Meandering, pulsating rivers are akin to silver-bearing veins, transparent quartz stones are crystallized sighs. Vibrant copper-colored trails are adornments to long braids. The sky vault is filled with kaleidoscopic clouds as if it were a mirror of an ever-transforming thought. The impalpable embrace is omnipresent.

Rivers, rain, and waterfalls – often rushing all at the same time, re-shaping and re-creating the surrounding landscapes on its way: carving scenic canyons, nourishing soils, smoothening rocky terrains. Water acts as an element of a powerful and creative force that is similar to tears which reshape the landscape of a soul.

It is in places like this we find ourselves facing eternity and realize the ephemeral nature of every moment. This time, the windows of ineffable opened up in the Highlands region of central Brazil, in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park. Gazing through the haze into the distance, mesmerized by sparkling waters of Rio de Preta, I find myself surrounded by vast valleys and fields of woodland savanna (locally known as Campo Cerrado) with strips of tropical forest thriving along countless streams.  The vegetation here is an epitome of abundance and vitality; the land is as generous to you as a mother is to an infant – you experience being one with nature, one with Mother Earth.

Maybe you are standing under the rushing waterfall or being soaked in the downpouring rain…laying on top of the ancient boulder or contemplating a cosmic sunset…or realizing that a cannery’s song touched a string in your heart and filled it with a sudden reverberation – perhaps, that same string is touched when the sacred drums are played, and when nothing is between you and the rippling waters of a seemingly endless river. Every of those moments is a point of contact and a point of mutual sharing between you and the universe — a gift of love glowing beyond the veil of illusion.

Elena Umansky