The Tumult of Nature & the Solace of Spirit

As storms have been creating chaos in various areas of the U.S., I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well. And for those affected, I hope the recovery period is swift for all.

Nature, and the powerful force that it is, is so beautiful. So miraculous. But at times it can be so terrifying. It can bring us absolute joy one day and perilous fear and devastation another. To us, Nature is seemingly stable one moment and then unstable the next. Always changing, in some ways we experience those changes as predictable, like the alternating seasons or the gentle roll of ocean waves. All that may rapidly shift and take us by surprise. It seems that Nature has us oscillating between enjoying it and trying to escape it.

Yesterday my son and I were having a small picnic at the park near his school. We ate sandwiches, enjoying the autumn sun glowing onto our blanket and faces softening the impact of the cool breeze, the fallen leaves sprinkled around us, some dried and curled, others still fresh from their descent. A honeybee fluttered around my sandwich. Playfully, I made a sudden low pitched hum, almost a growl, to protect my food. It zipped away instantly and didn't return and I felt triumphant, claiming that “I found the secret to life!” Five minutes after our gleeful moment, that bee (or its friend) floated over to my son's sandwich. A few growling double hums later and it left. We triumphed together.

We went on enjoying the picnic. Until, all in a swift second, a massive, massive, propellored  insect dived into our oasis. Lettuce went flying. Sandwiches somersaulted into containers. Feet danced around on cool grass. Before we could try to understand what it was, it was gone and so were we. We tried to research what it could’ve been; too large to be a Queen Bee, too round to be a cicada. It was long gone, yet its sheer volume and low pitched cello-like buzz still echo in my mind and will linger in our memories for years. A shocking and confusing moment turned hilarious, once the initial shock wore off. Then, we laughed and laughed. 

Nature is only one side of Life, thankfully. Because, while I love Nature, coping with its unpredictability isn't easy. Even in its rhythmic repetitive qualities that we come to expect and love, Nature alters itself, and the scale of those comforting rhythms can change and suddenly overwhelm. Living, dying, consuming, Nature comes and goes and goes.

The other side of Life is Spirit, the side that precedes and creates Nature. Spirit doesn't change. It stays in place even as it penetrates all space. It's always peaceful and reliably present. Its constancy is comforting and it never seeks to shock or surprise. It waits around to be recognized, never throwing itself at us or vying for attention. Gently, with infinite patience, it waits until we’re ready to experience it consciously. And when we do we are fully embraced. We can always count on the love and joy embedded within that side of Life because it never shifts or rolls away. Once we recall it, acknowledge it, there it is, never having left.

In rough times, uncertain times, when everything around us is shifting and throwing us off balance so that our thoughts and emotions shift just as or even more rapidly, the way to stability is realizing the difference between the changing and the unchanging. Remembering that our fleeting physical reality is just that - fleeting - it does not last. What does last, what offers us permanent shelter even in the most trying of times, is the everlasting reality that is Spiritual in nature. 

This reminds me of an ancient Sanskrit mantra documented in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, known as the Pavamana Mantra. It speaks directly to the desire to shift from living in ignorance (darkness) to living in wisdom (the light); realizing the distinction between ever-changing Nature (the unreal) and ever-present, ever-existing Spirit (the real); from transcending the physical realm (death) and living in the eternal (immortality).  

It’s the first mantra that really touched my heart some years back, and while I didn’t know what it meant at that time as fully as I do now or hope to in the future, it was a major stepping stone on whatever path I’ve been on.

असतो मा सद्गमय ।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।

मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमय ॥

asato mā sadgamaya,

tamaso mā jyotirgamaya,

mṛtyormā'mṛtaṃ gamaya.

Here is one translation:

From the unreal lead me to the real!

From the darkness lead me to the light!

From death lead me to immortality!

This is the goal of Yoga - So that whether we find ourselves being pushed around in the middle of mild inconvenience, difficult personal dramas, or in Nature’s ever-changing storms, we are so established in our own Essential True Nature (Spirit), that we continue to stand up and go on.