UNCONVENTIONAL FORMS OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

The soul's fulfillment is through the experience of the senses.

NATURE #3

“In the realm of nature there is nothing purposeless, trivial or unnecessary.” Maimonides

Meditate on these wisdoms …  to better connect with the "Garden of Eden" Archetype 

Have you seen God in His splendor, heard the text that nature renders? (You’ll never hear it in the family pew.) The simple things the true things, the silent wo/men that do things, then listen to the wild it's calling you. They have cradled you in custom, they have pinned you with their preaching, they have soaked you in convention through and through. They have put you in a showcase, you’re a credit to their teaching but can’t you hear the wild its calling you…” Robert Service

“The spirit of human is nomad, his/her blood Bedouin and love is the aboriginal tracker on the faded desert spoor of his lost self...” L. Van der Post

After being interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp Louren van der Post returned to South Africa and went into the bush to heal. This was his description of "Wilderness Rapture" or a Oneness Experience with an encounter that he had with a magnificent Kudu bull. 

“And then it was as if all the chains of a type of slavery dropped from me with such a rush that they tinkled and rattled in my imagination… a great rush of emotion swept over me that was impossible to describe, except that all its urges and manifestations met in a wordless cry; “I have come home!” 

L. Van der Post

The Wilderness or Nature's Effect can have many faces depending on each individual.

“We cannot today recreate the original wilderness human in shape form or habitat. But we can recover him because he exists in us. S/He is the foundation in spirit or psyche on which we build ... ”  L. Van der Post

We cannot and should not try and hold onto magical, joyful experiences because they are impermanent – just to savor them in that moment and incorporate them into new beginnings for ourselves.We begin with receptivity and intent and if we allow awe to seep into us we become humbled and subordinate ourselves and our egos to the magnificence. When we belittle the small self with humility in nature, the Higher Self emerges as does a certain oneness with the wildness.  

“S/he who loses himself will find him/her Self.”  Matthew

The more we steep ourselves in the immediacy of the moment, the deeper we travel into the heart’s chambers.

The lighter we tread with the mind, the higher the soul will soar.

The longer we are out in nature with the right inner intention, the deeper the effect. Animals, plants and even rocks may take on or give our receptive consciousness different messages and meanings. Sometimes our guides send power animals our way. Their archetypes or the metaphors they represent in that moment are the messages our guides want to convey.  Dreams, including scripted ones by our guides, become more prominent.

 

Wanting to be of service can be a byproduct of this immersion. The hero/ine's journey is about giving the grail away and being of service to others and the planet.

 

“When you find your place, where you are, practice begins.”  Dogen

The more we immerse ourselves into the mystery, the more intuitive we become and the more aware of how the natural and the supernatural are interwoven.

Our task is not to try to decode the mystery but rather to access it.

Behold all creation with awe - seeing into it its sacredness.
Sacred mystery is to be experienced in joy and with awe - not to be deciphered. To be entered - not to be decoded.

Harrison Owen’s rules of non-attachment fit well for any of these journeys which can become challenging to one’s equanimity especially in third world countries where the unexpected, unpredictable and unpleasant can confront us. Everything is a test of our spiritual maturity and ability to maintain equanimity. 

“Whoever are present are the right people. 

Whenever it begins is the right time. 

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. When it’s over – it’s over.”

In the sanctity of surrender ...

In surrendering are we then received, in emptying are we then filled, in opening are we then embraced - In loving do we then know love and are transformed.

 Surrender empowers the vision of spacious mind to see the sacred in all creation.
We see it in a pebble, a leaf  a feather the uniqueness of all within the whole - endless diversity in endless oneness.
Surrender allows spacious mind to silence speech so that we may hear the spirit voices of trees and listen to the song in the winds.
God’s voice is heard with the heart in response to its yearnings.

The barren and the weeds have their beauty and their mystery too.

The mystery is not to solve problems or overcome temptations. 
The mystery is to behold wonder and embrace joy. 
The way is not to God but with God.