Being in the forest for a city dweller is a remarkable experience. It truly is a blessing. Hard to imagine that so much of our world used to be thick forests where only filtered light came through its canopy and animals freely roamed. I bring my mind back to the basalt walls bordering the trail and the black moss on it. I have read it moved to this location through glacial movement a long time ago, carving out the Columbia Gorge. I hear the river down to the right as I shadow it walking onward deeper into the experience of this extraordinary Eagle Creek hike. I hear my inner conversation and realize how much my mind has become habituated to think about things. My mind seems to be hypnotized to think about things. Many of my spiritual practices have emphasized the quieting of the mind, an experience that occasionally comes of its own for minutes at a time, but not now. So I turn my attention to the sounds of the river, the sensations of the warm breeze and the uneven surfaces of the rocks embedded in the trail and I become more present to my experience. I see the moss hanging on the dead branches of trees and the light on the two maple saplings ahead as I keep my body moving on the trail. I am again in inner conversation and find myself carried away with my dream until I once again recognize the habit of mind that has been reinforced by school, work and culture. I bring my attention to my ankles and feet, flexing as I walk and feel my hips tired after a long uphill trek. I “notice” that I am now heightened awareness of myself as consciousness in movement without thought, until my thought intrudes and says, “You are in “No Mind” land. I stay there for a while until the cycle starts again and awareness preempts thinking and “No Mind” hiking becomes an ongoing experience. Probably not enlightenment but maybe something valuable nonetheless. What a gorgeous day.
Howard Brockman, LCSW
Posted July 28, 2012
Howard Brockman
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