This entry was posted in All of Life is Sacred, Contemplative spirituality, Quaker Faith Today, Radical Christianity, spiritual practices and tagged Cook Forest, gathered worship, God, Ground of Being, hemlock, Joan Maloof, Lenni Lenape, meeting for worship, old-growth forest, Oneness, Pendle Hill, white pine. Bookmark the permalink.
Thank you for this reminder. My most magical mystic moments come when I am centered in Nature, the Ground of our Being.
Thank you, Jon. Many people find, as you do, that being in nature is the best place to experience the Ground of our Being.
Thank you for your words that so deeply describe the old growth forest and the Ground of Being one experiences among those trees.
Thank you, Lois! Being among old trees certainly helps us experience the source of all Being.
I have had the experience of being embedded in “… the fertile matrix of all life …” and wooded riverine floodplains have been my soul’s home since childhood, but I had never connected them in my awareness before now.
In a similar vein, as part of an effort we called “Quaker Community Forest” I expressed our collective vision in a poem called “View from the Cathedral” which I love to share.
Thank you, Richard, for sharing your “View from the Cathedral.” I was moved to read about the thoughtful, respectful way your community tends to and protects the trees and lands in its care.
Thanks for this evocative writing and also for recommending *The Overstory *in your last post. I checked it out right away and am part way through. A truly stunning book that reminds us on every page of the wonder and ongoing presence of God’s creation.
Thanks, Elizabeth. Glad you are finding The Overstory so engaging, as I did.