Brigadoon

by Jon Sullivan - 2024-07-30 - Stories

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A place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, and remote from reality.

I am a man of science. But over the last 4 years I've been forced to retreat to an uncomfortable fallback position where I sort of wave my hands and cling to the idea that science has yet to discover many things. So many times I have found myself standing in a field, surrounded by dancing, gyrating people spanning 4 generations, and I realize something very un-sciency is happening. If I were forced..... which I am not.... I would say the sciency explanation is mass hallucination..... which I do not..... because I've had many many hallucinations, and this isn't one.

People.... certain people.... gather and magic manifests. Like a Brigadoon, a place out of time returns unbidden. All are welcome to visit, some few may stay. So many times I find myself weeping with joy from all the love and light beaming from those certain un-sciency people. Unspoken, I know they all love me, and they all know I love them. These few, these many, all heard Brigadoon calling and packed the car and drove for hours and, arriving at the gate, stepped through into the place where we've always been and always will be. Timeless. I don't believe in things like that. At all. But then what are all these tears of joy? How did I meet so many strangers who became old friends, with that snap of realization that we were together in this special place? How did the band and crowd become so completely one?

I don't believe in things like that. At all. But I keep going, and it keeps happening, and there are many things science doesn't understand yet, surely, I guess(?), and I choose to just put that aside for now. It's not real, but it's not supposed to be because we often have more "real" than we need, and it's Brigadoon, a place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, and remote from reality. A shared pocket reality rather than a mass hallucination.

I know you'll blame it all on the drugs, but there were none in me. I was sober and designated driver all weekend. And I'm finding more and more that sober Brigadoon is pretty wonderful, in large part because hallucination then fails as an explanation.

Last weekend I went to Portland, to a 110 year old farm house that now hosts concerts out on the lawn. The bands Bodhi Mojo and Garcia Birthday Band played. It was an incredible concert. Intimate and intense. Brigadoon showed up. And there was great merriment. All were welcome to visit, some few may have stayed.

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