Activity 3: Being There. (Experience Nature’s Loving Intelligence through deliberate communion and communication on a non-verbal level – the level of love and attraction.) Michael J. Cohen.

There is a regality to man that is often vilified by eco-activists. They would see us as no better than a fly or shoot of grass. They see our current ills coming from hubris – that we think too highly of ourselves. I think it is the opposite.

I was tromping through the lush summer woods, looking for the fabled “elder oak” that was over 350 years old – if I had to communicate with some nature thing, I wanted it to be something significant. I was following a deer trail, the tiny, twisting path through the verdant undergrowth, when I came across a tree near the stream, bent in such a way as to invite a climb.

As I got closer, however, I noticed some brilliant green moss thriving on the bark – tiny stems poking out, fuzzy and warm. What right did I have, I reasoned, to climb the tree, if by doing so I would destroy this beautiful moss? Feeling somewhat ashamed for my destructive tendancies, I left the tree alone and continued along the trail…. this trail… which was a trail by virtue of the deer stomping upon, and outright killing, so many plants.

No one debates the naturalness of deer, even in their destructive capabilities. Is this their intelligent love? To move through the woods, killing and consuming as they please? What is man’s nature, if deer have such freedom?

Needless to say, I wasn’t having much fun. The idea of pushing through the hot, buggy wood to find a tree and “communicate” with it seemed odious to me. I stood on the creek-side, looking out on to the cool brown water, and it became obvious – I’d much rather go creek stomping. That, to me, seemed fun.

It became clear to me, as I slipped into the cold water, that nature’s design for me was to have fun. If there was an overriding intelligence in those woods that afternoon, if it was aware of me and who I am, then fun was the method of communication. That is – whatever seemed like the most fun to me WAS what nature wanted me to do, because nature was here for me to enjoy. Life itself, that Force that was generated by and flowed through all living beings, speaks to me in terms of enjoyment alone.

I let the idea float through my mind as I slowly pushed upstream. Why should nature, if we speak, speak in terms of fun instead of a “wholeness?” Why wouldn’t it communicate, like the baby deer I had encountered earlier, in terms of threats, of food, or any other more basic levels? I had a feeling that my fellow classmates, sprinkled throughout these same woods, were having similar experiences – not a communication of basic needs, but of higher, more spiritual needs.

And why not? Out of all the forms of life, only I could dictate the terms of my life. I was the only one in the woods, classmates aside, who could decide when, where, what, who – eating, breeding, sleeping, elimination. More than this self-selected destiny, I held an almost unlimited power over other forms of life. As I took each sandy step up against the current, I looked around – I could cut down every tree and plant, move the earth up and down to radically alter the topography, kill or encourage every animal, even change or eliminate the very creek itself.

This potential, I feel, is as natural to man as making a trail is to deer. Man is King of Nature – his power is absolute. When man speaks, nature listens intently. But when nature speaks, how does man hear it? Is he a wise ruler, listening to his subjects, and out of love do what is best for them? Or is he the worst tyrant, ignoring the legitimacy of his citizens, while he pursues an agenda based solely on his own profit?

What most tyrants don’t realize (until they are made painfully aware of it) is that they derive their divide power of sovereignty from the consent of the ruled. If there is a link between a King and God, it is through the expressed will of God’s people – in this case, my divide right to rule over nature comes directly from nature, not in spite of it. I am fit in my ability, as is every man, but have I earned that love and support necessary to rule effectively, working for the benefit of all?

I reached a point in my stomp where the stream seemed to say “no further this way.” The line was obvious, but I tried anyway – and lost my footing, going face-first into the water. I popped back up and looked hard. Yes, I could push past this point. I could destroy every part of this barrier, pour concrete and steel and just walk past it. I could certainly, at least, just keep pushing forward. I considered doing it, just to make a point – but the potential and the actual seemed to be the same to me. Yes, I could – but why bother? To whom would I prove this trivial point, and to what end? Whatever I would gain from it, I would lose something else – even, to some small degree, that ability to listen to nature.

Communication and laziness won out as I turned and, leaning back, began the slow float back downstream. Fun, again, was the key – drifting downstream was vastly more fun than trying to push past some arbitrary boundary to prove a point. The air was fresh, cool and shaded under the trees and birdsong, arriving and departing from those hot spots of sunshine at the easy pace of the stream – subject, at any time, to my desires. My desire, however, wasn’t domination but a cooperation – blessing the creek with my presence, allowing it to feel my bliss, and receiving it’s joy in return. I could ask, then – “What is best for you, stream? How may I use my abilities to help you?” And for it, the answer seemed to be – “There is no greater completion of being for me, the Great Nature, than the simple enjoyment of Sovereign Mankind. Although, to be fair, I could do without so much runoff in my water.”

We may fight, influence, help or hinder each other – man and nature. But there is more than the simple science of helping, which can be of a great boon to all life – the deep ecology is nourishment. Man provides the food of attention and bliss, a factor that nature may do without… but it would be lonely, without a companion. I am compelled to believe that if Man were not, it would be necessary for Nature to invent Him.

I witnessed a slight miracle there, as I stood near a log poking out in the middle of the stream. A stick appeared from behind me, appearing suddenly, as if dropped by an angel, and knocked directly into the log, balancing precariously upon it. Both it and the log weaved and bobbed in the current, as I watched in amazement – this stick, so fragile in its situation, stayed there for no less than ten timed minutes. It was still there when I grew bored of it and walked back to the shore. It was weird.

As I climbed out of the water I was reminded how hard and static life on land can be. I threaded my way back to the trail, passing classmates in various stages of communication – eyes closed or open, silent, feeling energies and deep in contemplations. It reminded me of once, when I was out in the woods, I decided to “Namaste” everything I could. It was an intense experience – suddenly everything, every single thing, demanded my attention and devotion. I was paralyzed, unable to move, not wanting to slight anything or offend anyone. It was too much, really – every rock, every plant, each leaf upon it, every tree and insect and…. I had ended up running, just chanting Namaste over and over, not able to look around me.

This time, however, I realized a new mode of being: Every being, everything that entered into my awareness came to that place of Namaste – an automatic response, a deeper understanding instantly communicated without the hands or the words. As I walked down the trail, I reached out my hand and felt some grasses – these were the adoring hands of my subjects.  My devotion to my Kingdom was complete. My Kingdom, Nature, accepted me as their Ruler in return, for my devotion inspired their trust.

True communication cannot occur without trust – and trust is nearly impossible without both parties knowing their roles in their relationship. It was only after I had come to accept my role as King that I could freely communicate with Nature – all the mood-making and forced empathy I had attempted before seemed silly and pointless. No… I am a Man. I am the small God of Nature. I derive my power from Nature’s consent, and this is the basis of our connection – equal partners in life and death.

This is intelligent love.

The same dynamics at play in this video work on almost every scale, in practically every aspect of life. Our failings come from stopping too soon, from rejecting those around us, from waiting for better circumstances… when all we really need to do is dance.

It’s a good lesson for me, in any event.

It may not seem like it at first glance, (and certainly not after reading some of the things I’ve had to say about our government) but it’s true.

Moreover, I believe that America has been a net profit of good for the world. Of course I’m not ruling out or glossing over our transgresses (these come as part of being a modern nation, it seems, and unavoidable). There have been some actions that we have taken as a nation that, now, seem to smell of the worst evils… but we see things clearly now, more than before. And we work now to correct our mistakes, to guard against future mistakes… doesn’t it seem like we are just like an evolving adult, learning more about the world in which we live and changing out actions accordingly?

It’s heartbreakingly often we see people scream bloody murder at our nation from within, that everything that has been and is being done for us can be so easily forgotten in the mindless outrages. And while these causes are certainly noble, to despise the very entity that loves you and works for your happiness shows no maturity and wisdom, and like the parents of an ungrateful teenager that hurls insults at the two people who have given up their lives for him or her, America can only wonder what it has done to wrong the people it works for.

For it’s stated purpose and vision, I cannot fault America or those who work for it, and instead praise them in their efforts. If you were to ask me to find fault, my only concern is that America has not gone far enough. America has stifled itself, lost it’s own power and muddied it’s original vision. I can see no ready fix, but I’m not studied in the arts of political science, so any suggestions I would have would be worthless. But this much seems clear: America is a force of good in the world, and it must fulfill it’s spiritual destiny upon the world.

America is the reason I am well-fed, despite not being a farmer. America is the reason I am educated, the reason I am hygienic and properly housed. America is the reason I can imagine a better world, the reason I can devote myself to attaining it. America is the roads, the social structure, the industry, the technology and sciences, indeed, the very direction of enlightenment in the world. Even now it is the beacon of power, the place of pilgrimage for those who which to truly achieve in the world. And we can demonstrate that, as basic human decency is a fundamental situation around the world, so to is the American desire to help, support and uplift the rest of the world into a vastly better place than it was before.

So yes, I am an American, and proud of it. I love my country, not just for shaping me into the spoiled prince that I am, but for everything it has done and will do in the world.