Staying Still

We move around too much; we're never still. And, you know, it doesn't do us any good because our feet are never planted firmly on mother earth and we never really get to know the plot of land upon which we live, let alone the people living around us. We are never rooted. I know because I have been a persistent offender in this for many years. There I was, hankering to leave the shores of this favoured island in order to find paradise somewhere in the glorious sunshine of Italy. And what did I discover? A very different culture which is rather difficult to fathom and a potentially beautiful tumbledown old farmhouse, much too big for me, that I couldn't afford to restore. Yes, the countryside there is quite glorious, the sun shines in summer, the winters are cold, the wine is cheap and the people are warm and friendly. Yet, in Sussex, the countryside is also appealing, although not so grand, and, when you get to know them, the people are generally warm and friendly, too. That leaves the sun and the cheap wine. Well, all we have to do is drink less and praise the day when the sun does show his head and see it as a wonderful blessing. (I must admit, there is one thing I do miss, though, and that is the Italian eye for beauty. When buying a house there, for a moderate price you can purchase a home of real aesthetic pleasure whereas here in Britain most of the cheaper housing is aesthetically displeasing and an offense to the eye. And, in any case, the English house prices are ridiculous) Yet, that apart, I do now feel that, if you are living in the English countryside, the grass is no greener anywhere else, even in Italy or Thailand.

However, there is something even more fundamental than always chasing illusory dreams of finding Shangri La. If we are to be truly contented, we need to be grounded and to stay still, wherever it is that we choose to plant our roots. We need to till our plot of land and to commune with our neighbours. We need to belong. And it is when we fail to stay still and belong that we wire our neural pathways on a circuit of restlessness and neurosis that leads us to frustration and suffering. We forget how to be still and what it is like to have peace of mind. We forget what it is like to see the dormant tree bud and then flower and to feel part of that endless enduring cycle of birth, life, death and continuity. We lose touch with our souls which are the only enduring part of us and then we wonder why we feel lost. We've left our souls behind and we end up floundering about in this world of restless illusion.

Isn't it time to stay still and feel the ground beneath our feet? Surely, we need to dig the soil, plant seeds and see them grow. And we need to talk to the birds and animals... oh yes, and the neighbours, too. Or am I getting old?