This is what I am finding as I continue to deepen into it, and, like other spiritual practices, I think the barrier to entry is low while the opportunities for deepening are enormous.
This is the key I think in this work. Inviting people into exploring something accessible. Being in relation with nature is happening always. It seems that the attention placed on that relationship has been lost in parts.
I agree, Josephine. The relationship is always there, and much of what I try to do is help people notice it again. That is part of why I keep the practice small, one tree, 10 minutes, a route someone already walks, since many people assume connection with nature needs a wilderness or a free weekend. I am working on a post now about ways to invite people who are new to this, and your comment is a reminder of why it matters.
This is a big part of my work too, and something I try and share. I look forward to your post. For me, we have a quiet, beautiful cemetery next to our house. It’s full of natures treasures. Walking that same ten minute loop each week, through the year, offers something completely different on every walk. How wonderful.
Loved hearing about your work at the contemplation today, and reading your posts I see you are a kindred spirit! Walking / pilgrimage is one of my core practices, as well. I love this lectio divina method you are describing. And I love hearing experiences from others doing it - it's good to reinforce the connection and reality of it all.
Good to share meditation with you today, Jonathan, and thank you for the support.
Walking as a core practice puts you ahead of most of what I write about, since the difficulty is rarely getting people outdoors and almost always what happens once they are there. The lectio frame gave me a way to describe what I had already been doing for years without language for it, and having the words changed how I walk afterward.
Your point about hearing it from others is the part I underestimated for a long time. Some of this is difficult to trust on its own. Where do you walk?
Magic happened; while reading your piece, a golden dragonfly landed 1.5 m away at eye level. She perched there for about one hour while I read and then practiced variations of these steps. She turned her head in various directions looking at me (I was unaware that they had such mobile and expressive heads & faces). After completing the contemplation/belonging/reciprocity, I looked away for a moment to the sea, and when I looked back she was gone. Thanks to you for the beautiful serendipity of your words, and thanks to her for immediate, unequivocal deep connection.
I am so happy to hear about your experience, from trying something new to pausing when it started to deepen. I also am so happy you tried it and came back here to share with me and anybody else who may see this. I imagine the dragonfly visit can lead to a lot of additional processing and perhaps may become a significant step on your journey toward greater connection with the living world.
Thank you Jeffrey for this beautiful practice. I offered it to my local group here in Ontario, where we met in a beautiful park, and we found it deeply meaningful. One member is taking it further to his men’s group on their retreat. Many thanks!
Kerri, this is the best thing I have read all week. The practice was written for one person and one being, and hearing that a group held it together in a park in Ontario tells me it travels further than I had assumed.
Please tell your member that I would be glad to hear how it goes at the men's retreat, and that a group of any size only needs 1 rule: nobody narrates what they found until afterward.
If you gather again, I would like to know what your group did with the last movement. Staying is where most people leave early, and being together may make that easier or harder in ways I have not tested.
I posted a worked example this morning, a single encounter with a tree on the last day of my Camino walk in France, run all the way through the 4 movements. It may be useful for the men's retreat.
I have been an avid, sacred wanderer for many years and have never come across this beautiful framework. I'm very glad I did. I tend to trust what is very, very old, especially when it comes to how we are being with the Land. I love its simplicity and invitational resonance ... with steps that could also lead to some pretty profound encounters! Thank you for sharing.
The initial framework of lectio divina originates with Guigo II, a Carthusian prior who wrote the movements down around 1150 in his Ladder of Monks. Lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio. He was reading scripture in his monastic cell.
Two things are mine. His image is a ladder, which means rungs, climbed in order, going up and away from the world. I invite us to forget the order, because the movements describe what already happens when you give a living being your sustained attention, and attention does not climb or seek to escape.
The other is the fourth movement. Guigo was ascending toward union with God. I call it Belong, and it goes the other direction, further into the place you are standing and relationship with the living world.
I point out the seams because you said you trust what is very old. The bones are. The turn outward toward the Land is recent, and I owe part of that framing to recent works on ecospirituality and kinship with the living world.
The encounters do come, by the way. Almost always on a walk I expected nothing from.
I lov e your adjustments. Very deep feminine. Very immanence over transcendence, which I feel is deeply needed in spiritual adventures of all kinds. Chthonic intelligence, right here and beneath us and all around us. Beautiful.
Thanks again for the kind comments and for sharing. I am delighted this resonates, and hope that, if you try this out, you share back how it went for you.
I have an apple tree in my front yard I have become friends with over the years. My children swing in her branches. Once, after having just put up the swing and using it with my eldest for the first time, I leaned against her trunk and gave thanks for her support and her witnessing of this tender part of my life. Suddenly, I received a vision. It was from her POV as the seedling she once was watching the landscape change around her over decades. My words do not do it justice. It was awe-inspiring and shocking. Plants are amazing.
Marty, an apple tree holding a swing has taken on work she never agreed to, and she did it anyway.
What arrived sounds like her showing you the same ground you were standing on, seen across a span you cannot occupy yourself. Have you told your children any of it?
They are up in her branches every week, and a tree with a story attached becomes a different tree to a child.
Thank you, Pamela. The practice underneath it works on any walk, including a short one around your own block or in your backyard. Tell me how it goes if you try it.
I agree with you on this one, Inge. Sensitivity and kindness applied in an intentional way can have dramatic impacts on what we bring into the world through our actions.
This is such a beautiful way to offer a framework for nature contemplation. I resonate deeply with both the 3 premises and 4 movements. So lovely, thank you. 🙏🏼🌿🦋
Laura, thank you for your kind comment. I hope this may inspire you to try it as a new practice, and if you do so, I really welcome hearing how it goes!
I love the simple opening to this remembering it provides. I have been doing what I and others call grid work for a very long time, and its time for many many more to remember this relationship. Bless
Sometimes it is only a tiny shift in how we look at the same thing that helps us to deepen more into it as we see with new eyes. So often the wonders of the world are missed as we see them every day, and in this way nearly everything can become backdrop. I am heading out for another week along the same initial seven-day path of the Camino in France starting this Friday, and will be trying this out again with a landscape I already know as one that constantly nourishes me.
This is simple, beautiful and can be explored for a lifetime. Thanks 🙏
This is what I am finding as I continue to deepen into it, and, like other spiritual practices, I think the barrier to entry is low while the opportunities for deepening are enormous.
This is the key I think in this work. Inviting people into exploring something accessible. Being in relation with nature is happening always. It seems that the attention placed on that relationship has been lost in parts.
I agree, Josephine. The relationship is always there, and much of what I try to do is help people notice it again. That is part of why I keep the practice small, one tree, 10 minutes, a route someone already walks, since many people assume connection with nature needs a wilderness or a free weekend. I am working on a post now about ways to invite people who are new to this, and your comment is a reminder of why it matters.
This is a big part of my work too, and something I try and share. I look forward to your post. For me, we have a quiet, beautiful cemetery next to our house. It’s full of natures treasures. Walking that same ten minute loop each week, through the year, offers something completely different on every walk. How wonderful.
Loved hearing about your work at the contemplation today, and reading your posts I see you are a kindred spirit! Walking / pilgrimage is one of my core practices, as well. I love this lectio divina method you are describing. And I love hearing experiences from others doing it - it's good to reinforce the connection and reality of it all.
Good to share meditation with you today, Jonathan, and thank you for the support.
Walking as a core practice puts you ahead of most of what I write about, since the difficulty is rarely getting people outdoors and almost always what happens once they are there. The lectio frame gave me a way to describe what I had already been doing for years without language for it, and having the words changed how I walk afterward.
Your point about hearing it from others is the part I underestimated for a long time. Some of this is difficult to trust on its own. Where do you walk?
Magic happened; while reading your piece, a golden dragonfly landed 1.5 m away at eye level. She perched there for about one hour while I read and then practiced variations of these steps. She turned her head in various directions looking at me (I was unaware that they had such mobile and expressive heads & faces). After completing the contemplation/belonging/reciprocity, I looked away for a moment to the sea, and when I looked back she was gone. Thanks to you for the beautiful serendipity of your words, and thanks to her for immediate, unequivocal deep connection.
I am so happy to hear about your experience, from trying something new to pausing when it started to deepen. I also am so happy you tried it and came back here to share with me and anybody else who may see this. I imagine the dragonfly visit can lead to a lot of additional processing and perhaps may become a significant step on your journey toward greater connection with the living world.
Thank you Jeffrey for this beautiful practice. I offered it to my local group here in Ontario, where we met in a beautiful park, and we found it deeply meaningful. One member is taking it further to his men’s group on their retreat. Many thanks!
Kerri, this is the best thing I have read all week. The practice was written for one person and one being, and hearing that a group held it together in a park in Ontario tells me it travels further than I had assumed.
Please tell your member that I would be glad to hear how it goes at the men's retreat, and that a group of any size only needs 1 rule: nobody narrates what they found until afterward.
If you gather again, I would like to know what your group did with the last movement. Staying is where most people leave early, and being together may make that easier or harder in ways I have not tested.
I posted a worked example this morning, a single encounter with a tree on the last day of my Camino walk in France, run all the way through the 4 movements. It may be useful for the men's retreat.
I have been an avid, sacred wanderer for many years and have never come across this beautiful framework. I'm very glad I did. I tend to trust what is very, very old, especially when it comes to how we are being with the Land. I love its simplicity and invitational resonance ... with steps that could also lead to some pretty profound encounters! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading it so closely.
The initial framework of lectio divina originates with Guigo II, a Carthusian prior who wrote the movements down around 1150 in his Ladder of Monks. Lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio. He was reading scripture in his monastic cell.
Two things are mine. His image is a ladder, which means rungs, climbed in order, going up and away from the world. I invite us to forget the order, because the movements describe what already happens when you give a living being your sustained attention, and attention does not climb or seek to escape.
The other is the fourth movement. Guigo was ascending toward union with God. I call it Belong, and it goes the other direction, further into the place you are standing and relationship with the living world.
I point out the seams because you said you trust what is very old. The bones are. The turn outward toward the Land is recent, and I owe part of that framing to recent works on ecospirituality and kinship with the living world.
The encounters do come, by the way. Almost always on a walk I expected nothing from.
I lov e your adjustments. Very deep feminine. Very immanence over transcendence, which I feel is deeply needed in spiritual adventures of all kinds. Chthonic intelligence, right here and beneath us and all around us. Beautiful.
Thanks again for the kind comments and for sharing. I am delighted this resonates, and hope that, if you try this out, you share back how it went for you.
will do!
Chthonic intelligence is a beautiful phrase.
Why thank you, Grail Arts. Enough time out with the Land, and you just feel it, you know. It's the palpable truth. :)
I loved reading this 🌻 already sitting under the tree in my yard
Thank you, Gloriana. What kind of tree is it?
Thank you thank you. So beautiful.
Thank you, Tandi.
If you try it, start with something you pass by every day, since familiarity is what helps small changes register.
Thank you for explaining this way of engaging with nature, I'm going to try the practice on my morning walk. I stopped by that same pond in May.
Louise, having stood at that pond in May gives you something a first attempt usually misses, which is a prior visit to measure against.
The practice works better on ground you have already met, because the changes become visible instead of the place as a whole.
If you get back there, I would love to hear what September is doing differently.
I have an apple tree in my front yard I have become friends with over the years. My children swing in her branches. Once, after having just put up the swing and using it with my eldest for the first time, I leaned against her trunk and gave thanks for her support and her witnessing of this tender part of my life. Suddenly, I received a vision. It was from her POV as the seedling she once was watching the landscape change around her over decades. My words do not do it justice. It was awe-inspiring and shocking. Plants are amazing.
Marty, an apple tree holding a swing has taken on work she never agreed to, and she did it anyway.
What arrived sounds like her showing you the same ground you were standing on, seen across a span you cannot occupy yourself. Have you told your children any of it?
They are up in her branches every week, and a tree with a story attached becomes a different tree to a child.
Those four steps are so simple, yet so profound. Following this can only bring rise to a great respect for nature and life.
Thank you for this amazing post.
Thanks for the kind words, Simon. If you try this out, I welcome hearing about your direct experience with them.
What a wonderful post! thank you
Thank you, Pamela. The practice underneath it works on any walk, including a short one around your own block or in your backyard. Tell me how it goes if you try it.
This is such a beautiful way of being in the world. Nature is everything and everyone.
Agreed, and given how easy it is to objectify nature, it is little surprise when we see ourselves somehow beyond it.
A wonderful model to be applied to all - stones and forms people and spirits - the remembering of the belonging face to face relational world
I agree with you on this one, Inge. Sensitivity and kindness applied in an intentional way can have dramatic impacts on what we bring into the world through our actions.
This is such a beautiful way to offer a framework for nature contemplation. I resonate deeply with both the 3 premises and 4 movements. So lovely, thank you. 🙏🏼🌿🦋
Laura, thank you for your kind comment. I hope this may inspire you to try it as a new practice, and if you do so, I really welcome hearing how it goes!
Beautiful, thank you 🙏
Thank you for the kind comment, which is heartfully appreciated.
I love the simple opening to this remembering it provides. I have been doing what I and others call grid work for a very long time, and its time for many many more to remember this relationship. Bless
Sometimes it is only a tiny shift in how we look at the same thing that helps us to deepen more into it as we see with new eyes. So often the wonders of the world are missed as we see them every day, and in this way nearly everything can become backdrop. I am heading out for another week along the same initial seven-day path of the Camino in France starting this Friday, and will be trying this out again with a landscape I already know as one that constantly nourishes me.