Lori Murray
Hi Wild Things!
Last week on the blog I talked about why Values are the New Black and morality is OUT. It's also the theme of episode 4 of The WildCast, the official podcast of The WildCrafted Life.
And next week I'll be focusing on Nature and Wildness, and why and how it sets us free. Nature is not only our teacher, our mentor, our friend, but she is us and we are her. I'm super excited to do a podcast about nature and how we've lost our belonging to her, and how getting it back is a life-changing process.
So before we go there, I want to take a few minutes to meet and marry the two ideas of Nature and Values. Nothing we do is separate...everything is connected. In my own life, I found the connections between stories, values, wildness and magic to bring me more into authenticity and joy.
Nature is directly connected to the idea of wildness, but did you know that it's also connected to values? Nature has it's own values, and not a single moral exists there. You won't find a "should" in nature. What I'm saying is that healing, letting go of old stories and beliefs, purging the emotions and perspectives we've learned from human society, and stepping into real spiritual, mental, emotional and physical freedom is only truly possible when we recommit ourselves to belonging to the wild world, and being a part of it. Away from the coulda woulda shoulda of human culture.
Nature's values are easy to see when you look. There is so much love and kindness in nature, and compassion. We now see videos all the time of animals and plants helping, nurturing and nourishing each other. Nature is based on cooperation, and that's how healthy, vibrant ecosystems are built. Nature's values, like ours, are inherent, built into every living thing. Values are a part of the stream of conscienceness to which we all belong.
A huge value found in nature is Beauty. Also Sacredness. Thrift. Stewardship. Balance. Wholeness. Harmony.
And what about the destructive side of nature? What about the volcanos and the coyotes that eat bunnies and the hurricanes and tornados? They're as valuable and important as anything else, but here's the honest truth about them: yes, they're destructive but they're not PERSONAL. Tornados don't reach from the sky and destroy a house because it hates that family. Or because it's wrapped up in its own fear. Or because it has something to prove. Tornados just ARE, and that's another value of nature: It allows the cycle of birth-life-death to continue to generate more life. I would call this Value "neutrality".
Neutrality is a Value that comes with understanding that everything is as it is. Although yes, we have magic in this life - we draw things to us & resonate with things that match our energy, and we can change our energy to manifest change - we are also a part of a world that runs on circles. Without the circle, death could not be used to nourish new life, and we would live in a world without seasons, without babies, without mountains or islands or fresh food. We only live because the circle works the way it's supposed to.
But as people, we tend to take that personally. WHY did this happen? WHY was our house flooded? What did we do wrong? Why are we being punished?
All of these questions are about our own fear, our own doctrines, and they have nothing to do with Nature. Accepting Nature as it is allows us to live in this value of Neutrality. And neutrality is freedom.
There are so many more values in nature, and I would go so far as to say that if each one of us discovered our core values, the ones most authentic to who we are, every single one of those values would be found somewhere in nature.
Nature doesn't use it's values to make choices, at least not the way we can. But as humans, using our values to make choices can bring us closer to who we really are and help us to live more as beings that belong here. Because Nature, in all her terror and glory, is our home.
Until next week, Stay Wild and Stay Magical!
Lori
