The author of this piece wishes to remain anonymous
For whatever reason, as fate would have it, I learned about love and the unconditional denomination of it, not from my experiences with fellow humans, but from immersing myself in the jungles and forests of the sun-beamed mote of dust we live on. What could possibly be more beautiful than surrendering yourself to nature for a time and allowing it to teach you a thing or so about life and universal love? There are lessons I have yet to fully integrate but I have no doubt that they have helped me to transcend a great deal already.
So far, four lessons have materialized.
I hope they will serve those who are yet to learn them, and resonate with those who already know them.
I learned first that to remain stuck in unwavering and rigid robotic ways is to be dead while living. To truly live is to allow life to challenge you. Every day, the universe implores you to listen, and every day we silence our intuition so as not to hear the difficult truth. What is the point if not to allow the universe to challenge and evolve our very being? Only by shedding the attachment to our state of mind at any given moment can we truly evolve.
I learned that it takes true largesse of spirit and heart to be vulnerable. Human love is so incredible, so powerful, to the point that it should cause our defenses to fall like leaves from a tree in autumn. The trees bare themselves every winter and every spring they grow new skins. They do this for us. This is the unconditional love that mother nature gives to humanity. Every year, without fail, she bares herself naked so that she (and we) can live again. Genuine, loving, human interaction and connection should be no different. It is selfless.
I learned that there is no home if there is no love. It is effervescent without it. Love is the root. Without nurture, nutrients, and cultivation, this root will wither. But, at the same time, it is alright I learned, and we are not to worry, because when you fill yourself with love, it will always find you; you are always home, and nothing can stop you from coming home.
Above all else, I learned not to run away from the hardest of truths. Because to look at yourself in the mirror one day and reckon with your reflection, knowing that you could have been much more honest with yourself, more true to your heart, more forgiving of yourself and others, is more painful than a moment or two of hard truth. Ultimately, it is more natural to expose oneself in all ones frailties, mistakes, and human desires, than to deny or disown them for a single day. Or worse, to disparage oneself for having these features.
To paraphrase a song from around a half century ago, it is time to bring the shipment to the shore and throw away the oars. So may 2020 be the year we arrive at shore. May we find our safety net not in our clinging to old ways but in looking to rely on those who have always had an oar outstretched, ready to retrieve us when we are in need. May we also learn to send love and light to those whose oar was never reared. May we shed all the lies and self deceit that have stopped us from being true to ourselves. May we embrace the universal love and acceptance in all of us.
Finally, may we allow our leaves to fall, expose ourselves to all who do perceive us, and, come the next spring, may we bloom in full color knowing that we will die again, and live again, and die again, and live again in this awful graceful existence. Such it is. Bittersweet.
It may not always be the prettiest picture. But, given all the genies and lamps in the world, I would not choose to change a thing.
Image credit: Roger Ahlbrand