~ The Wooded Way ~

So what makes the Wooded Way ‘new’?

It’s uniqueness lies in the understanding that we have an essential purpose in the Gaian cycle and are symbiotically linked to all life on Earth, and, through this connection, all that exists. Whist we certainly have a degree of uniqueness as individual beings, there is no actual ‘individuality’ in terms of being separate from all else. No person is truly ‘alone’, no one is separate and every-one has a unique purpose for being. There are no exceptions. As such, the first priority of the Way of the Wood is the discovery of our true purpose as a species that has evolved in symbiosis with all life; then, as individual beings that are aspects of the whole and, finally, as specific, dedicated and specialised communities living in harmony and communion with Gaia.

Thus, we become a mirror of the rest of nature. We become organelles within cells that, in turn, become organs of a unique, singular being called ‘humanity’, with a clearly defined purpose on Earth as part of Gaia ... the living oneness.

We begin this journey with a brief look at what makes humankind unique as a species. We can then ask, “Why did we evolve to have such specialisations?” and “How do those specialisations connect us to the rest of life on Earth?” This is a good starting point in defining the purpose (or purposes) for the evolution of humankind as a symbiotically linked cell of Gaia.

We have been given the unique gift of ‘intelligence’ which, in real terms, is the capacity to store large quantities of information in memory cells, sort and define those memories, and then make abstract decisions based on that information base. In keeping with this, the ‘sorting and defining’ process, by default, gives us an appreciation of aesthetics, creativity and the capacity to ‘dream’. When things are correctly defined and sorted in the mind, we experience sensations of pleasure, or ‘bliss’; when they are not, we experience sensations of suffering and separation. We lose our connectedness to life.

In aid of the ability to put abstract decisions into creative practice, we have been given the ability to walk upright, giving us free hands and, further to this, opposing thumbs for grasping things such as tools.

Our unique gifts then, make us, as a species, Gaia’s ‘CREATORS’ (in the sense of creating for Gaia, not the creators of Gaia) ... yet, we act as her ‘destroyers’ by separating our-selves from each other, all other life and the Gaian oneness. Thus, we have manifested suffering and, with it, the divided ‘ego-self’ of the false individuality.

In the Way of the Wood, we aim to redefine our kind as Gaia’s creative essence once more, and to redefine our unique selves as specialised aspects of the creative process. Thus, as a Gaian species, being a part of the body of Gaia, we become a vital part of the Gaian ‘mind’.

As creators within the mind of Gaia, we become wholly linked to all creation and, thus, return to our singular oneness with God, the ‘Great Creator’, and our Father.

We give Gaia the capacity to dream ... to imagine and to create. What a great gift we have; what a unique and powerful set of specialisations.... but, oh! what fools we have been in our ego-driven separateness from both Gaia, the Mother and God, the Father, to deny our own uniqueness and purpose for being.

Who then, are YOU? What is YOUR unique role as a part of the Gaian ‘dreaming’?

This is what the Way of the Wood is all about. Finding YOUR way, YOUR light and YOUR shadows in the great forest that is the Gaian mind. Know then, kindred, that you are indeed unique, special and needed in order for us to find our completeness. Without YOU, we will always be one less than whole. Without YOU, we cannot find the totality of oneness with Gaia and all that exists through her.

But how do we link our creative energies with that of Gaia? Well, actually, we don’t have to. We simply have to give up being everything we are not in order to reveal who we are. Once we discover who we are, we can then freely connect with those other ‘organelles’ that complete our ‘cell’ in the body of Gaia. In making such defined (and divine) connections, we automatically experience the nurturing process we call ‘love’, and with it, the shedding of the pain and division of separation. We begin to shed the false ego-self through connectivity to our kind ... our kindred ... and love. We begin to shed our light within the world.

All things in nature respond positively to love. With the love of oneness in our beings cannot help but to attract the love inherent in all things to us. We awaken the love of Gaia within our selves.

 
THE PROCESS:

No matter how difficult it may seem, shed all of the things you have collected and connections you have made that you know in your heart are not truly of your nature, or being.

In doing so, be conscious of those things that you discover buried at the very core of your being that you know are of your nature (use guided meditations to assist you if you find this process difficult).

Keep doing this. Shed a little every day, discover something of your true self every day and, over time, reveal your true and primal self.

When you can truly say out loud, and with joy in your heart for all to hear and feel, “I know who I am” (without the false ego), you become an ‘attractor’. Gaia herself will find ways to connect you with others of your kind in order to complete the cell ... this is the Way of the Wood.

As your cell (circle) grows in number, it will spontaneously divide and make connections with other cells.

Throughout this process, we are literally ‘making love’. Every connection that is made, when we know in our hearts it is true, will reveal itself through a sense of nurturing, blissfulness and love. Just as the human mind experiences bliss when it recognises that its fragments of information are defined and sorted correctly, so too, does the Gaian mind experience bliss when it has defined and sorted itself correctly through us. We feel love and this is reflected throughout all life. We attract the love inherent in all of nature ... all of Gaia ... and find our bliss in our connectedness with all things and, thus, with our oneness with the universal nature of God.

The Way of the Wood, as such, is about defining the self in order to facilitate making connections with others that we ‘resonate’ with.

But what then?

This is where the Wooded Way Communities and the Order of the Wood come in by supporting you in forming a strong and vital community, or cell of Gaia. Depending on how you see your cell functioning, i.e. it’s purpose, you may find a need to remain based in a city in order to help others to heal and discover their truth also. Other cells may choose to form seed communities in rural areas forming self-sufficient and sustainable alternative lifestyle groups. There are no hard and fast rules here. Only YOU can truly know what your purpose is and what you are being called to do through Gaia. It is not the role of the Wooded Way to dictate to you and your cell group how and where you are to live, the work you must do and how you are to do it. The role of the Wooded Way is to provide support, guidance and information to assist you in your work, whilst also ‘networking’ and connecting with others.

Obviously, however, we are not going to support activities that are clearly not in the interests of Gaia and, as such, a simple ‘constitution’ that identifies the Wooded Way is currently being drafted. There are certain understandings that need to be met and any activities that are inconsistent with those understandings cannot be supported.

The core essences of these understandings are as follows: 

• The recognition that the Earth is a living, sentient being in her own right and that she is called GAIA, the Mother.
  
• The recognition that GAIA is a part of the universal body and nature of GOD, the Father.
  
• The recognition that all life on Earth, including humankind, is symbiotically connected with unique roles to play as part of the oneness of Gaia.
  
• The recognition that there is no unique divinity of Humankind over and above any other forms of life on Earth.
  
• The recognition that all life is sacred and that to unnecessarily harm other living things is also to harm the body of Gaia, and thus, our selves.
  
• The recognition that all life on Earth needs air, water and nutrition in order to live and, as such, we must strive to maintain the basic building blocks of life in as clean and pure a state as possible.
  
• The recognition that, currently, due largely to the unconscious activities of humankind over the ages, Gaia is in a state of dis-ease and requires our assistance to heal (and vice versa).
  
• The recognition that the most healing power that exists is Love, and to love life is to heal Gaia (and our selves).

Obviously, the points outlined, at this time, are purely a guide to go by in order to develop an understanding of what the Way of the Wood is truly about. It is not so much about rules, as it is about recognition and understanding. Once this is in place, then there is a mutual respect for the needs of every one as well as the overall good of the whole.

This is the Way of the Wood ... the Way of Life.

GUIDED MEDITATIONS

A series of meditation tapes and workshops are currently being developed. The meditations are intended to aid people in clearing the mind and heart of all of the information and material that constitute the ‘patterns of behaviour’ that we have become accustomed to thinking are ‘normal’. Much of what is in our minds are indoctrinated patterns that we have been indoctrinated with since early childhood. This is not to say that all of these things are necessarily ‘wrong’ for us, merely that it is time to review our lives and all of we believe we know in order to discover that which, to us, is no longer truly valid in our lives.

We need to start shedding the blockages in order to start shedding our light, free from all the barriers that create our shadows.

 Suggested reading:

Joseph, Lawrence. E. - Gaia, The Growth of an Idea
St. Martins Press, New York, 1991

Myers, Norman (ed) - Gaia, an atlas of planet management
Doubleday, New York, 1984

Thompson, William Irwin (ed) - Gaia: A way of Knowing, political implications of the new biology, Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Lindisfarne Press, 1987

Walker, Alex (ed) - The Kingdom Within, a guide to the spiritual work of the Findhorn Community, Findhorn Press, Scotland, 1994

Swimme, Brian - The Resurgence of Cosmic Storytellers,
Revision Journal

Lovelock, James - Gaia, a new look at life on Earth
Oxford University Press, U.K. 1st edition published 1979

Lovelock, James - The ages of Gaia, a Biography of our living Earth
Norton Press, New York, 1988

Margulis, Lyn - Symbiosis in cell evolution
Freeman, San Francisco, 1981

Margulis, Lyn and Sagan, Dorian - Microcosmos, Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution, Summit Books, New York, 1986