“I come to this oak often…”

“I come to this oak often in the daytime, to sit at her feet and immerse myself in her quiet presence – leaning my back against her craggy trunk, letting my breathing slow, inviting my mind to attune to the powerful pulse of her life-force.

The more fully I can do this, the more those parts of me which seem to exist in separation to the natural world are quietened, and I feel myself subsumed into the living body of the earth – not merely an observer, or a somehow alien agent, but integral to the throb and hum of the complex dance of life.

In this state, as I behold the comings and goings of the woodland host, the swaying of the branches, the stately passing of the clouds high above, it’s as if I become a vessel for an embodied awareness that is coming not from me but through me, originating from the earth itself.

My own part is just to make myself available, open and present to this wild awareness which pours through my eyes and all my awakened senses, lighting up the world.

This beholding is, I feel, close to the essence of our humanity, one of the the unique gifts our species is here to offer.

But tonight I’m here not so much to behold as to be held…”