As a young man, I used to hunt. I remember the woods would be full of activity and life until I took a gun with me. Spending a lot of times in the woods, I remember noticing the difference. How the animals of the woods knew that danger was lurking and they would stay hidden. One time I was up on a mountain looking down at a heard of deer. They were all waiting for something and not moving. Then I noticed a few minutes later that a caravan of hunters in vehicles drove by on the road next to them. The deer stayed hidden until the hunters passed. Then they slowly crossed the road. Once when I was out for a walk, a bird was wrapped in plastic wire. It was going completely crazy trying to get loose. But when I walked up to the bird and pulled out a knife, it laid completely still until I cut away the wire (which took at least 20 minutes). The bird knew that I was going to help it. It didn't move until I cut away the last piece of plastic and only then it flew away.
Modern humans for the most part are not attuned to the nature of things. The bird on stage with Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders was not only a likely good omen for things to come this Saturday (it looks like Bernie will sweep Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska), but I think that the bird felt comfortable being around a generally decent human being. To those that don't know how animals can sense things and react around people, then this observation seems a bit fart fetched.
But really there is something deeper than animals sensing danger or even caring from a compassionate human being, like Bernie Sanders. The world we see as made of separate things like humans, birds, trees, cells, rocks, minerals etc. is an interconnected web of mind. This is known as Pansychism, a belief (I would say an experience) that everything we think of as material has an element of being or mind. Not only is everything interconnected in ways we don't understand but every thing, even atoms and quantum bits of matter, also have some sort of being or mind (no matter how limited).
Indeed the earth and everything in it pulsates with being. This is not just a belief but it is an experience that we can all have once we attune ourselves to the spirit that is all life. The tribal peoples of North America (Native Americans, First Peoples, Indians) not only believed in the spirit that existed in the rocks, trees, animals, rivers, etc., they experienced it. They looked to their medicine/spirit knowers (medicine men) to communicate with these beings to help individuals members of the tribe and even the tribe itself. This is not some superstition but an understanding of the truth about life.
Bernie's birdie is a good example of how humans and all living things can interact with each other when there is no threat or fear. If we live a life of what the Hindus call Ahimsa (non injury, compassion) then we will be a blessing not just to the people we come in contact with but all the life that surrounds us. That life is in constant communication and relationship with us, even if we are not consciously aware of it.
What message are you sending the life that exists around you?
Below you will see a video where, through experiment, you can see how even plants can not only feel harm but they can also understand and react to an intent to harm by a human being.
Grant
No comments:
Post a Comment