Nature Walk: Monasticism

Lizzie Nelson

On our walk-through nature I really felt like I was able to put into action many of the aspects about journey and spirituality we had discussed in class. On this walk I noticed how easy it was to achieve this sense of flow we have discussed repeatedly in class. The with which I could achieve this state, I feel, had a lot to do with the sense of isolation the trees created. In past classes we have talked about how forests create a somewhat monastic experience as you walk through them, isolated from the outside world, and I couldn’t agree more. You feel completely alone with just yourself and your thoughts, making it easy to perfectly sync up your actions with your awareness. However, in an interesting twist, I felt the vast openness of the ocean had a similar effect. Instead of being so closed in I had to look inward, the water felt so large I had to focus on myself to ground myself in a form of reality. The ocean made me go into a form of flow by putting me into a meditative state, through the sound of waves crashing and ocean always moving. I wonder why this is, why both extreme isolation as well as vastness have similar way of encouraging a flow in your mind? Maybe it is that both force you to think of yourself in relation those environments, and how every movement has an effect on this perfect space.