His awakening was somewhat of a gentle startle. Minutes later the church bell down in the valley announced that it was 3 “o clock, in the morning that is! The Cape Robin, sitting in the tree in front of his window, was singing briskly. Yes, they do get up early also sometimes. She was, with great enthusiasm expressing her joy unto the new day. It was as if Mother Earth was using all of these sounds to express a blessing unto him. She was advising him through the wisdom of nature that, that which he desired will be manifested in the quietness of his soul.
He decided to just drift along with all of these sensations instead of getting out of bed. It was as if his soul was urging him to just become one with the quietness within the sound of the Cape Robins song. To feel the pulse of nature within his rhythmic and gentle breathing and just soak up the frequencies of the song and the air that was waving through the room. He sensed that by listening and adhering to what his inner voice was asking, he will in some way detoxify and find clarity within his thoughts.
What is it that he desired? He needed to understand the interconnectedness of all and everything. He knew that if he can make this understanding part of his beingness, he will achieve his desire for finding peace and gentleness in all and everything. He knew that this will bring the wisdom of Mother Earth into all of his interactions with the living world. This wisdom, applied to all of his decisions will be beneficial and for the higher good of all. He just needed to move with and into the energy field of the all.
Suddenly it was very quiet. Nature was taking a very long and deep breath. He was not in his bed anymore. He was walking along a river. The bank was luscious with various shades of green. He heard the bubbling crackling voice of the water as it tumbled over many rapids. He sat down and allowed himself to become aware of the environment. The colors, sand and grass under his bum, the texture of the Thorn tree above him. He felt the coolness of the shadow she was lovingly sharing with him. He listened to the whisper of her emotion as she swayed in the wind. He smelled the aroma of her summer blossoms as she showered him like he was her bridegroom.
This truly, was a blessing from nature for sharing and acknowledging oneness and gratitude towards the Great Spirit for His gentle presence in that moment.
His eyes scanned the scene in front of him and he took notice of all there is. He became aware of the quietness and the noise. He listened to the voices within the quietness and quietness within the voices. It was as if he was the thought that he was thinking. Then he noticed a white polystyrene burger holder caught in a pool of quietness: a rock that held the sophistication and aristocracy of an English butler: the tiny green Fern which just melted his heart with admiration and the empty plastic bottle that was just not going anywhere.
The Cape Robin with his flamboyant singing was back. His awareness of the “self” within all of this steered him to a natural breathing meditation with which he stayed for sometime. Is the wisdom that he seeks, within the picture in front of his eyes? Who is he?
The polystyrene holder was sitting on top of a pool of dark water. Although it was absolutely and surprisingly motionless, two streams of water, one either side, rushed past it within half a meter. Life is like that sometimes, he thought! Or was it perhaps Mother Nature that was telling him this? One finds oneself in a very quiet space totally isolated and or oblivious from the world outside. Sometimes this is by choice because we need to allow the soul to recuperate. Sometimes it is just to protect ourselves against the overload of all and everything. Perhaps this scene is a reminder for all of us to become more self-aware of these moments or period’s within our life so as to enable us to extract the full value and appreciation in that moment. This capacity will enhance our closeness to all there is, to Mother Nature and the Great Spirit.
He has often asked himself “what am I doing, why am I here?” Just be! This is what he was told when he posed the question. What does it mean to “be”? The truth is that often by not “doing” anything, one is in fact “doing” something. By just being there, not saying anything, not ‘‘doing” anything you are providing a structure, support and a framework for other things to be manifested and other people to attain their purpose and their goals. In so doing you are also fulfilling your purpose without realizing it.
You are changing the energy and thus triggering a chain of events that would otherwise just not happen. You excel in your peacefulness and “the knowing”. Is this part of what he was looking for? The knowledge of all that is or is not happening, might just boggles and be too much for the mind to handle if he did know it all.
The rock that he was looking at was like this, he thought. By just being there it was stabilizing the environment. It changed the direction of the flow of the water. Is it really not “doing” anything? Will understanding this concept create wisdom?
The rock increased or decreased the speed at which the water flows. This generated a whole host of spin-offs! The rock improves the purity of the water. It changes and improves the architecture and beauty of the scene. Just this new understanding actually increased the wonder within the experience of looking at this scene.
The water might actually, at some point lift the bottle from its little perch where it was stuck and thus support the latter in achieving its purpose. Isaiah once reminded his people that there was a rock … a place of reprieve from the endless rule-keeping and doing.
Our interconnectedness with the all is absolutely beyond our perception of true beauty and purpose. It is not within our vocabulary to describe such beauty.
His thoughts stayed with this bottle! It was stuck on and between small rocks and branches. It was absolutely rocking and rolling on that one spot ... it was doing the brrrrrr …brow! The singer, Chris Chameleon would most definitely be able to turn a scene like this into a very catchy song. Despite all the movement and energy it was generating, it just wasn’t going anywhere. People are like this also. We are often absolutely buzzing with energy and potential but we are still stuck where we don’t want to be. We are just not able to move forward.
To change this requires outside intervention. Often this is where the Universe creates those wonderful or sometimes not so wonderful cascades of experiences that “deliver” us from ourselves and enable us to grow and prosper. This is what he was looking for, he thought … growth! His goal is to truly understand the interconnectedness of the all and everything.
Then there was this beautiful two to three centimetre long green Fern growing in a small crevasse?
The water was breaking right on top of it. It was being pushed in all directions at the same time and desperately trying to pop back into position after every push.
It was gulping for air against the constant and violent overflow of water on its leaves. Somehow though this “violent” scene completed his experience of the quietness and peace within the noise he was witnessing. It was part and parcel of the bigger picture which no one but the Great Spirit can see.
Somehow though he felt as if he was offered an exclusive snippet of the bigger picture or perhaps just a better understanding of the feeling he was experiencing within his inner self whilst looking at what he was presented with.
We all know “little Fern people”. Life and work is constantly having them gulping for air, recognition or whatever and they just never receive any. But hey, life without them being right there in that exact spot, would be an absolute drag. You know what, they often know this and they flourish despite. He now realized that he has received a wonderful blessing from this river scene. He will bless and love all the little Ferns, he will be grateful and graceful towards them because they are the gardeners of his heart just as Mother Nature is the gardener of her universe.
He is beginning to understand the moral of all of this. Every one of us has a divine appointment, a place that is irrevocably ours. It is time that we accept this truth? It is time for the one to be grateful for the other. No more anger (anger is fear expressed) … no more “I have to win” (at all costs or perhaps rather at what cost?) … no more exploiting one another. There is enough for all, but selfishness creates “shortages” and hunger! The one can not achieve that which he or she should without the other. We are one!
We should become more patient and accepting of wherever we find ourselves at any particular time. Learn to “go with the flow” as the young ones would say! It is important to realize that wherever we find ourselves will be exactly where we are supposed to be at that time.
Yes, it is often difficult to accept this philosophy considering the challenges the “real” world is throwing at us. The question that we should ask when confronted with situations where we experience discomfort is, what is it that I am to learn from this experience? This will change the negative in that situation in that moment to a positive. This action will again open the door to creativity that will resolve the challenge at hand and establish peace inside our being.
Who is he? If he was a woman, would this voice talking to him be that of a man or a woman? What is his name? It could be Tom, Dick or Harry or Brenda, Jackie or Charmaine. Does it really matter? Are we not all at some point trying to achieve this same goal?
On this morning it really did not matter anymore. He has achieved his goal. Whether it was in a dream or during one of those long walks that he often and enthusiastically undertakes, it does not matter. His dream has become part of his knowingness. His soul has achieved what it instructed. This is turning out to be a wonderful experience, he thought - realizing that one is dreaming and then just consciously allowing one self to continue with the dream. This is like having sunshine, boerewors and Chevrolet!
He did not want to leave this space, this place. He opened his eyes and scanned the scene. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. His heart was expressing what his vocabulary could not. He was filled with unconditional love and gratitude for being nurtured towards achieving his goal.
The Cape Robin was back. Has he been following me or is this one from a different time? He still smelled the air as it drifted through his space. He heard the murmur of the water as it tumbled over the rapids. He bowed slightly so as to thank Mother Nature for sharing her wisdom, for helping him achieve his goal and achieving it whilst still in bed or was he? He got up and ouch … stepped onto a thorn … but there was no thorn to pull out from his foot and neither was there a carpet under his feet.
Where was he? He went on a journey to achieve and fulfil his dream and he did … he has become his dream … he has become one with the all there is … and that is all there is!
Peace be with you.
© Matthys Ferreira
