The All Pervading Presence of God

 

“All of life, from the universe as a whole down to the individual trees and seeds, every living creature and the very earth beneath our feet, expresses the inspiration of the souls that dwell within it and ultimately of the Great Composer whose creation it is.”

Ranchor Prime, Vedic Ecology, page 16

Monday morning. Awareness comes at the least expected times. I had simply wanted to write my Monday post the evening before. Sunday afternoon I had pulled the Vedic Ecology book out of my bookshelf to re-read and from the book’s words, brought back for me the relationship between life’s purpose and nature. Within an hour, the post was written and I went to bed.

Hours later, I awoke in my dark room. Outside, the rainwater glugged down the roof and the wind howled. No more summer breezes but a stiff northwest wind that even sounded cold. But for the first time in ages, my mind wasn’t racing. By writing about my spiritual connection with nature I had reset that awful fear message that had been running through my mind constantly since my trip home. I know what I need to do now to find peace in my life.

The following is that original post that I wrote Sunday evening.

Sunday evening. I’m not much of a shopper; but when it comes to bookstores, I’m an addict. Used, new, fiction or nonfiction, it really doesn’t matter to me. Over the years I have bought and given away hundreds if not thousands of books.

I read primarily nonfiction, in particular books of natural history and philosophy. So when I found a book, titled Vedic Ecology, Practical Wisdom for Surviving the 21^st Century I bought it on sight. It wasn’t a long book, only 155 pages on unusually heavy weight paper. Black and white drawings and photos were sprinkled among the thirteen chapters with each chapter prefaced with a verse from various Vedic philosophers. Needless to say, I sat down in the coffee shop of the bookstore and had worked my way through a third of the book in a short time.

Ranchor Prime, the book’s author, intertwined the Vedic (Hindu) religion with the environmental crises we face today. He discussed how consumption and materialism has led to a general unhappiness among people and offered an alternative in the form of nature and community. The heart of the Vedic religion is the relationship between Krishna, his followers and the natural world. In traditional Vedic communities, the tree represented patience and tolerance. Forests were a source of lumber, food and fuel but also the place where God’s presence could be strongest felt. When the forest was sacrificed, people lost their relationship with the Divine and each other.

Throughout my life, I have sought a connection with the spiritual world. I became a religious nomad moving from the church of my youth through various doctrinal and secular denominations. All had much to offer but they rarely connected my deep seated love of nature to their belief systems. I finally gave up the search to affiliate myself to a particular church but never stopped looking for God and the meaning of my life.

My journey continues. Some days I feel God’s presence in all that I do and other days, I feel so far away.  I’ve connected those distant feelings to days that focus on societal expectations of pursuing money, power and reputation. So draining are those distant days, I physically crave to be outside where I can re-balance my spiritual self with the physical me.

As autumn transitions into winter, I find myself inside more of the time with that uneasy feeling that comes from too much technology and not enough nature. It is time to pull out my gloves and hat, umbrella in hand and walk with God.