March 3, 2021
Coming into the Peace of Wild Things
By Amba Gale
“Every human being comes to earth with sealed orders.”
Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said that. A good question is,
“What are your sealed orders?”
I feel that one of my “sealed orders” is to go into the wilderness, and, through
being fully Present, noticing, and not buying into, the chatter in my mind, I can
hear the speaking of the world. And that speaking informs me, delights me,
enlivens me, brings me to a new level of wisdom and care for all things.
Poet Wendell Barry shares with us in one of his poems that when “despair for the
world grows in me,” he “comes into the peace of wild things.”
As I shared with you in my most recent Blog, centered around the “hike” we
took in the rainforest, while despair was not overtaking us, we, like you, have
been sequestered so long, that it was wild, going into the wild. Just driving in
the trees, listening to music in the car, listening to the audio book of my book,
Crossing Thresholds, that my husband and I are currently recording in his
studio, and listening to classical and country music restored us. Simply through
moving into new physical spaces I started to see the world differently. Just the
change of scenery from one beautiful place to another, from a place that had
become familiar, to going to a place that was unfamiliar to me, filled us both with
a sense of well-being. It filled us with a sense of freedom, breathing different air,
seeing different views, creating new intentions, as I did in my blessing for
“slow sauntering” for our hike we took later that day.
I like that the word, “sauntering,” came into my blessing. “Sauntering” is one of
John Muir’s favorite words. He says, Hiking — “I don’t like either the word or the
thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains — not hike! Now these mountains
are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’
through them.” While he was speaking of the Sierras, still….in retrospect, that
casts a whole new light on our experience….”sauntering.”
May you as well, dedicate yourself to finding a time, near to you, to “saunter.”
On the morning of my hike, I wrote three Haiku and a Blessing. The video clip is
what the waterfall, from the bridge, looked and sounded like. May the experience
of reverence touch you..
Three Haiku and a Blessing
I.
Across the still lake
Cloud Eagle swoops ‘neath snow trees.
Forest and falls call.
II.
Branches shape a heart,
frame the lake, the trees, the sky,
singing, “all is well.”
III.
A heart to look through
across the lake. A new view:
trees and clouds and snow.
Blessing:
May our day
of slow sauntering
amidst the evergreens,
the Fir, the Spruce
soften
into smoothness
my heart.
