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The Face of Montauk
by M. Robinson Taylor
As any traveller can tell you, there is an individual energy and vibration to all places. Similar to plants that require specific conditions conducive to their own survival, so it is the same with man. There are many ways a person chooses to live somewhere or another. Sometimes, they simply stay in the town they were born, went to college in, or found a good job. In other, rarer, cases, there are souls who come across a place and become mesmerized by it. Every cell in their body responds in such a way that informs their mind-knowing, this is the right place for me.
It is a certain, scarce, type of soul that holds a priority for being aligned with the land they walk upon as the highest priority for choosing where they will call home. They are the unique souls who can best be known as those who listen to their inner voice and revere the five elements, above all else, in certain combination, as vital for their own survival. This is a special soul who chooses passion over safety, convenience, or even convention.
Each element, of any place, plays an autonomous role to the particular alchemy of a given demographic. The special way a land, in all its height and width, curls around its own border. The unique way a wind sweeps across a surface and cools it while inspiring. The way the sun can glide across a certain sky, slipping in-and-out of its own shadow. The way water gathers, in depth and reach, in all its abundance or lack there of. These elements all come together and create a fingerprint that attracts those who want to live there, like a tree, and grow roots. If it is true that the air, the earth, the water, the fire, and the ether define a land, then certainly, it is the faces of those who choose to reside there that define a town.
Montauk is officially a Hamlet, part and parcel of the larger “Town of East Hampton”. Despite this truth, your average Montauk Local perceives Montauk as not only a town unto itself, but a world all its own.
These are some of the souls who have gravitated to Montauk, by accident or not, who could not imagine living, freely, anywhere else. These are some of the souls who have grown roots here, despite the difficulty and inconvenience in doing so. Sacrifice intact, these are the souls who have struggled to raise their families, build businesses-despite the hardships in making a secure income, and pushed up against the stark and powerful winter winds while living on the edge of the earth. Here are a few, of a much larger whole, who have struggled in ways that most people will never know in their safer choices, to live a life they would only describe as miraculous. These are the souls who recognize how blessed they are to live in God’s Country and do not even know things could have been easier in another place. These are beautiful souls who have chosen to live free and die, as a part of a the Montauk family.
These are the souls who have, for generations, tended to the rich blend of soil in Montauk. These are the souls that ride across our abundant ocean, either pulling bounty from it, or riding just for the sake of feeling what it is to fly. These are the souls who never fail to notice the majesty of the light cast in the small and large places around Montauk, unexpectedly. These are the souls who, each day, pursue feeling small and humble against an unimaginably large and perfect world. These are the souls who have bound themselves to their neighbors and have created a new, chosen family. These are the souls who have committed their lives to the guardianship of their land and sea, protecting the eloquence of it all. These are the souls who have dared to live a life free from the distraction and distortion that often can turn one’s attention to a place other than what resonates inside their own spirit.
These are the souls of Montauk.
