How to rediscover freedom in an unfree world. From Gary D. Barnett at lewrockwell.com:
“The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
~ Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
I spent this past week in the clutches of nature, and. freed my mind from the confusion and horror of man’s grip on the perceived reality of controlled enslavement. I left the world of what is falsely labeled civilization, and washed my soul with the grandeur of life beyond man. To escape the madness of crowds in the solitude and quiet of the outdoors, and experience the sanctity of all things wild, causes an awakening that can never be achieved by any other means. No one can free another, he has to free himself, and in order to do so, he has to encounter his inner being without foreign interference from the daily absurdity of human hysteria. It is what is inside that matters, it is not what others think or do, but what one is able to accomplish in his own mind and spirit.
I walked in the woods, climbed mountains, looked in awe at the great Tetons and all the mountains and rivers too rarely seen by most. I fished alone in the presence of nature, I watched moose, elk, deer, antelope, birds, reptiles, and insects, and abandoned the thoughts that haunt me. I walked for many miles in wild country and forests, I was drenched by spring rains, was in the midst of storms and lightning bolts, alerting me to my minor importance in this sea of nature. It is good to be alone; not always, but often. One can never really cleanse and clarify his mind without escaping the grip of the human propaganda, lies, and deceit; all meant to create a false reality.
Saw a beautiful woodpecker scavenging with the squirrels and the power gliding hawks almost seem like they are watching over.
There was eagle flying along the swift creek treetops!
The simple things are the best.
When I came down the front stairs this morning, there were two young moose standing where a big old spruce tree used to be, looking at the house. They then walked slowly up the path to the left of my front porch.
This is the blessed world of spirit and magic in which I reside.