Anyone who aspires toward goodness yet fears suffering, ridicule, or abuse must pay attention to the human implication of The Crucifixion. It is the fate of good men to be shattered repeatedly by their environment. Tragedy is inevitable in the face of the impossible choices they must make daily. But at the mercy of such a barrage; holding on tight to nobility, humility, selflessness, trust, empathy, principle, priority, and commitment, comes true resilience.
Such men, who embrace their human fragility and vulnerability without numbing themselves against the odds, grow callouses of the spirit that only become more impenetrableble with each assault from opposing forces. With time they become so frustratingly well adjusted to their fate that the only thing left to be taken from them is their lives.
What better way is there to train your mind and body for the harshness of this reality than by regularly allowing yourself to be humbled by nature. I understand why Jesus spent time meditating alone in the wilderness. Through nature he connected with his father in the one place his voice and hand are most clear. Clear in both their harshness and beauty.
In nature we connect to the ether and see the interconnectivity of all life for everything it can teach us. By observing and experiencing the events of nature - brutaly destructive and yet life giving - we see something new each time we return to it. There in it's patterns of beauty, in the instinctual actions and behaviours of its inhabitants, and in its consistent cycles, is a latent wisdom waiting to be tapped into. A wisdom we're designed to find, as inseparable parts of its life source, when we expose ourselves and engage directly with it.
"Leave the city and learn from other life-forms what real life is and how to live it authentically.”
(Zarathustra recharging himself in the mountains.) - Nietzsche
The essentialist method of unavailability calls on us to deliberately carve out and designate time away from everything that calls on us in order to get in touch with this wisdom. More importantly, to get intouch with simply existing. Not to slow down but to altogether stop the forward motion to other moments other than the present, then reset the compass.
I practice this weekly on my Satudays. Then, I am entirely unavailable. I clear my head, reconnect with the slow world, and don't think about any work for one day. I play with family and friends, reminisce in nature, talk to God (mostly through music), meditate on philosophy, and conduct acts of service. Like how we sleep before a new day, I rest and recalibrate before a new week. It grounds me in what is essential and of value to me so I don't lose my bearings during the madness of the week.
"But if a man be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime... If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
At rest, attentive, and intouch with nature, we see our personal lives through the lense of the whole of life. We are humbled by the awe and terror of a force far greater than we are. Small against it's greater workings, relinquished of our desire for controle, our worries and self deceptions fall away. So does our confusion. Taken apart and put back together by this incomprehensible beauty and divinity, we find ourselves. Nay, we find it in ourselves. This spiritual awakening puts into perspective what matters and what is true, making the next move so obvious.
So surrender. Surrender and dont resist. Surrender past and future. Let nature take you back to the stripped down and bare state where you follow where the wondering path leads and release the desire for controle. Then be attentive to what comes and goes. Somehow you will know what to cease in all spheres of opportunity and availability. What to hold on to that truely complements who you are and what you love. So let go of what you think you should be or should have been. It's time to simply be.
Make time to return to the source. Seek the inexhaustible inspiration in Gods creation. You'll quickly find that we ought to care for it as much if not more than it cares for us.
“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.”
- Speech by Theodore Roosevelt in Osawatomie, Kansas, August 31, 1910.
One of my favourite songs on my playlist lately is a track from South African singer and rapper Sjava. The song Ubuhle Bendalo, which directly translates to "the beauty of creation", speaks on the peace and clarity of mind that comes from taking a hiatus from the hastles and pressures of city life. To visit the country side and reconnect with our roots. It's omething I belive we should all do often in our lesure routines.
Enjoy...
“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature