When we go into the world, to exist, to make a difference, we are walking into a dense forest. It’s a lovely place to be, but there are threats, things that can hurt us and slow us down. To be in that dense forest we have to hack away, push back branches and step over vines, but we also are more closely connected to God, it’s where we feel God’s calling most. It’s why it feels so comfortable and easy when we are on the right path, even if it’s hard.
I love this metaphor, because I understand that trees are energy rods shooting right out the ground. The way in which they connect to the Earth’s unseen and barely understood system of mycelia, their own system of communication is mind boggling, it’s awe inspiring and it’s God. To me, it’s an absolute divine form. Something I can touch and feel. I live in the woods. There is no view from any window in my home of anything other than trees. As my Mother used to say “I know of which I speak.”
But……sometimes we get tired and we just want to stay home. And that’s as it should be, we require rest.
The challenge I see with myself and others, we don’t feel comfortable in an actual state of rest. We feel as if we are failing in some way, being lazy or weak, and so we never truly just allow our minds freedom to explore. Instead we watch tv, listen to books, music and I dare to suggest that reading a book is even not really resting. We need the physical rest of sitting, or lying down yes, but our brains also need a rest. We need time to set our mind free to choose it’s own thoughts. This is where my metaphor falls short though, because a great place to do that would be in the woods.
We must take those moments between stepping out into the world so we can think about what we have experienced, how we behaved in certain situations, what others may have really meant. To ponder all we saw and felt in the forest and learn from it. We are gentler, kinder and more compassionate when we do this. We don’t react as quick, we take a moment and think about what others are going through. We have to sit with ourselves, it’s a must.
Otherwise we will be busting through that forest, machete in hand and now we are a threat in the world.