Travels With Buddha — 10.10 Avenue of the Giants, near Miranda, Humboldt County, California, USA

“Sink down, Oh Traveler, on your knees. God stands before you in these trees.”

Coming out of a long and deep meditation focused on the futility of all things, my companion Buddha tells me that all he wants for Christmas/Solstice/Kwanzaa, etc is to sit for a good spell under a tree. I can relate, but I tell him it has to be somewhere south of winter.

Same old, same old. We buy an old 4WD truck and head down the coast. Seven or eight hours later the trees are like cathedrals. Worship Redwoods. Plenty of places to sit. Sit forever if you want….

Still winter. Still raining. But quiet. A quilted quietness. Moist, spongy, enveloping. If we sit long enough we can begin to hear the mushrooms grow.

It is a long winter dreaming meditation. Maybe I fall asleep. Maybe I speak with the mycelium. Under the cover of pine needles and decaying bark a dark world is talking. Roots bringing messages to other roots. Neural membranes connecting with quantum possibility. If you do not look it is there to find you. Breathe. Dream. Do not look.

Buddha says the human world has become a dark place of too many lights. The sun burns too brightly. The night is filled with too many tiny suns. There is a constant lack of peace…fool….ness.

Buddha says to turn it off. Let the rain get you wet, the darkness blind you. Let the trees do the talking. And do not try so hard to listen.

Do not listen. Just let them talk. They know when you are sleeping.

Merry Christmas Eve. Quiet everyone.

Aaaahhhhh….finally….Silent Night