One With The Woods

"I said nothing, and tried to think nothing.”  

- Ishmael, Moby Dick

Is there anything better than feeling one with everything? In those moments one is free, content, void of desires. Nothing is to be done. The struggle ceases, and what is, is. It is the best feeling ever.

"The minute you begin to do what you really want to do, it's really a different kind of life." 

- R. Buckminster Fuller

I feel that way often, but especially when I walk in the woods behind my home. Usually I drop into the valley until I get to the brook at the bottom. It is very peaceful, the only sounds being the wind in the trees and the water running down to the ocean a few kilometres downstream from here.

"Nonresistance, nonjudgement, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living." 

- Eckhart Tolle

There are many old trees here, both hardwoods and softwoods. Several, with massive trunks and soaring canopies, are hundreds of years old. 

"We are far removed from Nature, including our own nature. But we have lived this way for a long time. In fact, acceptance of this reality is an absolutely necessary part of this system we live in." 

 - Jorg Kolberg

Old forests have a special appeal to me as they have a very different feel; it is an ancient organism, with the wisdom and steadiness that comes with age and experience.

“Modern people talk of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if we won the battle, we would find ourselves on the losing side.” 

- E.F. Schumacher

I feel very safe and comfortable here. The drape of civilization sloughs off me, a shedding skin. I am aware of everything, resist nothing, judge nothing, am outside of time.

Stripped to the core, I am one with the woods. 

There is much to be learned here about dissolving the illusion of our separateness, and rediscovering our connection to all of creation. 

When we honour this connection, life unfolds in natural and harmonious ways.