The Earth Grants Us Freedom

I stand in the sun, the light and warmth baking my face. I let it absorb into my pores, deeply warming my spirit. I’m walking through the woods on a soft and mossy path looking and taking in the thickets; all of the colors of green and brown, the various textures, the symphony of sounds. The earth welcomes me into its loving hold beneath my feet, and as life flits by in the form of a small bird, I feel joy and friendship. There is an occasional splash of hot pink, a salmon berry flower illuminated by the filtered light and surrounded by comforting shades of light green. The moss soft beneath my feet hugs my stroll with its cushion and reminds me that nature can be loving and kind; I too can be soft and welcoming, cushioning and sincere. I can be grand and unique with a familiar breeze of acceptance that surrounds my body and being. I am a creature made by the Great Spirit or God as these woods in all their millions of layers, complexities and benevolence. I feel held and quiet, not buzzing in my head with the stresses and anxieties of the world; no anger, animosity, impatience, aggression. These emotions were all created by man, my mind, they do not belong here in this beauty showering over and embracing me with simple acceptance and light.

I walk slow, enjoying each step as if it was a blessing. I look down before my feet at the richness of the soil and the earthen forest floor. The ground that covers this planet is vast and thick. From it springs gigantic maples, firs and cedars strong, robust and resilient in their grand stature. They house birds, insects, plants and mosses, and create a canopy for all life to feel sheltered in. The earthen floor covers and nestles around boulders and rocks that contain the memories of Millennium, and ancient history and wisdom seeping from their strong and base energy, telling us a story and holding us in their years and patience. The small path and earthen floor also births baby plants, buds, ferns and grasses, providing the shelter and birthing place for their small seeds and tiny roots.

Above me the light and sky peek and pour through a glorious scene of branches, trunks and leaves covered in moss. White young birch stretch up from the forest floor and make me think of Manet, and beautiful paintings inspired from their hypnotic maze like spectacle of numerous white and spotted trunks, contrasting with the browns and greens of their surroundings. They seem to hold spirit and story in their mere presence. I come across a bell hanging from a tree and hidden in the base of a small tree a candle, flowers, and a small statue of an eastern Buddha; a human treasure blending nicely in this land of life and mystery, reaching out to my humanness in a gentle and loving way.

I crest a rock, a hundred feet long and fifty feet deep. Covered in moss, I scramble and walk the small etched path along this large and moss covered wonder of the universe. I feel I am standing on a wise teacher. I look out beyond and down its sides to the forest below. I look up the sky’s opening above. Many of these places are hidden in the forests of the planet. Yet here I am, in this place, in this moment. I feel the wisdom of the planet absorbing in my body, into bones that have seen many years and have many years to grow and change still. I climb down from the castle of moss and silica and descend to arrive at a small cottage in the woods. Inside is a warm fire and warm and loving company. All of us here are working on slowing our minds and loving ourselves compassionately as well as compassionately reaching out to others in an effort to ease our suffering and the suffering in the world. Let this gentle and beautiful natural world be a teacher, showing us that there need not be torture in our minds or bodies. Blessings on all of the teachers in the forest, from the salmon berry bud, to the birch tree, or the grand boulder covered in a blanket of soothing moss. Let us see that life need not be complicated and filled with pain, but slow and gentle as the growth of the fern or earth’s holding of rich and freely granted nutrients that lie in the very soil beneath our feet and blanket this planet in grandiose and simple freedom.