Walking through the forest is as exciting as any adrenaline sport, as calming as any meditation, as hypnotic as any voodoo ritual, as intoxicating as any drug, as chaotic as any city-scape and can cure the mind as effectively as any shaman. The worship of the jungle has no doctrine, no temple or church. No book is written to help its devotees in times of questionable faith. There is nothing to worship because the nature of the jungle is the nature of ourselves. Both internal and external, its life can be heard in birdsong, its shelter can be seen with its trees, you can touch its leaves and drink its water but it is what is felt internally that’s most important. Its oxygen is inhaled and its powers felt in the heart and the mind. The forest contains colours that painters dare not paint, emotions that poets dare not write of, insights that philosophers dare not discuss, it’s of an age that historians dare not imagine. Its music is as transitory as song, its heart as passionate as any love story, its intelligence higher than any scholar. A thunderous silence as loud as any storm. Its shapes are as infinite as the water that runs through its streams. Its dangers are as high as the mountains it covers, and its ability to heal is as plentiful as the water that falls on its leaves. I’m speaking of what the forest is and what it isn’t. In terms of positive and in terms of negative. It is not what the forest is or what it isn’t that is important. It’s somewhere in between these two ways of thinking that the forest sits patiently and waits for you to understand it. Rain forest, jungle, forest, name it what you will but earth cares not for its titles. A forest can’t be owned, yet it belongs to all. -- -- #forestphilosophy #nature #environment #environmentalism #forest #zilliefalls #wettropics #athertontablelands #rainforest #jungle #philosophy #naturephotography #photography #trees #travellingillustrator #green #forests #naturelovers (at Zillie Falls)
