The Green Feeling*

Since I was a young child, I have been deeply affected by green living things. I sense a presence eminating from them, a quiet transcendance.  Though I can also see this in animals and people, it is far easier to perceive it in plants, as they are as close to pure being-ness as this world seems to get.

People  are busy creating images of themselves that they project onto the world and back into themselves until they believe the image is the reality. They are caught up in doing and lose sight of being completely at peace in the here and now. Animals, to the extent that they are tainted by human interaction, also have affectations and neuroses, though usually not as severe as humans.

Plants, especially trees, are great teachers.  The wind blows, they move. They don't resist, they don't brace themselves in fear. Leaves touch gently in a breeze, and then as easily separate again--no resistance at contact, no pain at loss. Instead, I get such a strong sense of playfulness, elegance, and wonderment watching their dance.

This sense of the vibrant, universal life force playing out before me in dappled sunlight or the bright face of a flower or rustling leaves is ever-present whenever I step outside, but only if I am not in a hurry and my mind is not engaged elsewhere. It also helps to be alone, since humans generally fill space and time with conversation, which distracts from what is in front of them.

The day before yesterday, I took a long, leisurely walk with Rasputin at El Dorado Park, a large regional park in northeast Long Beach. At one point, I sat on a picnic table and gazed at the trees around me. I experienced an especially wonderful "green feeling."
 
Most often, the green feeling brings with it a profound understanding and appreciation of beauty, wonder, and joy. But sometimes this feeling is heightened to the level of unconditional love, as if the entire natural world is whispering, "You are loved." Unfortunately, most people rush about, not even aware of the beauty, except perhaps in an intellectual way, commenting to themselves or outloud, "Isn't that beautiful!" But few actually experience the beauty without internal or external commentary. Fewer still see this stirring of love and vibrancy, this dynamism of the world buzzing with life.
 

To be clear, I don't mean that I literally hear the trees talking to me. It is something that is way beyond words. A knowing-ness that all is right in the world, however it may seem, because in that moment of pure connection with the trees or the flowers or the sunlight, only this beauty exists. The human-made dramas and horrors are not present in the tree, the flowers, or the sunlight, so during that moment, they do not exist. They are ephemera.
 
The green feeling has sustained me throughout my life. It is as if the entire natural world is simultaneously my best friend and a trillion friends, just as a single tree is also thousands of leaves cavorting in a breeze. Once again, the green feeling lifted my spirits. Though the conditions that prompted last week's tears are still present, I have cried myself out. I again feel at peace.

Two young kids, a brother and sister, must have felt a "green connection" too, as I watched them jump from the top of a picnic table and grab a tree branch, then gleefully swing from it. It is so rare to see children playing without some sort of device. Just having fun with what's right in front of them. But if anything can take them away from video games and cell phones, by God, it's a tree!

* I took these photos at El Dorado Park under some gorgeous trees.