Footsteps in the Garden
The forest floor was covered with a patchwork of mosses and lichens. Here and there, a massive hidden fungus, whose mycelium intertwined with life beneath the ground, would peak up and out with a small mushroom to spread it’s life further into the world. I stood amazed at the complexity, yet simplicity of what lay before me. A fairyland of hues of green and colors of organic life; delicate, yet enduring–life and death interwoven so perfectly. Massive sentinels would erupt out of the splendor and rise high into the heavens and spread open their arms to protect the world below.
And yet still, in all their majesty, it was the small and unseen that continuously provided the nutrients for them to reach so high a place above.
Then I took a step forward. The crushing weight of my foot rising up from one spot and descending to another left carnage in its wake. I stopped in horror of what I had just done. I couldn’t move without leaving a trail of devastation. In that moment, I heard the rustle of leaves overhead and the whispers of words reached my knowingness. “You are not alone! We are One and the same. Such LOVE we feel that you recognize the beauty and destruction of your place in our oneness.” I proceeded forward then, carefully exploring the Garden. But I was Aware, and every step was done with calculation and precision.
My understanding of the metaphorical meaning of this dream is related to how I should travel through this world. Nestled in the cliffs, valleys, gorges and rocks of the desert, I am overcome with the witnessing of time that has preceded my insignificant lifespan on this living Earth. Million of years lay exposed before my eyes; countless processes of creation and destruction. And “I” will only occupy a blink of an eye in that framework of creation.
What do I know?
Why do I know what I know?
Why do I feel compelled to search out meaning in this brief existence?
Am I sure I know those TRUTHS once I have found them?
Like others, I have a need to be recognized and heard. But I feel that yearning may be the need of knowingness that I am not alone; I AM ONE. So as I take each step, trying to know how the placement of my foot has countless meanings; that the words I speak and the fame I crave may be destruction or creation. I must proceed with awareness of my oneness but also imploding with the scope of what ONE really may entail. Creation cannot happen without destruction preparing the way; life and death are held in the same breath.
How can I be ALONE if I AM ONE? Maybe in my loneliness, it is the only way I can come to truly understand the Oneness. Then my footsteps have meaning. They are neither destruction nor creation. They are life and my part in the One. The Spiritual Traveler may be seen as alone, but travels the countless universes completely connected to all that is. Understanding the purpose of every step . . . one at a time.
As I take a step, I evaluate the truth of my knowingness and the attachment to that truth. Because, maybe in the next step, all that truth and knowingness I thought I knew will have changed. It will be the detachment to TRUTH that gives me the Spiritual Freedom to take another next step.
