The Choice
Original oil painting by me Steve Cousins the Green Man
Any of you that have visited the Wooded Henge at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, will have had to face this choice.
If you had never visited a Neolithic henge before, and didn't know their general layout, you could be totally confused as to which way to go; especially with the trees obscuring so much of things. They are left to explore without pre-knowledge. Those of us that have been before and/or have some knowledge of how a henge is layout still face a choice. Left or right? Or do we just ignore the well trodden path and scramble directly through to the centre?
The henge consists, overall, of a circular ritual monument; an outer bank built from the material excavated to form a deep inner ditch. But neither is a complete circle. The ditch is in two segments, with two causeways of unexcavated ground at the northern and southern ends, allowing level access to the centre. And similarly, there were two gaps left deliberately in the bank, corresponding with the causeways. Between the bank and the ditch is a 'berm' a flat area on which a circular path now exists, worn by visitors walking around the outside of the ditch.
But here's the choice.
Do we follow the circular path to the left or the right? Or scramble down into the ditch and up directly into the centre?
If we follow the path and want to visit the centre, then you are left with other choices.
You will either have to not walk around half of the circular path, entering the central area via one of the causeways. And then when you leave the centre, do you use the causeway you entered by? In which case you could return the way you came, or turn the other way and complete the circular path. But then you will not use one of the causeways. Or do we leave the centre via the other causeway? But then you are faced again with either not walking half the circular path, and just walk the quarter back to where you started, again missing half the circular path, or turn the other way and then you will have to cover the first quarter of the circular path.
If you just scramble straight through to the centre, you will get there sooner, but it is far more risky, and then you either have all the same choices about which path to follow when you leave and what you miss out on, or scramble back out again, missing everything, but then you have had a very different experience from most other people for good or ill.
Sounds very much like life; doesn't it? What choices do I make? How much risk am I willing to do? How much do I want to do? How much am I willing to miss out on? It is difficult to do all. And those choices can depend very much on your personal circumstances at the time.
But I would say, don't worry too much about what you missed out. There were a multitude of reasons, not all within your control. Just try to enjoy the journey you are on.
PS I only started painting in September 2021, and this is only my 23rd painting. I am rather chuffed with it. :)
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