The "Look Close to Live Close" Life
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Alt. Title: Was Horton onto Something?
Duration: 5 min. read
We're now living through a time when we're thirsty for intimacy, for real connection, and to know once more the organic truth that our soft intuitive body is designed to know. It's important that we listen to this yearning.
More and more of us want one-on-one experiences. Nature-centered deep change. The soles of our feet are aching to feel the humming threads of earth energy that our heart responds to. It's an inner journey of vision, magic, and awe that we're seeking; and it's also a presence that's inviting us to look more closely. This magic is starlight that's held as much in the light of our cells as it is in the cosmos. And, this magic is hidden beyond the bright lights, warp speed lifestyle, and any and all pressures and forcing.
Living a "Look close to live close" life promises a richness and a soul nourishing experience that will satisfy a yearning in you for the beauty and joy of childhood.
Below we explore the magic and wonder of the hidden realms and why they're so important.
In our daily lives, as a whole, we’ve forgotten the magic and wonder of the small, those “worlds within worlds”. It’s almost as if as we grew up and our bodies got bigger our view of the world changed to only take in the “bigger”, too.
As adults many of us have stopped being drawn to and marveling at the miniature. As children it came naturally to us. For one thing, we were closer in size to the little things around us (we could relate), and we were closer to the ground—we didn’t have to bend over as much. But also, as children our young brain and body were wired for exploration and adventure. The intimate was our reality, it was how we lived. We had not yet been told how to think of something. We were given the freedom to discover things on our own and in our own ways.
Dr. Seuss’ book, Horton Hears a Who!, celebrated this way of experiencing the easily overlooked and unseen. But, for many as we got older this was either shamed out of us, drilled out of us by the academic and contemporary culture, or we lost interest because in order to survive we needed to belong and to belong we needed to be like everyone else. If our friends no longer cared about or thought it was “cool” to disappear into “imaginary” mushroom worlds (or worlds so small they exist within a speck of dust!), then we better not either. Peer pressure was a powerfully destructive force to our imagination. We became “too old” for Horton and his Whos. So, for many of us growing up meant leaving the hidden miniature worlds behind—choosing the “out there” and “them” over the “right here” and “me”. Bigger became better. Belonging became “a matter of life and death”. Tragically for many people the result was a loss of intimacy with nature and ultimately with themselves and their imagination. Hopefully we will eventually awaken to this loss and try to reclaim our connection with these "worlds within worlds".
When we look closer to live closer we reanimate the world and reawaken our child-like wonder once more. We become playful and the world opens up to us in exciting new ways.
It’s ironic that by going in, by looking close, the world and our life begin to expand, they become bigger. The interdependence of life and threads of interconnection are rediscovered. We truly begin to see the whole world in a grain of sand once more.
Deep listening accompanied by deep looking leads to deep living, and therein lies the secret to life that we once relished as children.
When we become aware of "worlds within worlds" we strengthen our own abilities to be present to the truth in any given moment. We're having a multi-dimensional experience. We become more aware of the subtle nuances in the energy fields around us, of the hidden messages in body language, and in how our presence is being received and shaping our experiences. Ultimately we become able to see the patterns and know when things are off or unjust and why. We understand the behaviors of animals and the patterns of existence and dependency within our natural environments.
SOME HIDDEN WORLD–"WHOVILLE"–EXAMPLES: The rippling atmosphere caused by the prevailing winds in winter, in summer; the path of light through the room over a span of a day, a season, a year; the place where the purple mushrooms always crop up beneath the stand of hemlocks; the once heart-shaped lichen patch that now looks like a cell dividing; the ache in your bones telling you a storm is approaching; the visceral awareness that the trees in the woodland "sleep" at night; the undisturbed leaf mould where the bumblebees hibernate during the winter; the various paths your cat follow repeatedly through the house, the yard; your bones' experience of rumbling thunder reverberating through your body; a wave crashing upon the shoreline; the energetic space created when a person receives a compliment, a criticism, a gift, a spark of an idea; the moment in time when an osprey curls its talons into the flesh of a fish; the presence of a dandelion growing out of a crack in the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue in N.Y.C.; a water droplet on a duck's back glistening in the sun.
These "worlds within worlds" aren't obvious. One must be observant and take the time for life to unfold without trying to force it. When experiencing or noticing the hidden realms, expectations do not reveal, they block.
Equipped with this depth of understanding we can transform our lives and our world. We can make better choices that are more in alignment and attuned to creating a life that is optimal; belonging, authenticity, joy, and truth all naturally unfold from this level of listening to nature and feeling it within our own selves.
Horton saved Whoville from those who didn't know it existed. Many of us "see" things no one else can see, "feel" things that nobody else can feel. This doesn't mean that what we "see" or "feel" doesn't exist. It means we have a responsibility to stand up for the hidden, for what others can't perceive and could therefore disrespect and destroy, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Let's be more like Horton and protect the "Whovilles" in our lives!
Keep seeking out and exploring those miniature hidden "worlds within worlds"; make space in your life for that which your child self would gravitate towards. It's important that we continue listening to what we're yearning for. There's a reason why we "see" and "feel" what we do.
Comments