“When the student is ready the teacher appears.” My first visit to the wondrous SF Bay area with my dear friend David Gibney celebrated both of our birthdays and included time among the Redwoods. All who’ve been there know photos don’t begin to convey the experience. It felt a sacred place, and I was profoundly moved. Several hours over a few days among the tallest living things on the planet humbles anyone paying attention. More than any place I’ve been they revealed the interwoven aspects of life, and the folly of human egos and self-importance. Despite the uniqueness of each tree, our tendency to want to “personify” trees felt slightly misguided. These trees are able to become spectacular individuals only because sustainable forest ecosystems exist as a whole. I think the same might be said of each of us. Redwoods and all the other species grew together as a complex harmony with the rejuvenating topsoil, the geography, even the air playing a crucial role providing ocean fog. The very concept of the natural world and life consisting of discreet “objects” faded away for me as I listened and tried to take in the ongoing cycle of life these ancient elders embody. Many of my concepts were shaken and reframed. Unique ecosystems exist just in the redwood canopy. There is “topsoil” hundreds of feet high; huckleberry and other trees, and even at times redwood saplings can thrive on limbs twenty stories up. On the ground new trees are continually reaching toward the sun from burls and stumps of old growth roots. Fallen trees are never really “dead,” they are like porous boulders that sustain life for hundreds of years. Death is reconceived—it’s not a point in time, but a process, just as “life.” We touched and walked among amazing beings 500-800 years old, but others are 2,000 years old. They hold so many more lessons than I could begin to take in. I left feeling I am a naïve child in a world too often driven by reckless ambition. Like a student pulled toward the wisdom of a school of great teachers, I know I must return. Very grateful to David and new friends Bill & Colleen for the experience. I’m hopeful everyone has a chance sometime to share in this joyous cycle of being. Gracias for all the kind thoughts today. It’s really great to celebrate birthdays and all life. To me it feels important to remember these are just arbitrary marks we attach to a temporary form were in. We’re just a part of a process, like all in the universe. I think our relationships to all are really what defines us, and feel very blessed to have so many wonderful ones.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:51:15 +0000
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