Return to The Rainforest - Other Stories
Return to the Sea .......
Brooms Head, Northern NSW, August 1998
And so I sit once more by the sea, a cycle complete, a rhythm roaring in my ears, having returned from my journey into the underworld, my rainforest quest. The bright light of consciousness is sweeping the darkness away, rolling it, tumbling it, integrating it into the rest of my life. The forest stories of many people are tumbling around with my own, and I emerge knowing that I am not the only one who has been deeply touched by this special place.
My time on the edge of the rainforest taught me how to connect with the spirit of many places, how to journey within and thereby dissolve boundaries between my ‘self’ and my surroundings. The rainforest provided a safe place for my healing, and inspired me with archetypal images and energies, assisting in my growth from personal pain into transpersonal consciousness.
Every natural place has its teachings and its healing qualities, but the rainforest has a depth and a complexity which inspires people to learn and grow in ways sorely needed at this time on planet Earth. Its majesty teaches humility and helps us to recognise nature as sacred. It teaches us about living systems and reminds us how we have tried to separate ourselves from them. It teaches respect for the unknown, mysterious ‘other’. It inspires feelings of deep love and caring for nature.
In Australia over the past twenty years, the rainforest has become an important symbol for conservation. It has had extensive coverage in the popular media. Most of our population lives on the Eastern seaboard, also where our rainforest is. World Heritage status has encouraged more visitors. All of these factors mean that experiences of Australian rainforests, direct and indirect, are relatively accessible to the Australian public. The sea is another wilderness close by our doorstep. What healing effects and lessons might it have for us?
There has been a ‘rawness’, a ‘wildness’ about my sense of place in Australia, in both the forest and the sea, which has shaken me again and again to my very foundations. It strips me to my core, allowing me to rebuild and grow into something new. I am constantly re-made by the places I inhabit, drawing upon past images and concepts to ‘understand’ each place, but ultimately finding them wanting. The form which the concepts provide dissolves into pure experience, emotion and momentary enlightenment. ... Raw wild existence! Could these be the experiences we need to help us make the transition to a sustainable society? Somehow, we need to rebuild our community as one which lives as a part of the larger living system of the Earth. This ‘raw wildness’ of Australia could, perhaps, be the teacher and healer we need in such a collective time of crisis.Return to the beginning of The Forest and the Sea
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