I gaze at the sky and the voluminous clouds. I follow the flight of  birds above and wonder where they might be going. No else looks up; everyone’s in a hurry. I have to move aside to avoid bumping into them, enthralled by their smartphones. 

I taste the wind and listen to the nuances of the changing seasons. I welcome back old feathered friends this Spring, who have crossed the Sahara and  journeyed back to the very local places they were born in this green cool land. 

The trees and animals and seasons used to be central to  people’s worlds and we were intimately connected with our fellow beings. 

Now creatures have sadly disappeared almost entirely from most people’s worlds. Animals have been marginalised and relegated to hidden factory farms. We’re left with pets who have to serve as sanitised substitutes for what we abandoned. We really don’t realise what we’ve lost nor why we feel so alienated and rootless.

I don’t want anything while most people seem to be striving for every shiny this and that. I’m just simply here. Not desiring anything for myself, my good fortune is to have my essential needs easily met. I have food, shelter and good relationships. 

This leaves me free. If you don’t want anything, all the ads and social media algorithms – promises of the latest tech, fashion or fads –  don’t find anything much to hook onto. I’m simply not attracted. This Lifeworld more than sustains, enlivens and nurtures me. Life is already full of awe and wonder. I live in a natural mild psychedelic reality without the need of psilocybin. 

I feel a bit like Lao Tsu; I’m dumb and stupid while everyone seems smart. Though smart and clever is not the same as wise. AI is super super smart, but as for wisdom……

And desirelessness doesn’t mean listlessness or dullness: it means freed up availability. 

I’m passionate for life and for the welfare of our beautiful creatured world. 

I sense that the trees and birds miss that shared relationship that we now no longer reciprocate. In my small way, I continue to care for and talk with Life in its many varied expressions. 

I ask Mother Earth for forgiveness for what we have done. 

I wish all beings well  and hold to our original covenant.

I alone am dull and stupid.

Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea

Without direction, like the restless wind.

Everyone else is busy

But I alone am aimless and without desire

I am different.

I am nourished by the great mother

Lao Tsu

Tao Te Ching