The mountains are not alone. They sit perched above our cities, the great plains, and the waters born from their springs and glaciers. When the rain falls on them, it falls easily to rest into the soil or the placid lakes nestled between tall peaks. There’s a smell that belongs to the mountains alone, that the beaches, deserts, prairies, and forests have never known. Mountains are not alone.
Being Seen
We disengage from the world around us in all kinds of ways. One of them is by seeking recognition. There have been seasons when I’ve deceived myself by pretending the world didn’t see me. I felt invisible, like a landlocked lake looking for an ocean to relate to. In reality, as a lake I was separating myself from all the lands surrounding me, as well as the springs, streams, ponds, and other lakes that were around me.
When we separate ourselves from the people around us we disconnect ourselves from them. We might do this with our coworkers and friends, our life partners and our families. We pretend that nobody can relate to us, and that we need awards for simply existing. When we don’t get that recognition we get miserable, lonely, and our perceptions darken.
In the meantime, the rain in the mountains has made the earth rich once again, and enchantment is in the air.
Seeing Others
Most people want recognition and praise. We want to be seen as great parents, poets, philosophers, workers, business owners, and other things that boost our self-perception. Unfortunately, this type of connection with the world around us doesn’t mean much. Instead, it melts away, setting us apart from others and creates its own problems. We get caught up in this craving though, accumulating attention and praise, titles, accomplishments, and so many other things, while the inside of us is screaming for something else, something more, something substantive. When we don’t get the recognition we feel like a failure, and then we’re miserable again.
So we live in these cycles of connection and disengagement, and in each rotation we’re pushed further away from the people, ideas, and realities that surround us.
Moisture soaks through the slopes, moving earth and shifting rocks in the mountains. Draining through boulders and down waterfalls, it cycles into creeks, rivers, lakes, oceans, clouds, rain, and onto the mountains again.
Personal Engagement
Personal engagement allows us to find security within ourselves. As we discover what it is we truly care about, we learn to do what we truly love. Love has no reward or punishment. It cannot fail or succeed. If we live love through our Heartspace we will never be disengaged, because there will never be anything to disengage from. The recognition that we seek from the world around us is recognition that we actually yeeeeearn to give ourselves. This loops back around to the Principle of Engagement, which teaches us that in order to be engaged in the world around us, we must engage within ourselves first. You can get the recognition you so desperately seek from within you, instead of looking for it in the world around you.
You are the mountains, and mountains are never alone.
Adam F.C. Fletcher 