Monday 1 December 2014

The prickly Moses

The prickly Moses is a most beautiful specimen. It’s a type of bushy wattle that lives in the temperate parts of Australia. For leaves it has a profusion of little spikes, likely to give your skin a gentle massage than cause any pain if you brush past the tree.

Just now at the creek near where I live the prickly Moses (Acacia verticillata) trees are in unusual array, looking decidedly out of character. Where only a few weeks ago they were covered in yellow brushy blooms, now delicate thin seed pods hang off each tree like Christmas decorations, sometimes in single dribs and in other places in bunches. It’s hard to imagine how these pods could have emerged among the dense green spikes; old prickly Moses has a softer, fairy-like appearance.

Nature is a miracle everywhere you look. From the plants that team along the local waterway to the shapes of clouds, the body of an insect to the body and mind of a human being, it’s a profound glory if you reflect but a moment. The appropriate attitude to the world ought to be wonder, ceaseless wonder, as a function of the affirmation of life. When we approach anything with a state of open curiosity it reveals itself to us, often slowly, showing the beauty of its being and the spirit that is one in all.

It’s a strange thing to say, but I’m not sure that our civilisation knows what life is. Science has the most detailed understanding of the fundamentals of the universe – genomes and DNA, sub-atomic particles and the rest – yet we are progressively killing life on our planet. We shoot probes into space to look for life “out there” but we have not solved the most basic problems of how we relate to it down here. That’s evident in the way we continue to extend human reach even as ecosystems fall apart, and in the way our societies are haunted by inequality and exploitation, soullessness and despair. So much human energy goes into life-negating activity.

To learn from nature is to rediscover and revalue the instincts in service of life. The prickly Moses tree thrives within a web of connections of light, water, bacteria-rich soil and various insects which pollinate its flowers and live and feed on it. It also thrives within a particular plant and animal community, which in turn is part of a larger ecosystem within a specific bioregion existing on a continent subject to weather patterns, geothermal activity, ocean currents and the rest; from there it is the life of planet Earth, the solar system, the galaxy and finally the universe. The instincts serve life when the mind that controls them, the creative intelligence that propels activity, is contained within the bounds of purpose and affirmation. When we ask, “What is the purpose or life-affirmation in this action?” whether it be small or large, individual or collective, we set ourselves within the frame of nature.

To return to nature is to inhabit the circle of grace that is our birthright. Everything exists within the grace of the universe, yet human actions are sometimes within and sometimes outside the dimensions of this state. Love brings us strongly to grace, with feelings of connection, oneness, solidarity, soulfulness and ease. When grace is present, the world is a lighter and more beautiful place, the burdens of life are experienced in their proper context, and everything seems possible. Grace corrects the human tendency to be lost in the minutiae of living, the weight of dense matter, by lifting a person into a fuller vision of life. Without an awareness of grace, we are vulnerable to destructive tendencies like greed and self-interest, to separation from our true self, and feelings of abandonment and alienation.

The prickly Moses lives in a state of grace, but we must have the vision to see that. When we experience beauty in nature it is not simply an enchantment that takes us away from “the world”, but is a reflection of our own self, of what we are and what we can be. That’s not to say that non-human nature always presents a pure ideal, rather that it can act as a spur and inspiration for more enlightened human living. When I see the prickly Moses in its glory, I too want a life of glory; I too want to live its simple beauty. The lesson that is learnt is intrinsically about us.