Light in Darkness
I’ll never forget that campfire. We students listened to our professor telling us of his alcoholic father and the frequent tirades he had endured in his youth. Words and objects hurled violently. Even after a good day at school, he would become troubled and sad. The boy would walk the forested path to the edge of a lake where long grasses grew. He would nestle himself into the tall stalks as into a nest that held him and here listen to the water lapping against the pebbles and stones. “After a time a calmness would come over me,” he told us, “as if the water’s whispers were reassuring me, washing me, soothing me.”
Troubles beset all of us, little and large. Since troubles don’t leave us alone for long, how can we drop down, amidst them, into deep beauty in nature, into the wild’s subtle flavors and melodies and healing whispers, to avail ourselves of its deeper harmony, strength and resonance? How do we draw on the larger Life in the midst of personal challenges?
If we are too disturbed, our minds and hearts too turbulent, we can’t feel much beyond our own woes. We look at the world and may see its beauty, but we do not feel it. Nature and Life can barely reach us. We are separated.
But nature can reach us if we make ourselves present to it. This means walks. It may mean a retreat or hours at the beach or a climb to a high peak. We may receive the support of friends. We can also receive the support of nature’s great Life.
We learn to deliver ourselves, breathing as we walk, feeling the air move through us, and with the air, the light and the colors of the trees, the clarity of the water, the movement of currents and leaf sway. These enter us, heal us as we draw them in. Breathing the world in deliberately is powerful.
To me, nature speaks of something greater. Particular trees or hillsides connect me with something beyond the particular, with something universal, and this can bring me great strength in times when I need it. Taoists call it the Tao. Some call it the mystery. There are many words, from many traditions, poets and mystics. It is a great flow of Life, and it can flow into me if I learn to feel it and draw on it.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, the storms their energy, while your cares will fall away like autumn leaves.” – John Muir
You are so right, my friend. The comfort of our natural world has so helped me, as you know, through many a dark time. Also right that it is not a cure-all. Maybe for some, but it took more for me to come out of my difficulties. But without the comfort of trees, mountains, clouds, etc. I might not have found a way through them. May we never be without the comfort of friends, be they animal, vegetable, or mineral.