It is so
hard to believe, some might actually choose a manufactured world over the
natural world consistently without hesitation.
This is not to say I do not appreciate the amenities of the manufactured
world. To be in a warm shower with pure
water pouring over a tired body is heaven after a few weeks wherein a bath has
consisted of a damp cloth run across the limbs that comes back covered in soil. This being said, as the water cleanses the
body one finds that the heart and mind is often still and quiet with memories
of being on the open land far from city lights and sounds.
I remember
back in the day married to my first husband. We were driving down a highway in
Southern California. I was in the passenger seat and looking out to the right
at a wide expanse of untouched land - verdant / full of life. . . I said. . 'Isn’t
it beautiful!' --- My then husband agreed wholeheartedly. I looked over at him
and saw he was looking across the left side of the road to sterile new high
rise office buildings lined up like dominos. - - - I never said anything-- what
was there to say. . .
Growing up
in a small town on the coast of Southern California in middle 1950s there was
still much open land – fields wild with life.
I was the child who all in the neighborhood knew to find among the wild
things. I was the one who lived in the
tree tops. When I woke in the morning in
the summer time, if my mom was not taking my brother and me along with all the
neighbor kids to the beach I might choose to play with my toys, play tag with
the neighbor kids or read one of the 6 books my mother allowed me to check out from
the library every 2 weeks (though I was more likely to read after the sun was
down than when sunlight was burning).
However, I would
just as likely pack a lunch and head for a family of old oak trees. The branches reached out and touched one
another and I could climb from one tree to the other without touching the
earth. My fondest memories of childhood
always included time with the trees. Time
would fly by in the trees and before I knew it the sun was setting and it was
time to head for home. This was before
cell phones and worries about strangers – the simple rule of summer was: be
home in time for dinner. I do not
remember many thoughts from this time in the trees -
however the feeling of peace and joy are viscerally strong memories. I do remember how time would fly by and the sun
which had been in the eastern sky would magically be in the western sky.
Climbing trees
is no longer an effortless and easy task as the years begin to weigh on this
body – however – to lay my head against a trunk of one of the old ones can
still bring the peace and joy and we can know we are …
ONE Heart
ONE Mind
ONE Mind
ONE Body
