Seeing

Natural objects should be sought and seen as they are,
not to suit observers, but respectfully as if they were
divine beings

~ Goethe

SCROLL DOWN

Seeing

Natural objects should be sought and seen as they are,
not to suit observers, but respectfully as if they were
divine beings

~ Goethe

Seeing

When we step into a Natural landscape, we often feel an influx of vitality…

a greater alertness… an enhanced capacity to be truly present in the moment. We may become more aware of how we place our feet on the earth… of subtle movements around us… of light and shadow… of the small wonders that often remain unseen.

Pasture

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver

Pasture

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver

As we walk, the pace of our step may gradually slow (as if in dream)…

until some Thing arrests our attention—perhaps the delicate blossom of a Nootka rose… or a Western Painted turtle far from its aquatic home. Initially, we may be captivated by the physical appearance of this Thing: e.g. the pattern of the turtle’s hard carapace… the vivid yellow stripes along its neck… the thick, ancient leatheriness of its legs… the moist depths of its eyes.

As we focus our attention more fully on this turtle, we may begin to reach beneath its outer appearance… toward its inner ‘turtle-ness’… and then even further inward toward the beingness of this specific turtle. Rilke referred to this capacity to ‘see beneath the surface’ as einsehen or inseeing. In some mystical way—as we insee the turtle—we simultaneously insee ourselves… reaching toward our own True Nature. In doing so, we have the opportunity to experience the utter uniqueness not only of the turtle's being—but also of our own... and then to celebrate the numinous relationship that our beings share.