The Free Radical

I will be trying to kill two– or more– birds with one stone here. (Not that I’m at all likely to kill any actual birds with stones or any other implements of minacious intent!)

Lately, I’ve been writing less frequent Forest Reports, but those that I’ve posted have been considerably longer than usual. That seems to be a new emerging pattern. I also have a tremendous backlog of photographs from my recent daily adventures… so there may be more pics presented here than are relevant to the accompanying text.

I still walk my mountain route every day, even though I don’t always write it up. I can honestly say that my daily Forest walks are my first priority. It is the four hours spent out in Nature daily that really makes everything else possible. Nature is the magic balm that soothes my restless soul and nourishes my creative Spirit. This relationship that I cherish so as a part of the Forest Life is ever-deepening… and seemingly endless in its potential.

Beyond the usual suspects spotted in the distance, there is such a shocking variety of encounters to be had!

Nature is the expression– in shocking diversity– of Spirit; Nature also has a soul. Much of my personal focus lately has been on this difference between Spirit and soul. The simplest, and therefore best (IMO), explanation of this fundamental difference comes from Steve Richards, the founder, developer, and premiere practitioner of Holographic Kinetics: soul is the movement of experience from the external to the internal; Spirit is the movement of experience from the internal to the external. This human body is the point of convergence.

Soul is all of the programming, teachings, philosophies– beliefs— acquired and imprinted within the cells of the body… all that which comes from the outside and is permitted to penetrate molecularly.

Spirit is the creative Life Force energy, coming from within. The true Home of All… lies in the inward direction; we are Sourced inwardly. We share Spirit with every living thing on the planet for the duration of our lives.

So what is Human Nature? The human part having Free Will is the part which decides. You ARE fundamentally, and quite simply, ‘that which decides’… Earth Human.

Soul’s inclination is to obey the dictates of the past. Generally, souls have been heavily programmed in polarity… duality… binary. Souls can be very stubborn.

Spirit’s inclination is to create anew; Spirit is original… and fully collaborative. While soul organizes the past into hierarchies of meaning, the Spirit is ever crafting the future.

Human Nature is whatever we choose as our inner experience right Now. If we choose to not actively (consciously) participate in the crafting of that inner experience– working with the Spirit of Life– then, the dictates of the soul’s acquired programming (beliefs– conscious and subconscious), written into our cellular biology, makes all of our decisions for us– a path of obedience… fight or flight…

I really like Nature’s creativity! And it is Nature which gives me nearly all of my instant gratification, synchronicities, and adventure mysteries. For as long as my inner experience is still influenced by external circumstances, I choose Nature’s creativity to be that influence.

This character, Master Red-Tail, seems to be waiting for us more often than not. (He stands more like a Bigsquatch than like a Hawk. *wink)

On this day, he flew silently from his perch to almost hover above us… as I was busily stuffing my face with green Gooseberries– hence, no photo. The strawberries too are coming out in the hundreds now. And one of my very favourite Forest flavours is just getting started since the recent rains…

The tiny yellowish knobs atop these inch-high plants taste almost exactly like virgin pina-coladas… and they’re pleasantly overwhelming! It’s never really about the quantity of what I forage; it’s about the quality of all the different experiences I get to have daily… forever changing. Now that we’re developing a relationship, the plants are quite happy to adjust themselves– as an expression of Spirit– to suit my tastes. My Nature experiences are always new, despite the familiar feel of my surroundings.

I urge you to imagine the exquisite smell of the Forest when the Wild Roses are in full bloom… fucking everywhere! (And you can– and should– eat the petals too!)

The Clovers have begun to bloom– red, white, and the mixed red-and-white ones that taste of unsalted nachos. The Saskatoon Berries will be ripe in a few days; the Wild Raspberries are flowering profusely; the High Bush Cranberries have just set their fruit; Alfalfa is beginning to blossom; the Dandelions continue unabated; Wild Onions always abound; the Grasses are tall and juicy; the Purple Asters are tasting of hot black pepper; and then there’s Wild Tarragon…

I get to taste these ripening flavours every joyous day! And it’s all in such abundance that there’s plenty to share.

The Bears have left their tracks…

… in the mud beside the swamp.

And Sitka loves to share in the bounty… although I’m not always sure what she’s eating. When she stole this bit of something-or-other it created quite the ruckus among the Ravens; they was pissed! And within ten seconds after snapping this pic, Sitka had swallowed it whole. Yum!

But that’s okay! The very next day, Sitka procured this freshly-killed (by whom I don’t know) half-eaten hare. She didn’t have it for very long before I insisted that we move on and leave it for the birds. (Wild Rabbits are an excellent source of tapeworms. Um… no thanks! We just went down that road recently.)

Just a few minutes after leaving the rabbit, a lone Turkey Vulture circled over us twice to confirm our position in the densest part of the Forest before it flew off in the general direction of the abandoned hare. I’m quite sure the vulture claimed it.

Nature has always communicated to me… in feelings and impulses, and certainly as inspiration, but sometimes– and very recently– the communication gets incredibly specific… so much so that it can only be called telepathy.

I was walking down by the river across a bank of piled rounded river stones. I don’t recall exactly what I was thinking about… but I can assure you that it had nothing to do with Frank Zappa. A thought suddenly intruded upon my mind utterly unbidden. It was a movie (and song) by Frank Zappa called Baby Snakes. Well, just as the words “Baby Snakes” were silently articulated in my internal dialogue, the tenth Snake of the season– a very little one– scurried beneath a rock directly below my feet. I noticed it the very instant the words rang in my skull… very simultaneous… and totally freaky!

This relationship with Nature is deepening my own creative impulses. I don’t really want to relearn all of the stuff the soul already knows; I’d rather just learn how to be as creative as the Spirit of Nature… but that’s just my Human Nature.