Re: Observing Nature TopazOwl Thu Mar 11 16:36:31 1999 Beirdd wrote,*br*: Here are just some thoughts on a subject that I should *br*: probably take more time to examine.*p* Nevertheless, well-written. I haven't taken any offense, like some people did when this was presented elsewhere. Does anyone here see anything in this to take offense with?*p**br*: It is very fashionable nowadays to talk about one’s “nature *br*: experiences,” to nod sagely when hearing about the beauty *br*: and importance of the great outdoors, or to shed an *br*: invisible tear and bite the lower lip when litter crosses *br*: one’s path. *p* Yes it is. And it is not fashionable anymore to not worry too much about it, to just quietly clean up where one sees the need, to take care of your own corner of the world. Now we have to care for everyone else's corner as well. But, if we all just took care of our own...*p*: Contrary to what we normally like to believe, nature *br*: does not open itself to us so easily; the “outdoors” are not *br*: waiting to rush in to the chaos of our shady human hearts, *br*: let alone our eyes, ears and other senses. Heraclitus once *br*: said, “Nature loves to hide."*p* My question here is this, my friend -- how can nature hide when we are part of Her? We hide, we seperate ourselves. She doesn't do that to us. She is open to us; it is our eyes that do not see.*p*: Only the eye and spirit, trained in an attentiveness that *br*: permits a metaphysical clarity, can penetrate the make-up to *br*: find that of which everything is made. Such a training *br*: needs to begin within the seer, whose expectations, *br*: assumptions, and limited egocentric view, must be shed like *br*: the months-old ice at the touch of the spring sun.*p* Yes. Difficult thing to do, at best, and impossible for many. I think maybe what you are trying to get at here is what actually makes a seer? For these qualities *are* what makes a seer different.*p*: In our silent, still moments of *br*: attentiveness, we become as nascent as nature, open to and *br*: defining the meaning of life, constantly born and reborn, *br*: spinning in the sacred dance we would otherwise watch *br*: blindly from the moving walls of our own obsession.*p* Sheer poetry. :-)*p*Leigh Observing Nature Beirdd 400 Wed Mar 10 21:50:31 1999