Scribble #119

What is the difference, between standing on the edge of a forest, and standing on the edge of the sea?

Both cases you are at a crossroads. Almost a step away from clarity; from destiny. Right before you is the vast, wild, dangerous, barely-veiled unknown. It is another world in of itself. You are staring at the face of Mother Nature at one of her home turfs, and therefore at her fiercest and most unpredictable. And most beautiful, vulnerable and exposed. 

Vulnerable and exposed like yourself.

It's the big, significant and boundless omnipresence on the other side, being timidly approached by the seemingly tiny, insignificant and limited presence.

Do you dare move forward, and risk getting lost? Swept away? Overwhelmed, doomed, by the infinite unknown?

Getting lost, or "just looking around", can have its perks. But it's best to learn to navigate, and forage, and swim first. Survival skills are vital. Adapt to a new environment, even if it's brief and temporary. Plenty of exercise, perseverance and dealing with sweat and a harrowing lack of comfort never hurt anyone. The physical, mental, emotional and the spiritual need persistent muscle work to keep going at a healthy, evenly-breathing pace. Ease is a warm but static mother; unease is a teacher, one who never gives up on you.

Learning to gently and patiently speak to any animals that might live in the territory you are intruding upon is advisable as well.

Learn to look up at the stars, wherever you are when you are on the brink of nature's most bold and daring precipices. The stars and constellations, fighting pollution of all kinds, are your metaphysical guides. Think of them as a part of you, like stardust, sharing microcosms. 

The forests and the sea are masterpieces of the megacosm - provocative, inspiring, and deadly when not treaded carefully. 

Smell the bark, moss, pine, leaves, dew and dirt of the trees; whatever the time of year, it is breath-taking. Notice and appreciate the flower-life around you; like lilacs, ivy, and willows, for instance. See the sun during the day and the moon during the night slipping and shining through the tops of the leaves of the trees, so high above you that you wonder how trees could live long enough, and robust and bountiful enough, to grow so huge. Towering over you are shady and shadowy green tresses. Forests are all about wonder and wandering. The dry, crackling wood nymphs, who are nevertheless sourcing and circulating nourishment through water, and who are easily well hidden, are waiting for you; to cause havoc, exhaustion, disorientation, delirium and disillusionment. Or to steer you in the right direction, depending on your chosen path, and your clear, dedicated and determined state of mind and heart.

Smell the rich and unpolluted sea. See it sparkle and shimmer and dazzle and startle every which way on the surface like silver jewels in front of you. Colours - bright, clear, rosy, sharp, gleaming, shrouding, dark, etc as is cyclic - change all around you depending on the euphoric, ethereal effect of the spinning of the world's axis. Feel the wet sand in between your (preferably) bare toes - how intoxicating the absorbing and crumbling!; feel the continuous and neverending waves power on and fight through your feet, your ankles, before receding and trying again to pull you towards the ocean. Damp, freezing, shivering, shining - you feel it, all these particles of life reacting. And you wonder and wander too. Sea nymphs, and mermaids, wait for you, and selfish creatures that they are, they are not friendly or merciful to your idles, wants and whims. They will challenge your soul to its absolute breaking point, and relish in your follies.

These places are calling to you. Beckoning to you. They want to test you, strengthen you, see how far your endurance holds, as you embark on this, your most serious quest to wander and confront Mother Nature. And come back or out of the other side scarred but your whole, true self at last.

It's up to you to prepare for the first step forward; the first of Mother Nature's unforgiving and ceaseless challenges wrought on humans.

You may be made of stardust, but you are not tiny and insignificant. Show your shine. Prove to yourself how equal you are to this terrifying, capricious. diverse and beautiful world you are living on.