Seeing Things

The sky this morning is solid grey as the light of the day begins to rise.  The prediction is for clear sunny skies, and it is cool at 56 degrees fahrenheit this morning.  In the northern part of the state, one can often smell the trees and feel the coming of a new season sooner than in the southland.  Today is Saturday.

The image that caught my attention this morning was this tree trunk, found in a grove of old trees.  The artist engaged the story of life in creating this image.  The center has many little Buddha's in orbit around the one sitting with hands clasped above the head.  Enlightenment and recognition of oneness inside this tree, whose life and purpose continues to invite deeper contemplation.

A found treasure on a walk that had no destination, except to allow the beauty of the natural world come into consciousness.  Being open on that walk led to seeing the story of a life that had once offered shade, sustenance, and connection to other forms of life, now resting in a field revealing its many years of "living" on this planet. The slow transformation from its time of being rooted and living into its purpose, to now hosting even more forms of life was revealed in this moment. Even in its after life when the tree was felled, the spirit of this tree being continued to transform, to host, and to find yet another purpose in its passing.  The rings told the story of time.  The growth of the lichen told the story of interconnectedness.

This is what we know to be living - the energy it takes to come into this world from the vastness of the universe that is the Creator, the effort and struggles that arise as one moves through the stages of growing into the person one is given a chance to be in this lifetime, and then comes the time when the energy begins to take a turn and it is clear that what one knew as "life" is entering yet another phase that invites more rest, less doing, more being.  And even beyond space/time, there is something of the essence of a life once lived that remains.  In this tree, this fact is revealed - the story of the infinite interconnectedness of all things and beings is reality.

It almost doesn't matter what direction one chooses to take in their lifetime because each one will move toward their destiny, and each one will have to discover the path to take. Seeing things along the way and having a chance to realize the meaning of all that is part of the journey is the gift.  For some, it will be movement with ease, for others it will be an arduous series of experiences.  For all, there will be a chance to see things as they are, not as one wishes or has been told how they are.  Clarity.

One exercise:  Can you see small things as big;  and big things as small?