Pause, stand still, hold your breath, open your eyes and unleash your imagination to the uninhibited realm of the Redwoods.
Pause, stand still, hold your breath, open your eyes and unleash your imagination to the uninhibited realm of enchantment woven into the seemingly endless instance within the Redwoods, where majestic trees may unveil to you the Nature’s glory, myths, mysteries and visions, for this is a portal to another dimension where time imperceptibly sways in the wind.
Pause, stand still, hold your breath, arouse your hibernating imagination and through all the senses we have been granted to experience, see, smell, hear, touch, feel, explore, become aware and engrossed in absorbing all and everything around you. You may discover another dimension lost to those grounded by the physical or mental gravity, entrapped, bewildered, enslaved and dazed within the maze of time dictated by reality, pragmatism, consumerism, yearning for material possessions, thus igniting ravenousness hunger for more and more of what is within you instead of in your materialistic possession gathered all outside and around.
Entering this mystical domain one inevitably runs into a seemingly familiar slice of a fallen tree. Even as a formerly “inadequate” student I know that by means of counting the number of rings scientist are able to determine approximate age of a given tree. Yet this particular tree is all but like others. Upon closer scrutiny, one realizes that this colossus was born over 2,000 years ago! For those of you who are religious, and believe in it too, this was the time well before the Christ.
Advancing forth one becomes surrounded by the enormous and seemingly timeless wooden titans, some of them the same age as their fallen relative. If one has any remnants of emotional humanity or sensitivity left within, one has no choice but to let the guards down and give oneself to this amazing timeless stage upon which, in contrast to those around us, we are but a speck in time defined not by us humans but by the giants who have dwelled here for seeming eternity. Thus a quote, this once from a human giant of a less distant past resonates in one’s mind “All the world is a stage and all men and women merely players.”
As one’s eyes ascend over their enormously massive bulks, up and up and up towards a distant sky, where light just barely fares to break through the dense canopies crowning these titans, this sense of own tininess and insignificance or our transitory subsistence, puts us where we, the proud and mighty humans, the powerful rulers of this world, really do not like to find ourselves. Yet, I deem that such sobering moments are not only vital and precious but, by triggering an emotional quaver, they force us to pause, to reflect, to question our humankind's narcissism.
Then, with eyes descending, one begins, if one wishes, to perceive detail features, intricate textures carved by time, stunning shapes, hidden depths and inners, worlds within the worlds, and astounding array of colors and blends and shades thereof, which these ancient trees are willing to part and divulge to those who are able to, or care to engage in such an investigation.
This magical timelessness is further accentuated by density of spider webs woven by the eight legged invisible time keepers. Their delicate masterpieces of construction persist uninterrupted by, and immune to either a human or animal touch, or breath of wind or rain or anything at all.
To the open minded visitors into this magic and timeless realm, it is then, unsuspectedly, that a most unlikely, seemingly soundless and unperceivable dialogue seems to initiate between these old enduring giants, ruling this protected realm, and the mere human guests to their dominion.
In an imperceptible to us humans, living in the moments as opposed to through millenniums, an infinite process of inaudible metamorphoses, Nature reveals to us a amazingly intricate mastery of its search for an ultimate perfection. Redwoods represents one of its exquisite experiments.
So do watch your step and keep your eyes wide open. For if you look closely, you can decipher what looks like an evilish anteater or maybe a raccoon, its eye outlined by malicious blackness and a hooked tusk protruding from eyes under. Its long leg unwinds and stretches as though it has been awaken from a deep depths of sleep. But look out, for just next to it, an antelope or a lizard, or a unicorn goat like looking root, begins to twist its neck and head to look back at you.
Wait, what do you see here? Are these just contorted roots or is it an all but a sensuous vagina, or is it a hollow, dark void of a mysterious eye socket? And if so then all around other creatures, lesser in size but not their fixations, become reanimated by your presence or scent. Maybe they simply wish to acknowledge and even welcome you, or are they aggravated by your intrusion?
And as though disturbed by their puny screeches, from an undying slumber awakens a massive giant. It is totally alien, undoubtedly extraterrestrial to human experience. Its lifeless hollow eye opens wide as it starts to unravel, stretch and spread its numerous tentacles while its vast jaws parts, maybe yawning after all the years or inaction or maybe in ferocious craving for a snack?
But just a few steps away, unleashed by lightning, slowly yet with distinct resolve and purpose known only to itself, penetrating and splitting the wooden cocoon, emerges a mysterious being that defies our experience and knowledge. Is it from this dimension, this reality, or yet another?
While likely mesmerized by this emergence, you cannot but, with the corner of your eye, notice another coming to being occurring just besides you. As you manage to turn your anxious neck, you discern what seems to be a giant worm now pushing from the darkness of its underground.
