SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 25

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF STILLNESS

+ This post is offered by Juliet Rohde-Brown.  This is the first guest post and it's a good one, particularly as we witness unbelievable destruction of the environment which sustains us:

Lost

Stand Still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here.

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger.

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

the forest breathes. Listen. It answers.

I have made this place around you.

if you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you.

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows

Where you are. You must let it find you.

I heard David Whyte refer to and recite this poem. It is from a story told by Native American elders and translated by David Wagoner. It is in The Heart Aroused - Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in CorporateAmerica by David Whyte.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html