When I go into the wild, into Reality, to gather food, it is with reverence and respect. Life is not a commodity. It is not to be taken without an honorable reciprocation of some kind. This process of taking from Nature, to me, implies an immense amount of gratitude and a depth of investment not for my own welfare, but for the welfare of our future generations, for if I take for myself with no regard for the future, then I steal from our progeny, and I disgrace the purpose of my existence within the flow of the predetermined cycles of Nature.
When I take a plant, I do this peacefully, ever aware of my surroundings, staying in tune with all of the movements and sounds, the smells and sensations, always absorbing the life and the cycles around me, immersing myself into the flow of Reality so that I am part of it rather than being an invader, or a trespasser. I ask spirit for guidance, tapping-in to my inner vision or intuition, but always from a place of neutrality, free of thought and subjectivity so that I am not influenced by otherwise detrimental forces of the spirit realm. Productive and Destructive elements are crucial for the growth of all things, but these things are not subjective. Humans are afflicted with a biased concept of Productive and Destructive, and our actions, when coming from a biased place, become tainted. These are the demons of our selfish minds, and they are not part of the growth cycles. What this means is that if I forget that I am part of Reality, part of the Whole, then my actions become biased, distracted, as I lose my place within the Now, a place of constant thanksgiving. This is a place of moving meditation, so that I am not sedentary of body, but moving in a rhythm according to the flow of the Natural world, the slowed down tempo of creation. I must function from a point of openness and change, between action and reaction where Intent can blossom into productive progression or resolution of the Unity of opposites or of other conflict. Growth comes from this Unity, born of constant conflict, which is not to be confused for “bad” or malevolent. This is change. This is the Now.
From this place, when I find the plants I seek, I sit with the family of them, and I talk to them, letting them know my intent, my purpose, and that I do honor and respect them as my family, and not as underlings or inferior beings. I respect them because they live in the purest of form, the purest of spirit, never needing anything fabricated to exist, giving themselves wholly to the care of life and death of the Creator. I am not there to conquer, and I am not there to take for myself, but in consideration of both my progeny and theirs, as well as that of all of Creation. And in this prayer, this giving of thanks, I choose plants that are fighting for survival in clusters in which they will ultimately succumb to their stronger brothers and sisters. I remove plants as a process of culling, to remove the weaker, the sicker, so that the strongest and healthiest grandparent plants remain. I take only what is needed for my family, and I leave the rest so that my family of wildlife can also have plenty for their own. I leave the strongest so that the plant family propagates seed from the healthiest stock, now with more room for spreading their roots and gathering sunlight and water from the places where I’ve removed our less hearty brothers and sisters, and this ensures that there will be a healthy and strong population of plants for the future. As I pass down this practice to my children, they take the lesson of honor which will also feed our grandchildren, and this will flow along the ages until an anomaly may change it.continued
No comments:
Post a Comment