Perceptions

and spiritual practice

I’ve taken to meditating outside lately. I get up pretty early, spend some time with my beautiful wife, and then I head to the back part of our property at around 6am. There we have what I call the eldertree. This is a very large gum tree that I can sit against. It’s pretty cold these mornings, usually just above zero. I rug up and enjoy the cold against my skin, the mist of my breath.

One of the things that I like to do is to take in the natural surroundings - beautiful gum trees, birds flitting about and making their calls, rust coloured rocks, the occasional mossy boulder.

This all seems simple and natural enough. Lots of people find the experience of nature meditative, contemplative, calming, uplifting. But why?

The Tantrik philosophy of 11th century Kashmir gives us an explanation of this phenomenon. It is unlike many, if not most, spiritual practices in this regard. It doesn’t take you away from your body and senses into some other spiritual realm. Instead, it sees all of these exp…