Finding Humility, Part II

On the train to Santa Fe two days ago, I met a wonderful woman from Oakland, California.  We talked about the book she was reading by Stephen Harrod Buhner,   Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm. This, his latest of nineteen books, is a further exploration of what he is so gifted in conveying about our environment and especially the plant kingdom, with profound insight and perception.  What I am pondering today is directly connected to his words in the first pages of this new book.  He recalls an experience from his childhood, when he felt an unusual charged vitality in the presence of his beloved Grandfather.  He shares how the whole room and everything in it came alive for a brief few moments beyond the ordinary: "something inside of me flowed into him and something from inside of him flowed into me. And our bodies and our eyes acknowledged the reality of it in...[a] simple glance even though our minds had no words to describe it."

Six weeks ago, I moved from a semi-rural place where a horse and five goats lived across the street to a busy city part of Albuquerque. On the last day that I was at the old place, after moving out, I came back to settle up a few final things.  The horse, I call him Sunday, was standing at the fence with the goats as he often did and we made direct eye contact. I felt a union with him for a few moments, ordinary time dropped away, I stood still  and felt we were in direct communication.  I felt in my heart space that he understood I was leaving for good and that this was a good-bye. I connected with those animals for six years and I miss them now, the daily presence of their grounding bodies underneath an old cottonwood tree. I miss watching their natural easy way with the seasons and the weather changes.  Sunday's fur would start to grow thicker after the summer and his breath would frost -up in the air on cold winter days. His mane and fur - all white -would seem to glow in the moonlight. I miss feeding him, and his little herd of goats, alfalfa treats.  I miss seeing him grazing in his field but I hold certain that we had genuine connection and that humbles me. I feel that something inexplicable flowed between us.

Stephen Harrod Buhner writes that most of us can recall a childhood experience of oneness.  "...in all of us such memories are tucked away. But as we are schooled, as life has its way with us-and with our hearts-those memories come less and less to the conscious mind."  I am so grateful for the moments when I touch down into that sacred place of oneness with another being and remember that we are all connected to each other beyond words.  I am grateful for the synchronicity of certain happy link-ups like the recent one I had with the stranger on the train, Lucy. Our conversation reminded me -as if by magical guidance- to read again the wise words from another book by Buhner, The Lost Language of Plants. In this book he explains methods to gather information, used by many nonindustrial cultures, beyond our standard verbal means of communication. 

• At the center of all things is spirit.  In other words, there is a central underlying unifying force in the Universe that is sacred.
• All matter is made from this substance. In other words, the sacred manifests itself in physical form.
• Because all matter is made from the sacred, all things possess a soul, a sacred intelligence or logos.
• Because human beings are generated out of this same substance it is possible for human beings to communicate with the soul or intelligence in plants and all other matter and for those intelligences to communicate with human beings.
• Human beings emerged later on Earth and are the offspring of plants. Because we are their offspring, their children, plants will help us whenever we are in need if we ask them. 
• Human beings were ignorant when they arrived here and the powers of Earth and the various intelligences in all things began to the teach them how to be human.  This is still true.  It is not possible for new generations to become human without this communication or teaching from the natural world.
• Parts of Earth can manifest more or less sacredness, just like human beings. A human being can never know when some part of Earth might begin expressing deep levels of sacredness or begin talking to him. Therefore it is important to cultivate attentiveness of mind.
• Human beings are only one of many life-forms of Earth, neither more nor less important than the others.  Failure to remember this can be catastrophic for individuals, nations, and peoples.  The other life in the Universe can and will become vengeful if treated with disrespect by human beings.

All this reminds me to remain humble and keep an open heart. To be in awe each day at the wonder of it all, to remain mindful that each moment is truly once-in-a-lifetime and to consider that wisely. If we want to come into harmony with living on Earth in a sustainable way, perhaps the nonindustrial cultures have something to teach us.