to do the same.
The biggest struggle in maintaining balance is to be rooted in the manifestation of the Spirit uniquely in each of us while remaining open to influence from the manifestations of the lord around us.
We took a day trip to Stirling and learned about the Scottish War for Independence, the one Mel Gibson fought in. And Scotland really has done a pretty great job of working with Britain, being a part of it, and maintaining their own identity.
I’m not sure what Edinburgh citizens would say if I asked them what they thought their identity as a city is. But what they may not be able to put into words, they are living quite well. Somewhere between “Old Stinky” and “The Athens of the north”, they are finding themselves and living it well. I hope to do the same through all the corridors of my life, the changing seasons of my surroundings, the ebb and flow of my walk, as well as the compromises and revolutions within my own story.
