- 5 -
The Trees teach you lessons--The Willow that bends.
The challenge for you: learn the message it sends.
Summary:
This is the most important lesson of the Rede.
Of all the "Secrets of Magic", this is the one that
will give you the tools to master all the others.
How the Universe works is explained and illustrated all around
you everyday. The challenge is to read the messages and understand
them.
Once you have "learned how to learn" you can figure out
a solution for most any problem you may encounter in life.
Lecture:
Life's lessons and the rules of the Universe are reflected in the
world around you. Consiously take notice of what is around
you. When you look at something, study it. What are
it's properties? It's strengths? It's weaknesses?
How do it's strengths help it? How does it compensate for
it's weakness? Are it's weaknesses REALLY weaknesses, or do
we just think they are because we have not yet seen the "big picture"
yet? Are it's strengths REALLY strengths, or only in according
to a certain small set of criteria?
The classic example is the Oak and the Willow tree. The mighty
oak stands tall and proud, unbending to the forces that try to impose
upon it. The humble willow is droopy and not as "tall and
proud". When the strong winds blow the mighty unyielding oak's
branches are snapped off and its root is ripped from the ground
as the tree topples. In contrast, the willow bends with the wind,
allowing the gale to blow it's supple branches to and fro, and emerges
from the storm unharmed.
What appears to be strength in one perspective may be a critical
weakness in another. What seems to be a weakness may in fact be
a subtle strength that is not discovered until later.
Fairy tales are filled with lessons like these. The tortise and
the hare is a classic example: the rabbit is quick but lacks focus
and concentration, while the slow tortise keeps to his task and
accomplishes his goal. These tales were created by people who observed
the world around them, learned a lesson that could be applied to
their own lives, and created the fable to help carry the lesson
on to future generations.
"Reading" Nature
Learning to "read" the world around you and learn it's
lessons is one of the greatest skills you can develop.
You do this simply by observing the natural world around you. The
trick is to try to see what the animals (or plants, bugs, water,
or even rocks) do. How do they interact with the world around them.
Note: I don't recommend starting off by watching animals
in captivity, as they are usually not living their "natural"
life in the limited, simulated environment they are in. But you
can watch the native wild animals (squirrels, birds, bugs, etc)
that are there.
Here is an example of how you can do this in your everyday life.
Just to prove that you don't have to live in a remote log cabin
up on a mountain in the woods to learn from nature, our idyllic
natural setting for this exercise is a busy downtown sidewalk during
the lunch rush. Here's what you notice while looking for ten minutes.
- You see a flock of pigeons scurrying about on the ground among
the people looking for food. What do they do?
- You see them move just slightly out of the way of the people
walking by.
- A child chases them, and they run or fly just out of reach.
When the child leaves, they come right back to what they were
doing.
- They tend to cluster in groups. If one reacts to danger,
the others do too.
- If one of them finds food, the others race over to get some
too.
- If one of them tries to fly off with a big piece of food,
it usually ends up dropping most or all of it, which the others
will then eat.
- You see a cat lounging around on a window ledge outside of one
of the stores. Suddenly its ears go back and it starts stalking
a sparrow. The cat pounces and catches the bird in mid-air. It
goes behind a dumpster with it, carrying it in its mouth.
- You are in the city, so you know there have got to be some rats
around somewhere, but you don't see any.
- You see an ant hill between the cracks in the sidewalk.
- Ants are scurrying around between the cracks, staying below
"shoe level" of the people walking by.
- There is a long line of ants moving between their hill and
a piece of food that dropped and got squished into the cracks.
What kinds of observations and lessons can you take from this scene?
Here are just a few examples of what you can learn from watching
the pigeons:
Observation: Pigeons live in flocks.
Lesson: There is strength in numbers. Your social
group provides you with resources that you can not provide by yourself.
Observation: They occassionally run off by themselves,
but usually return to the flock quickly and don't venture very far
from it..
Lesson: While a close social group is nice, sometimes
need to go off on your own and see what you can find. You don't
need to divorce yourself from the group, just make time to be by
yourself. You can always come back, as long as you haven't been
gone too long.
Observation: When someone walks by, they move
just slightly out of the way.
Lesson: You don't have to move much away to avoid
something that is not coming after you. You can move just slightly
far enough to allow it to pass.
Observation: When a child chases them, they run
or fly away.
Lesson: If something is actually a threat to you,
you need to take appropriate measures to protect yourself from it.
It is important to be able to tell the difference between "something
is coming towards you" and "something coming after you".
Observation: When the child leaves, they come
back and go back to what they were doing.
Lesson: Once a threat has passed, you don't need
to dwell on it. The pigeons don't stay up on the roof for the next
hour going "Did you see that kid? He came right at us! I'm
not going down on the ground anymore!" They perceive the threat,
react reasonably to it, and then go on with their lives. If the
kid comes back, they can react to him as needed again. They aren't
paralyzed by fear of it happening again.
Observation: The flock moves together as a unit.
When a threat appears, when the first birds escape to the air, the
others follow suit. They have learned that in their social group
if one of them detects a threat and takes flight, the rest of them
are wise to do the same. Once the threat passes, they usually come
back as a single group as well.
Lesson: You should surround yourself with people
you trust and can relate to. That way, you have far more resources
looking out for you than your own two eyes and ears.
Observation: If one finds food, they all race
over to get some too..
Lesson: If everyone in your group is looking for
the same thing (working towards the same goal), you can afford to
share the rewards between members of the group. When it averages
out, everyone will have contributed and received a similar amount.
Observation: When a pigeon tries to take a really
big piece of food and flies off with it, they usually drop most
or all of it, which then gets eaten by the others.
Lesson: Don't be greedy. If you are working as
part of a group, and you try to keep too much for yourself, you'll
likely end up with less or nothing.
As you can see, there is quite a bit that can be learned from a
couple minutes of conscious, intentional observation.
Each type of animal has a different personality based on its role
in life (and the food chain). While pigeons are scavengers, the
typical housecat is a very effective hunter. Now we'll look at the
housecat behavior and find what lessons are to be had from watching
it:
Lab:
- Put aside an hour and just observe nature around you. Find a
spot in a park, the woods, near a stream. It doesn't even have
to be "serene". Even standing on a corner watching the
pigeons will work. Watch how they move, what they do, how they
interact with others of their kind and other kinds. Try to see
how something could apply to your life?
- What animals can you "relate to"? Which ones do you
have a natural affection for, which ones can't you stand?
- How does your personality compare to the personality you perceive
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