|
I'm sure Win can explain much better than I about trimming/pruning/harvesting plants, but I was always taught to use a special instrument, cleaned and dedicated, specific to that task, and to ask permission before cutting, as the plant will always tell you where best to cut.
Also, I learned a big lesson about flora while at our last house, which was a log home that had 30 adjacent forested acres. Mr. MG had had his salary reduced as a cost-cutting measure by his employer at the time, and I had changed jobs to one that payed 25 percent less than my previous job. After we had MG Jr., we found that we were really up against it financially.
Out of the blue, a man knocked on the door. He was a logging professional, scouting acreage for possible harvest. He asked if he could look at our land to see if we had trees that would be good for the industry (tall and straight). I was apprehensive, but we agreed to let him walk the land and just observe. However, a few days later I took a walk in our woods and was horrified to see that he had already marked which trees he was planning on taking--with day-glo orange spray paint! I thought that was terribly presumptuous of him, and I decided I didn't really want him to make a profit by killing our trees. But then again, we really, REALLY needed the money.
I was tied in emotional knots for a week. Then I had an epiphany. I asked Mr. MG to look after MG Jr. for a while, and I took my tools and an offering and walked into the area that I felt was the "heart" of our land. I sat on a rectangular rock that reminded me of a fallen "standing stone" and meditated. I asked the trees what we should do. And suddenly, clear as a bell, I heard my answer.
They said that it didn't matter one whit if this man took the trees he had marked. That taking those trees would be like the earth getting a manicure, in the grand scheme of things. They were appreciative that I cared so much, but I cared much more than they did. They told me that all was one; they were all one. If one or two or 10 or 20 of them were taken, it didn't diminish their collective spirit in the slightest. All was well.
It's hard to explain, but I FELT as well as heard their statement about all being one and all being well so deep in the core of my being that I wept with the purity of communication. I felt their love for me, and their gratitude for caring about them enough to talk with them about it, and the infinite love of the universe of living beings. It was a profound experience.
Of course, this doesn't mean that I chop at plants callously, but I am more aware that the collective universe of living things is far more vast (and more tolerant) of us tiny hoomins than we give it credit for. (That, of course, does not mean we can clear-cut rainforests. That's WAY out of proportion to what we're allowed to do.)
BTW, we never did let that man cut down the trees. He only offered us a small amount of money, and we knew he would make much more off of our trees. That, coupled with his spray-painting the trees before we had given him permission, soured us on the whole concept. Interestingly, we were able to get by with our reduced salaries until Mr. MG and I both felt "instructed" to sell the house; then our finances improved.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
