FORESTS AS OUR SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE

NATURE designed a forest as an experiment in unpredictability. We are trying to design a regulated forest. Nature designed a forest of long-term trends. We are trying to design a forest with short-term absolutes. Nature designed a forest with diversity. We are designing a forest with simplistic uniformity. Nature designed a forest of interrelated processes. We are trying to design a forest based on isolated products. Nature designed a forest in which all elements are neutral. We are designing a forest in which we perceive some elements to be good, others bad. Nature designed a forest to be a flexible, timeless continuum of species. We are designing a forest to be a rigid, time- constrained monoculture. Nature designed a forest over a landscape. We are trying to design a forest on each acre. Nature designed a forest to be self-sustaining and self- repairing. We are designing a forest to require increasing external subsidies—fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Nature designed forests of the Pacific Northwest to live 500 to 1,200 years. We are designing a forest that may seldom live 100 years. Nature designed forests of the Pacific Northwest to be unique in the world, with twenty-five species of conifers, the longest lived and the largest of their genera anywhere. We are designing a forest based largely on a single-species, short rotation. Our dream—a sustainable forest—must be bold enough to allow change not only in the forest but also in our thinking because the land is not to be conquered but is to be nurtured. We must also understand, accept, and remember that the world is always in a state of becoming, in a state of change, so nothing is ever ‘finished.’ Thus, if we try to hold things constant, like yesterday’s timber values projected into tomorrow’s forests, then it is like driving through life looking in the rearview mirror. Today’s decisions will design and sustain or destroy the forests of tomorrow. Now, more than ever, we must recognize that we are part of the human family and trust and respect each other as if human dignity truly were the philosophical cornerstone of society. We must also recognize and accept that we have one ecosystem that simultaneously produces a multitude of products. And we, as individuals and generations, as societies and nations, are both inseparable products of and tenants of that system, custodians for those who follow. Chris Maser, words from the classic book, The Redesigned Forest Other “Chris Maser” Offerings: • One Small Nudge affects the Whole World • Saint Worm • Earth Day 2012 • The Paradox of Grief (an excerpt from “The World is in my Garden: A      Journey of Consciousness”) • In Emptiness Is Spiritual Fulfillment (from the above Garden book) • Self-Emptying Meditation (from the above Garden book) • Eternity And The Banishment Of Fear (an excerpt from “Conversations      with Fear”) © Quoted material from “The Redesigned Forest” and middle forest photo © by Chris Maser, 2017. The other two pictures of forests are gratefully used from Wikimedia Commons. First photo is attributed to Kelvin Kay at English Wikipedia. All 2009-2017 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide. My editorial master and technological wizard is Chris Maser, my joyful husband.