Jedi in the Natural World

For me, it’s hiking season again. Appreciating the intense heat thus far, I will brave it to traverse through the beautiful forests that our region has to offer. I grab my water and trail mix, place them in my pack with a change of clothes, and go for it. Communing with nature on some level is important to me, so throughout the remainder of the summer I hope to take advantage of it.

As I travel along the paths, listening to the beautiful sounds of crickets, birds, frogs, and other creatures, I am thankful that I can be in spaces where there is peaceful quiet. The inundation of the outside world has increasingly been too much, and my ambivert nature demands this. Holistic balance is a lifelong pursuit, and each human has to find and achieve it for themselves. Some love the total immersion of city life, suburban life, rural life, although I must say knowing that we are complex beings, I doubt that total immersion on a regular basis is the thing for everyone in their respective spaces. We are creatures of variety. That is what keeps us growing and developing.

I do my best to tune out the constant mind processing of solving my real-world challenges, and embrace what is around me. It is of course about being in the present. Nature is what it is, and it is present within itself. It does not go through the sometimes maddening exploration of who we are and why we are here. Nature just is. I believe our challenge is not only to be comfortable in our skins, but to be comfortable in our brains.

Accept our processing for what it is, and not wish it was something different, or compare it to other modes of thinking, or ways in which other people think, and lament that we are not there, for as we know, getting “there” is a fruitless pursuit. Here is the best place to be.

Juxtaposed is the concrete, the asphalt, the mass collection of humans randomly assembled for one purpose, or scurrying about their daily routine, immersed in work, trying to balance domestic duties, combating the will of companies, many of whom still have not learned from the pandemic that their employees can be highly productive at home, and that they should trust them to do so. Some have revolted, quitting their jobs to find ones more conducive to their new lifestyle, others starting their own business. The landscape of society is ever changing, but one thing remains constant: the need to be free.

I have spent this year decompressing and distancing myself from the pursuit of “there”, and focusing on the “here”. It has become my favorite place. Though I have built a semblance of my own world over the years, I have been immersing myself in it more and more. It has greatly dropped my stress levels, made me more centered, more commanding of what I want, and ready to take on the kind of challenges that will benefit me. After years of allowing myself to be programmed by what the community wants first, I am doing what I should have been doing all along: putting me first.

That’s what nature does. It is going to do what it needs to preserve itself. When it gets sick – often from our doing – it will do what it needs to heal itself. The earth is a self-sustaining organism, a force that has lived for millions of years, and will change in its own order of things regardless of what is on it. Species will come and go, for nothing is permanent. So how each species conducts itself is on itself. How long we remain on this plain is up to us – somewhat. Just as in our own finite mortality, when the earth decides it is time for us to go, or more accurately, when it is time for it to fundamentally change, it will, and that will be the end of us. Despite our romantic notions of ourselves, our value does not outweigh nature’s.

Perhaps we need to become more logical and rational about ourselves, and do things that are reasonably self-sustaining. As I write this, I am not sure what that means. I will have to do more contemplating on this. I will say, I think if we are about the business of being, instead of being so emotional about our being, we will be better off.

When I let go of a lot of the emotions about needing peaceful spaces, needing quiet, needing to just be, and as the Nike slogan puts it, “just do it”. I finally got on the right path. That of course means cutting off what you don’t want and embracing what you do want, which is what I did. It is not easy, and it is a daily practice, and it takes years, and sometimes, it takes certain events to jolt you into what you need to do for yourself.

2022 has been a continuation of a volatile period, I would say a decade (with the caveat that I cannot really pinpoint the origin of this volatility). It is not going to get any less turbulent. There is no proverbial light at the end of any tunnel, particularly since we have dug these tunnels ourselves. We are creating the hells and heavens in which we are living, while nature, in all its grandeur, is doing what it does – fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, monsoons, and so forth – and while we quibble about climate change, we will continue to lose property, livelihoods, and lives.

Money, prestige, status, media presence, are all constructs. They are all temporary and changeable, often without our control. What we have is us. All of the spiritual masters have instructed us so, yet we still continue to build great temples, buildings, personas, all for them to eventually crumble and fall. And when we are gone from here, earth will restore itself. Check out the documentary Life After People to give you an idea.

Being free to me means no longer looking outside of myself for what I need. Everything that I need is within me. As I continue this journey, I look forward to all that it brings. So now it is not just about hiking in the physical world, but doing so within my spiritual one. In other words, be the Jedi I want to be within me. Thank you, Master Yoda. He spoke my favorite quote, “Do or not do. There is no try.”

May the force be within me – always.