A MOVEMENT AND A REST (POST NUMBER 170)

Finally we made it to the forest. There were crazy drivers, car accidents, traffic and construction. This is not to mention a host and slew of other things. But the canine friends were patient, and once we got to the area underneath tall trees everything felt quieter. Osho says in about Jesus in the gospel of St. Thomas what Jesus means when a disciple asks him what IT is like and he is told by Jesus, ‘It is a movement and a rest.’ This means that there is centeredness amidst the movement, and this is how it was as we walked through the secreted and far away perimeter of the forest. We, moving, but inside and about us, a calmness, a nothingness and though ‘nothing’ usually has a negative or pejorative connotation, it was more like a Zen nothing, a Source, a soundless song but a song nevertheless.

 

I started to see butterflies, as if they were following us. Yellow and white mostly. There, even a moth is interesting. There were wild berries and acorns, also small pebbles and interesting logs, moss, an old fence, a bog, and a little water here or there. I even let them go for a quick swim in what is, there anyhow, - the biggest of two water sources. I heard something jumping, and

then again, - and it was frogs along the shore or outside of the water going back into the pond. It gives a great experience and is just like the saying, Ancient Pond, Frog Jumps In,- or something like that. There is an old field that joins a house, plus down beside there on the path are many feral ferns and one gets a tropical feeling. In the far distance, the CN railways track lets the train run across the afternoon. On we went, - slowly, slowly, taking our time.

Suddenly we practically bumped into a guy. No dogs, no people, - but he seemed alright. He

was young, - in his early twenties perhaps, and friendly enough. I think he was just nature walking, - and was really far in. The dogs startled him that is for sure, coming around a corner, opposite direction from him. I didn’t get an untoward or suspicious vibe at all, - just a solitary soul going around. I noticed that the dragonflies don’t live there, but somewhere else, - and same with the bees. Each species seems to have a high time, and a low

or absent time, like spawning and migratory habits, - and also an area. So there are not many grasshoppers there either. What like it there? – I don’t know- birds, - I found what I guess is a Blue Jay feather. Feathers are good luck, and mean all kinds of things in Native and Indigenous teachings and traditions. I am not sure what it means, but it feels auspicious at least, favorable, - and I am grateful.

We missed the huge overgrown path, - that is the one I really like, - we walked a bit too far for it. Maybe the next time we shall look out for it. Our path was more civilized. On that old path, - which is close by, - there are more wildflowers and berries, vines and interesting trees, shrubs, so forth. Yet, - with the feathers and acorns, the quiet and the light exercise and adventure, - we still had a good time, a proper walk, a movement and a rest both at once…………………

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