The Wisdom Of The Oaks

This track is halfway between fairytale and guided meditation. We follow the journeys of two oaks. Noting the confidence and proud individuality of one, and the need for forgiveness in the other. If we evolve these natural oak-ly qualities in our lives, how much easier would it be? This is the 2nd in a 5 part series based on the 5 element system of Chinese Medicine, encouraging us to return to the natural world. Listening to the first meditation in the series is recommended but not required.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this meditation.

The wisdom of the Oaks is the second in a five part series,

The wisdom of nature,

All written and performed by me,

Karashtina O'Loughlin of 5E Meditations.

These meditations are ideas which are based on the principles of Chinese medicine.

These principles are called the five elements or five element theory.

The ancient Chinese observed the patterns and cycles in nature,

Observed our organs and the types of emotions we have and over many thousands of years worth of observations refined and connected these things into five categories,

Five elements that interrelate and connect with one another.

The second of these five elements is called wood element which this meditation is inspired by.

Wood element in Chinese medicine is associated with the energy of spring,

Morning,

The bright get up and go energy we have as young children.

Organs associated with wood element are the liver,

The gallbladder,

The eyes and the larynx.

The emotion associated with wood element is anger,

This does translate as literal rage but anger can also be used to describe the drive that someone has.

Wood element is the territory in which the Chinese place discipline,

Depression and self-expression.

Positive qualities of wood element are confidence,

Optimism,

Rationality,

Organisation and decisiveness.

It is with these qualities in mind that I have written this story about two arts who capture the mature and immature qualities of wood element.

The first oak is confident in himself,

This half of the meditation is all about self-expression.

The second half of the meditation focuses on another oak who has succumbed to trauma and cannot forgive himself.

So this half of the meditation is about self-forgiveness and moving forward after disaster.

The second half of the meditation focuses on the other oak who has succumbed to trauma and cannot forgive himself.

The next three meditations will focus on the next three elements.

All meditations are set in a place called the kingdom.

We begin in the forests of nature before moving into the village and then to the castle of the queen where the series ends.

If there's an idea that you don't understand listen and let it be.

If you have a desire to work on a loop and through repetition,

The idea will sink into your subconscious mind and will be understood innately over time.

These five elements also relate to our personalities as well.

For more information please see the website secularfacereading.

Com and lastly close your eyes and begin to breathe slowly and deeply.

Let each breath carry you deeper and deeper into yourself.

When you breathe in let the breath flood your chest and when you breathe out let any worries or cares vanish into the ether.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Now we may begin.

So Oak lives in one of the forests where river twists and turns not far from her waters.

In his 900 year lifespan he is in the middle of it at 450 years.

He is colossal,

Gnarled and sprawling with branches so immense and outreaching that they rest their weight on the forest floor.

His trunk is broad and shows signs of his story of growing.

His bark twists anti-cockwise towards the heavens.

When he reached maturity Oak was able to spread his branches high into the sky and every slow second he grew higher and the branches grew wider.

You should see him now,

Change has given him such joy,

Work by growing has allowed him such play.

Big enough now birds sing in his branches and not only do they sing they nest in him,

They rear their young in him.

If Oak could be a human and have a profession he would be a warrior.

He shelters these birds like a warrior shelters the defenseless with his sword.

And the size of him though I cannot repeat this enough is loud joyously loud the full extent and capacity of what an Oak can be he has achieved it and more.

There's no shame in the space he takes no worry either.

Oak knows the power of the full expression of the individual.

River fed Oak,

She had a part in his expression because she wandered and she trusted,

She came his way and so he prospered in his size and so many birds have a home in Oak.

Not only do they sing they nest in him they rear their young in him because they feel so protected by him.

The changes that Oak has gone through have revealed the miracles of life to him.

So when Oak was young in the sapling he was supple and pliable it was that suppleness that vulnerability that gave him roots and created the colossus that he is now.

N Oaks success and growth has led to love,

Not just from birds and animals,

But also from the sun and people.

When they look at him they cannot help but feel happy.

When Oaks did as he wanted,

He was loved,

And if he wasn't,

Like Chaff from the week,

Those animals went elsewhere to other trees and other places.

Because Oak took only what he needed to grow,

Water from river and rain,

Sunlight from sun,

Because he was healthy in his selfishness,

He has been able to produce so many acorns that have produced so many children and fed so many.

He took what he needed when he was growing and now has provided joy to many.

If he was selfless when he needed water the most,

None of this would have happened,

He would be a dead and dried up sapling.

Logic counsels his heart.

Oak not only survives,

He thrives.

Yes,

He drinks from river and takes energy from sunlight,

But it's the birdsong,

The birds and their chicks and their chicks who will come after him and seeing the rhythm and the structure of the season that gives the light to his own soul.

Oak is structured and solid and safe.

Not that river is chaotic,

But she is uncontainable.

Oak took her waters of trust and made a secret system inside of him that tells him his age.

And there's another system that he is a part of,

The seasons that helped him in his growth.

It's because he had the focus to be disciplined,

Because there was an innate structure in himself and he was disciplined to follow the structure of nature and growing.

This gave the space for the joy of the birds to rest and sing as well.

Oaks love of his nature arose from his self-reliance.

It arose from seeing what he could do and liking how strong it made him feel.

Oak didn't have a set size of how big he wanted to be,

Of how much space he wanted to take.

He was curious of his abilities and so he played with them and still he plays with them and still he grows.

It's skepticism and an open mind that helps him.

Every decision Oak has made has delivered love.

When he made a choice and received approval from other animals in the forest,

It was lovely and he grew and grew,

Though he didn't take it personally.

When he made a choice and someone rejected him,

It was lovely and he grew and grew,

Though he didn't take it personally.

Why?

Other people he knew,

Whatever they decided,

Reflected more in themselves rather than whoever he was as an individual and moreover he knew and loved himself and kept growing and growing anyway.

Every decision Oak has made has delivered love.

Love will always follow his successes.

Criticism to him now from people who assert themselves as an authority over him and his life is as pathetic as one shot from a tiny axe in his colossal trunk.

Criticism makes him laugh and laugh and laugh because he knows himself so well,

Because he spent so much time alone,

He trusts who he is,

He trusts his own nature.

Self-knowledge has led to his self-love.

Oak knows that discipline means doing what you want to do and finding and sustaining the focus to do it.

If Oak has no discipline,

No plan or no desire to leap into action,

It means he has not rested,

Has not trusted well enough.

Oak has a wounded cousin who we will name as Quarkus.

If Oak is everything that is good to be an Oak tree,

Quarkus is the opposite.

Quarkus was hit by lightning long ago and so is struck,

Not only in two or three but sundered into smithereens and not only that,

He is a survivor of a forest fire.

Where Oak has been blessed to grow in a strong and stable spot at the forest,

Good access to sunlight,

River flowing nearby,

Quarkus has had none of these things.

His spot is shaded,

He is far away from river and it is dark,

His spot is shadowed by the branches of other trees.

Quarkus has been wounded by the lightning,

He is trying the impossible of growing himself back together and growing upwards and because it is painful and Quarkus hates the mere memory of pain,

It's taking twice as long and not at all.

He is ashamed at his state and blames himself for his bad luck but all this pressure Quarkus is placing on himself only depresses him further.

All he would need to do to get out of this mess is to be practical and relax but before Quarkus can drink,

Trust,

He has to know that blaming and shaming only amplifies his problems.

Before he drinks,

He is only growing inward,

Before he drinks he has to know he is only growing inward,

Not up and out as an oakshed.

He doesn't know that there is nothing to fear of pain,

All pains are growing pains,

Cousin Oak knows that.

For there is something Quarkus is not seeing,

There is something he is not feeling,

There is something that he is not forgiving.

Pain has eradicated Quarkus's choice,

Eradicated his sense of individuality,

Pained as Quarkus is,

There is no choice,

No individual because all his actions are seeking a release from pain,

He is nothing if not an appetite.

And if Quarkus were an animal,

He would be a bear stuck in a trap,

If we saw this bear in this trap,

We wouldn't hold it accountable for lashing out in pain because we can see that he is pained.

Quarkus must forgive himself and forgive what has happened in order to move on.

Pain eradicates that choice,

Pain eradicates the individual so slowly that no one will be there and because there is no sense of self,

No sense of agency,

All sense of reactivity,

He must be forgiven because there is no one there,

He is an absence.

He is an absence in the same way that darkness is an absence of light.

Forgiveness would give Quarkus the sight he needs to see,

If forgiveness could be equated with any organ,

It would be the eyes.

Oak has sight,

He is confident,

Upright and loud,

Because he sees himself,

He can easily move forward and he can easily forgive himself because self-forgiveness and confidence are one and the same.

Because to easily forgive oneself is to easily be confident.

But Quarkus,

For Quarkus this blaming is addictive to him,

To feel sorry for himself is addictive because it is a fast fix of pain relief,

But this blaming is nothing but poisoned water.

Quarkus blames the fires years past,

The lightning gone and vanished,

The spot where he grows,

He doesn't think to make the best of a bad situation because there is no one there because that is how pain works.

And because there is no one there,

There is no individual to see himself.

Quarkus cannot see himself and his own abilities because he cannot forgive.

While Oak sees and plays with his talents,

Quarkus though having similar abilities is blinded,

Lying exhausted,

Blaming and impulsive for pain relief.

Quarkus does not trust so he cannot think to drink of what river and her talents of faith and trust so willingly offer.

Sometimes Oak thinks that if he didn't drink from rivers trust and faith he would be impulsive,

Frustrated and stunted like Quarkus.

If Quarkus could be a human he would be a warrior but one who fell off his horse and onto his sword too many times.

So Quarkus lies there in his spot,

No birds and their joyful song rests in his branches except for rot and woodworms.

Until there is trust he will be blind.

Where there is trust there is sight,

Where there is trust there is forgiveness.

Only then when he can trust Quarkus will realise to set down roots to go backward to go forward.

Only then he will drink from river and very slowly recover.

Quarkus doesn't realise his power as an individual,

His spot and the luck that he has been given is bad but he has proven himself a survivor.

If only he could forgive himself,

Focus on himself instead of blame he would be able to grow upwards,

Provide shade for passing travellers and have branches aloft for birds to make their nest in.

Those who perhaps didn't like his cousin Oak and he'd improve his spot in the forest tenfold by simply trusting and focusing on himself.

Only then he could be as powerful as the thunderstorm that hit him and only then he would light the heart of many a being.

Many glory come with him.

Come on down12 Even now,

There are so many,

So many trees growing and flourishing and impossible places in difficult weathers.

And yet with a little water,

A little trust and faith,

They are able to grow roots and grow roots.

These are our final thoughts on Quercus and Oak.

There is a campfire in the forest by the river with her wisdoms ready to learn.

But before we go,

I'll leave you in the company of Quercus and Oak so they can teach you more about themselves.

So help out!

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You

Reviews

Truly beautiful story, thank you Namaste 🙏🏻

Loved your story!

Very enlightening. But impatient me finds true meditation that long is hard.