Walking up a trail in the Tiger Mountain state forest near my home, I came upon a lovely waterfall. According to the conveniently posted information sign, the canyon created by the water was considered a "young" one. The fall is steep, rocky and rugged. The sign went to explain that in a "few million years" the area would be transformed into a much wider, flatter and meandering waterway. A few million years.
I took in the aggressive landscape: downed trees, jagged stone, the flotsam of seemingly random flora and the jigsaw-ness of it all. Time, nature and the laws of physics created this fascinating feature. I wondered about the millions of little forces that were brought to bear in the making of this scene: rain, wind, cold, heat, gravity, leverage, the pushes and the pulls. So random, as the kids say. Or was it? Each little influence came from a previous influence, and a previous and a previous, back to the big bang or the prime mover or Shiva's toss.
Finally, I settled on what I believed to be the message of what I was witnessing. It just IS. It is there. I cares not about who it pleases, who it punishes, who it affects. The only thing that mattered in that moment of revelation was what my own response was. Was I someone who wanted to turn it into a freeway, a logging resource, a park, a preserve, a Starbucks? It didn't know. It didn't care. However whomever came across it were to react, it would either continue to be, be altered or even vanish forever. It either IS or it ISN'T. Or it becomes something else which in turn, IS.
The world, the universe and I simply ARE.
I am the one who ponders this and considers "purpose" and "meaning."
Often I try to emulate and understand the teaching of the waterfall: to just BE.
When I can get to that state, I feel a profound sense of connection and belonging that puts all my human needs, wants and desires in perspective. I know I'll be back to listen to the lessons of the waterfall again and again, as long as we both ARE.
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