The Briar Philosopher- October Reflections

What a beautiful weekend it was. I sincerely hope all of you had the chance to get out and immerse yourself in some of the beauty that surrounds us. We were graced with warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine and a myriad of colors dancing all around us as the season shifts toward colder days.

The boy and I took a walk down Turkey Foot on Saturday and I can only describe the experience as a feast for the senses. It was impossible to look anywhere and not find beauty and wonder. When we are children I think we are better at surrendering ourselves to such beauty and wonder.

Young children possess what is called “lantern consciousness,” meaning that they are aware of the totality of all the things around them and are capable of just taking it all in. I have seen that look of pure rapture on the face of our grandson Ben. It is something we lose to a greater or lesser extent as we grow older and learn to narrow our focus on things immediately at hand.

This is a necessary thing to some degree but I believe we lose something in the process, especially if we are not allowed to carry that capability with us as it is seen as “silly” or “daydreaming” or “not paying attention.” We don’t get to experience that total immersion in an experience as often and some of the wonder goes out of our lives.


Saturday, for me, was an exception to that rule. Being so completely surrounded by the majesty of the natural world took my mind completely out of the world of man and filled me with such joy to just be alive and walking on this amazing planet. I felt such gratitude for my own life and the chance to experience it and such a deep and enduring appreciation for the miracle of consciousness. Such an experience is beyond words, really.

Try as I might I could never capture the feeling of complete peace that washed over me as the leaves danced along the creek and the wind sang in the tree branches. I was reminded of how ancient the waters are and how long the trees have born witness to the myriad joys and follies of man. As I sat upon my favorite stone in the creek, now dry except for the flow of fallen leaves, I couldn’t help but reflect on the age of these mountains and the slow, insistent crashing of continents in deep time that brought them high into the sky.

It has been so long ago that time and erosion have worn them down to their current altitude but once they were as high as the Rockies. Thinking on all these things always has the effect of putting things in perspective for me. The little worries I have in my life and even the big ones are brought into stark contrast to the magnitude of time and life on this planet.

Just for a little while I get to know myself as a part of something so much more grand and complex that anything we have dreamed of in all the history of civilization. I have to wonder if civilization, which has taken us so far away from the truth of what and who we are, is really as great as we make it out to be. We have our moments but it sure seems like we may have brought more bad into the world than good with the way we have chosen to stack ourselves up with a few on the top and countless others suffering at the bottom.

Be that as it may, it is still possible for us to catch a glimpse of our own reflection in the wonder of creation and to occasionally wake up to a greater picture of what life is. In those rare moments it is possible to know the joy and peace that is possible in these lives we have been given and step away from the pain into the promise that wonder holds.

My wish for you all is that you find yourself at some point soon slack jawed and amazed by your own existence. Maybe that’s how we become again “as little children” that we may enter the kingdom, right here on earth.