The Beauty-Ripe

The Way to the Wild Sacred 

Last week my husband and I returned to our special spot hidden deep in the Maine woods. I call it the Wild Sacred. (See my August 24, 2015 blog The Wild Sacred) This year, as last, we stayed at a rustic lodge near our site called The Pines. During the day, we enjoyed our site and also went exploring on lake and land. Below is a thumb sketch of what was revealed.

Once in a while you wander onto one – one of those soft, mossy hideaways that blanket the earth beneath hanging leafy boughs – once in a while – but not often. From parts I’ve known, the Maine wilderness is more often gritty, gravelly, dusty, dry and can be quite unforgiving of your slightest misstep. But yet it is, surprisingly, the latter that leads to the most elusive of treasures, the uncut kind. For, like a master sculptor, this land carves deep into your soul chipping away any pretense and all preconceived notions of what you may have thought yourself to be, revealing only what is naked, pure and Beauty-ripe. Here, there is no room for self-imposed importance or notions of superiority. No, Nature rules here and we, as faithful subjects, do well to follow.

Submit howls the wind swaying the giant pine, cedar and spruce trees.
Surrender whispers the water gliding over deep boulders and drowned limbs.
Become the wood crackles the fire against the night air.

And, if you are able, the wilderness may just bless you with unexpected moments of magic as if Nature was putting on a tailored-made show of pure delight just for you. A quick glance into the eyes of a deer just before she ducks into the woods with her fawn. An eagle majestically lifting up and out of a tree top spreading wide against the sky. A crow swooping down in front to serve as our guide down the dusty road.

Or, maybe it is the challenge of bushwhacking a trail to a lake hidden deep being sure to stay in sight or sound of the river. Sweating, scraping, ouch!, climbing, lunging and, finally, resting on a raised bounder in a hidden cove peering through the tall grasses at the lake just ahead. No short cuts here. No easy way. But, as promised, the reward is sweet and untamed gifting all who dare to venture just a taste of the Beauty-ripe.

Unplugged. No internet. No TV. No news. Pond bathing and star gazing the top of the “to do” list. Coming home was hard. Sitting on the interstate stuck in traffic with cars as far as the eye could see felt contrived and artificial. Hearing the first news on the radio felt intrusive and unwelcomed. Nooooooo!!!!!

And then I remembered why we go to the wild – to re-discover the Beauty-ripe deep within us. That uncut, wild sacred, that yearns for Nature’s chisel to set us free of all non-essentials. For it is only then that we may return to walk the paved roads of our daily lives with a lighter footprint and with a bit more buoyancy.

And to find ourselves even there…Untamed. Uncut. Gritty. Dusty.

And free.