Puppets, Concrete and Goose Eggs

4/5/2023

Eagle Cloud

I spent a weekend in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. I stayed with two friends. They were very kind and it was a pleasant time and a nice change. I got to meet many of their friends and to see how their environmentally friendly new building was coming along. It’s named Tree House.

We also watched a puppet show, that Judy put on, before she headed to the valley. Everyone enjoyed the show because Judy is a great story-teller. Her home-made puppets mesmerized the children

Where's the Wisdom Hidden?

Watching us on Our Early Morning Walk

I have to mention, however, that after spending most of my time in the woods, it was a big change being in a town. I’m comfortable living in the wilds. In towns, I’m walking on pavement with vehicles continually zipping by. It’s a different kind of river. It has fumes. Also, my knees began to ache because pavement is so unrelenting. I believe that many buildings and concrete tell a different story from what the wild places say and represent. It must be true because I was warned not to try swimming in what looked like a beautiful river. It is polluted. Its supposed infinite abilities to handle pollution were found to be finite.

“——whereas most modern buildings do not. On the contrary, they are often soulless and, if anything, induce negative emotional responses because they were planned, built, paid for and used by people whose mechanistic world view did not acknowledge the validity of subjective feelings.”
Rob Wood, The Zone

However, I know some people work very hard to maintain a spiritual connection with the wild places, even when they live in a town or a city.

Bike Trail Near Mabou

An interesting aside is that a friend told me that the next photograph made it appear as if I materialized out of nowhere. I guess I look like I’m part of this little place in the forest. I did feel like I was at home and not alone.

Sometimes, I have difficulty getting my head around the fact that so many people are able to be comfortable or even enjoy not being close to nature. I believe that buildings, amenities and concrete can be addictive. After awhile a person can wonder why they even need quiet, green, forested places, if they even think about it.

I suppose there are many reasons for this and maybe, someday, I’ll also have to move into a larger community.

Our Morning Hiking Trail

However, I still wonder if they know what they’re missing? I think many ailments are caused by not maintaining a connection with nature.

And you know, it’s difficult to see something that you love being destroyed almost everywhere you look. Often, just little bits at a time. I’m talking about the wild places. Our society seems to treat the finite world with an assumption of it being infinite, such as the river.

Early Morning Light

Since my wife disappeared, I have struggled with, well, with almost everything. My once solid views on life feel shaky. So, when I’m in a busy place, and am surrounded by so many people, all with their own egos, I feel as if my consciousness is continually being raised or getting a good kick in the ass. Some times my consciousness gets so elevated that I risk it bumping its head on these many thoughts and behaviours and getting a goose egg.

I can’t help thinking that the assumptions that many modern towns and cities are built on are not attached to the wisdom that comes from understanding nature. They oppose it. It’s all so solid and it’s hard to find places that are spiritually vital for our sanity.

Woods Near Meditation Spot

Really though, in this day and age, even in the wilds, if you have some form of virtual device, the socializing, grasping, contrived necessities can niggle away at the surrounding balance. Roaring, roaring, in the form of words and pictures. Turn them off and you’ll find, scary as it may seem, that your soul can breathe. It can poke its head out of its bunker and have a chat with you. Its voice is gentle, but essential, because it’s connected to something powerful, important and universal.

You're Not Touching This Tree

“Your buildings, tall, alien,
Cover the land;
Unfeeling concrete smothers, windows glint
Like water to the sun.
No breezes blow
Through standing trees;
No scent of pine lightens my burden.”
Rita Joe