Be true to your nature, an individual, like a round and polished stone among the jagged throng!
That is what this little round stone said to me in reply to a question I had been asking myself. Namely, "Do rocks have a consciousness?" And what it said is the caption you read under the picture itself, "Be true to your nature, an individual, like a round and polished stone among the jagged throng!" How do I know it spoke to me thus? It was on a hike I made to Ponytail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge earlier this month. I was planning on hiking to Triple Falls by way of Horsetail Falls, but there was a landslide that blocked passage to Triple Falls leaving me two choices. I could continue on, to the Oneanta trail head and walk back down the Historic Columbia River Highway or, I could go back the way I came. I debated for a few minutes and ultimately decided to go back the way I had come. As I passed behind Ponytail Falls, I turned around to look at the falls one last time. As I did so, I wondered if I might be able to get a better picture of the falls from down closer to the stream the falls fell into. So, I backtracked yet again to get to the side of the stream, and as I was making my way down the bank, I was looking for solid footfalls. That is when this rock stopped me in my tracks and spoke to me. This rock had been calling to me the whole time, helping me with my choices in direction and even having me backtrack twice so it could deliver its message and an answer to my inquiry.
The small polished round stone spoke to me in another way as well. As Joseph Campbell had put it in one of his talks, Nature creates in circles. Nature's consciousness, if you will, is that of a circle. We exist in a circle, as you can see by looking out at the horizon. Campbell also referenced a 12th century idea that God is an infinite sphere whose circumference is nowhere and whose center is everywhere. Alternatively, the consciousness of man is a square. This is why we create cubical shaped homes and buildings. Nature doesn't create such things.
This rock wasn't just saying the above to me, it was showing me that it is me. It was a mirror of who I am and who I can be. I am that polished stone, becoming more and more polished with the passage of time, among the jagged throng. How powerful a message it sent me that I have a choice to be my own individual self, even while surrounded by the jagged throng. The jagged throng, all the while thinking they know what is best, thinking they know what is right. Even when all those about you are losing the precious moments of their life by living with the shoulds and musts and thou shalts rather than being authentic to themselves. Cast off the thou shalts and to thine own self be true. You are a gift in this world and in this time.
What other lessons can we re-learn from time spent in Nature, especially when combined with such contemplative questions? Does the earth have a consciousness? What is Nature trying to communicate to us?
For what questions has Nature provided you with an answer?
What questions do you ask Nature? Answers are awaiting you if you are willing to be your authentic self and ask away.
