Expressions of Life

Sitting on a rock in the middle of a stream, a tumbling mountain stream in a pine forest in the Sierra de Madrid, I see a tiny, unusual creature in a very small pool at the edge of the water. It looks like a hermit crab, about 2cm long, but its shell appears more like a bit of stick. It seems to be trying to crawl out of the pool. Watching it for a bit I suddenly see that this is simply a tiny form of life. The daisies on the hummock of grass next to it are just another expression of life. And the birds singing around me, the flies, the orange-tipped butterflies – even the stream – just life!

And so of course, me too. A form of life. Why do we humans elevate ourselves so much? Why do we complicate ourselves so much? Why do we enter into so many dualistic judgements? “This is better than that… you should do this… they should be like that!” How crazy!

The creature in the pool, the daisies, the birds, the butterflies and gnats, the man on the rock – all just life. All the same.

The straight, bright green grasses and nettles on the bank, the blue sky, the sturdy pines, the tumbling, laughing stream, that’s it. That’s it.