In our world full of electronics, mass media and all things artificial it can be very difficult for many of us to maintain our connection to nature. This can also be refelected in our struggle to stay in contact with the deep, still center of our being. I have been reminded by several events recently of the importance of this connection.
For the Winter Solstice I participated in a ceremony with a native shaman. He talked at length about 2012 and the coming shifts in global consciousness, the importance of living in harmony with the earth and of being self-sufficient and not relying as much on technology. One story he told was particularly fascinating to me.
The shaman had been in the woods in Maine performing a traditional vision quest, having gone four days in the cold of winter outdoors without food or water. He began to feel fear and was ready to walk back to civilization, but at that moment he noticed a wolf entering the area where he sat. Not wanting to move with the wolf so close, he remained still. Then he heard a dog bark at a house a mile away. He asked himself “What is the difference between a dog and a wolf?”
“It was that day that I realized what we are. We are wolves” At that moment his fear fell away, and he completed the vision quest.
The next morning, as if the universe were demonstrating the truth of his words, my home internet connection was not working. When we called our provider we were told that our service had been interrupted due to a region-wide outage, and would be available again in an hour. I reacted differently than I might have in the past. I reflected for a moment on how many people were going through painful experiences of anger, frustration and other emotions as a result of having their digital connections severed, even for a short time. Then I went for a walk outside.
Happy, blessed new year to everyone!
January 7th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
That is beautiful Josiah. Thank you for sharing this.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Very nice! I think this may be the first piece of your writing I have actually read. Which is strange considering how much of it I have heard about. Wonderfully constructed.