Weirdness, more or less

The day after the willow meditation I returned to sit with another willow, whom I could climb. I was able to stand high up and felt as if I were in the crown, in the canopy of the woodland. I became a different creature.

While I was there, I was listening to the tree and this was what I intuited.

That life is about being IN not ON. That what we consider to be "understanding" is an effort at "overstanding", because we think we are the only ones who get it, who can think, who make sense and make meaning, who theorise and plan. But what we should be aiming for is not "overstanding" but "interstanding" (making sense of the world together, from inside, as vulnerable, dependent, interconnected, entangled beings) and if we mastered that, then we would have the philosopher's stone of the world which is "intra-standing" (making sense of the world with the appreciation of all perspectives for all perspective are always and already existent and important).

That a tree, or any being, IS the world, because all beings are intra-connected. If I speak with a tree, because a tree has mastered intra-standing, I am speaking with the world.

That we can be distinct without being divided. Indeed, we are distinct but not divided. The individual and the all matter, the distinction makes no difference. There is no hierarchy.

That we are all the centre of our own perspective - and that every other being is the centre of theirs, which means there are infinite centres or no centre, the distinction makes no difference. There is no hierarchy. [Yes, I know there is repetition, it's intended. - Crone]

That is is a mistake to believe that because everyone else is scared of us that we are powerful. And more, that power is not the point anyway. Intra-standing is the point.

I felt deeply grateful and the tree told me that I did not need to express this in any special way because the tree knew. The tree, intra-connected as they are, of course knew.

While down by the water, I saw some nice markings on an oak...

And scars on a beech...

This walk was the day after I had been interviewed by a DPhil. candidate (Fernanda) on plant communication. She is speaking with a group of people and after the initial interviews, she will be hosting monthly meetings. Fernanda herself speaks with plants - as well as other earth-beings - and it was great to talk with her. She had found it difficult to believe at first, and it sounds as if much of what she picks up is similar to the messages I receive.

She recommended this teacher, Asia Suler. I did the quiz on Asia's website (Vein of Gold) and was inspired to do two journeys in response. In the first, I was told that I had something toxic inside that I had to remove. Crow led me into a cave of emerald stones. I lay down and the stones pierced my back, charging me with this green light. That allowed Crow to see the Thing and he started pecking it out, but it was all growing into organs and veins and capillaries. A host of little birds with smaller beaks joined in - I saw blue tits and wrens - but there were still tiny strands and so Crow sent in an army of tardigrades and they nibbled it loose. It was like a huge fat black spider with short legs and it scurried away.

So, there you have it.