Do you ever walk aimlessly outside among the trees, looking up at the sky through the overhead branches? If you do this at sunrise, you have the opportunity of seeing the first rays of light kissing the trees good morning.
As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.
~Stephen Graham, The Gentle Art of Tramping
Once the door is opened, it changes your outlook for the rest of the day. You see more possibilities as the view becomes wider. Each moment spent among the trees pays back in dividends of clarity and vision, enabling you to tackle the day’s problems with a fresh perspective.
In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part and parcel of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintences, master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“In the woods lies perpetual youth.” -that’s an Emerson paraphrase from the same essay you quoted him from. I love your post. Thanks for sharing.
Learning2live2010, thank you so much for adding that paraphrase. It’s so true.
I love your posts and your pictures, there are always beautiful and unique. Thank you!
Tacy
ruledaworld.wordpress.com
Thanks Tacy 🙂
Dawnlight in the treetops is possibly the best argument for rising early. Or staying up very, very late. Ah, compromise – the royal road to a meeting of the minds. See you at dawn . . .
Gerry, you’re right about the dawnlight. Unfortunately, it can only be enjoyed for that short time in the day. It’s been ages since I stayed up very, very late.
Amy, your words and photos are oh-so-lovely today. I do wander aimlessly in the woods though not usually at dawn as you do. My walk (during the school year) is with the setting sun flickering through the trees. We’ve had some ‘gray flannel’ days this week so I’m ready for sun. Thank you for this beautiful post – 🙂
Cindy Lou, the setting sun can be equally beautiful through the trees. I’m ready for sun too, but winter’s far from over, at least in my neck of the woods.
You know, I have felt like that when walking in the woods but never came up with a phrase to describe it. “Opening a great door” is perfect!
Scott, I thought just that when I read Stephen Graham’s words too. He was a British world travel writer who did his most reknown wood tramping in Russia and Jerusalem.
Yes, I too love the kiss of first sunrise through the trees, even though I don’t see it on a daily basis.
Pamela, luckily, such kisses have a long lasting effect.
That was exquisite.
A sigh of peace.
Thanks Reggie 🙂
Amy, this post is SOOO deeply spiritual… I am in awe.
Thanks swaps. ‘Uncontained and immortal beauty’ is all around us. Even among the crocodiles in your neck of the woods 🙂
Indeed, in fact, I have seen the kind of magin I sees in the movie Avatar here – e.g. there is a lovely waterfall… OH! I live in heaven 🙂
Beautiful thoughts and photos – and truths. Our interconnectedness with nature and trees in particular offers us opportunity to reconnect, recharge and rededicate a part of us that often gets overlooked in our busy-ness. Thank you for sharing!