Little darlin’ , it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter

Little darlin’ , it feels like years since it’s been here.

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s alright.

                                                                                                   — George Harrison

Almost spring.

Most of the country is still feeling the grip of a long, cold, and yes, perhaps even lonely winter, but we know, don’t we, that there are certain things we can always count on, and one of those life-affirming, heart-warming, kick-starting ‘things’ is spring.  Even when it’s buried under a couple of feet of snow, we know it’s there — the heartbeat of Earth.  She is pulsing, awakening, calling to us  . . . “It’s alright”.

The patience of nature is such an ongoing learning curve for us humans. I know it is teaching me to slow down.  And that I am a slow learner.  Eight decades so far.  But there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.  

Nature leads and I follow.  Today I followed her out to the end of the dock that sits on a pond that was simply quivering with swamp song. Spring has arrived on the West Coast.  I sat on a stump stool — listened, and breathed deeply, floating somewhere in time and space.  It’s easy to meditate when the world around me is whispering “wake up!” From the sparkling ripples and Colorado blue sky, to the copulating frogs.and ‘woodpeckered’ snags, I heard, “Pay attention!”

There is a story of the Indian sage, Ramana Maharshi who was confronted with a young student who became speechless upon meeting him and could only gasp out the words: Tell me something.    The sage responded, “Be! Without leaving yourself.”

(I can relate to that story.  When I first met Dr Jane. Goodall words would not come.  All I seemed able to do was to burst into tears.)

Be, without leaving yourself.  What a perfect instruction for a student of meditation. So simple, and pure.  My tip for slipping into meditation easily is to choose a spot out of doors, and it doesn’t need to be a pristine pond or rainforest, although that absolutely leads you there even if it were not part of your plan.  Simply sit at a window where there is sky — or a tree.  A guidepost to slip away.  To ‘be’.

Nature has more to teach than we imagine.  The miracle of growth, of healing, of listening, and the grace of cooperation.  

Cooperation, you ask?  Were we not taught to believe in ‘the survival of the fittest’?  

That is old 20th century Newtonian physics.  Today we are living in a different paradigm of 21st century quantum physics.

Charles Darwin was essentially a botanist whose theories matured and evolved over his lifetime. In his later writings he wrote about kindness, not competition and polarization.  Cooperation and connection.  This lens, however, did not sell well to the patriarchal society of the 19th century. Two hundred years later we understand that nature is all about teamwork. 

Billions of interactions are happening in a handful of soil.  Regeneration, rebirth, and nurturing is what nature is demonstrating.  Not hoarding nor greed, but teamwork and symbioses.  Darwin was hijacked.  We need to pivot back.  98 percent of Charles Darwin’s work was about survival of the kindest.

Louis Schwartzberg, in his beautiful film, Fantastic Fungi, tells us that mushrooms are trying to speak to us about these same values — beauty, connection, wonder, gratitude and love. Are we ready?  Can we open our hearts to include everyone?  

There’s the rub.  It’s easy to love and be grateful for our friends and those who love us, but can we extend this grace to everyone?  Can we bless those political leaders with views that are. different from ours?  This is a spiritual practice, and as we know, practice makes perfect.  I find that an easy approach is to see the person as a small child and to imagine the trauma in their young life.  This elicits compassion which begets forgiveness.  It’s a way of ‘turning the other cheek’.

When humanity can stop ‘othering’ there will truly be heaven on earth.  And it is coming.  Take the cue from nature.  Be, without leaving yourself.  Do not imagine that the monkey mind is our ‘self’.  

You are beautiful.  

I am beautiful.  

It is almost spring.   

“It’s alright.”