The
Water Way
The
sage’s way, Tao, is the way of water.
There
must be water for life to be,
and
it can flow wherever, and water,
being
true to being water, is true to Tao.
Those
in the way of Tao, like water,
need
to accept where they find themselves,
and
that may often be where water goes
to
the lowest places, and that is right.
Like
a lake the heart must be calm and quiet
With
great depth beneath it.
The
sage rules with compassion
and
his words are trusted.
The
sage needs to know how to flow around
blocks
and how to know a way round like water
and
how to find a way through like water.
Like
water the sage must wait
for
the moment to rise and be right.
Water
never fights;
it
flows around without harm.
Tao
Te Ching
Another
little snippet from the old country to cheer you up in these
supposedly tense times. Chris’s mum may
remember the riverside walk at Otley, the next town down river
from Ilkley. However the row of houses have another little known
name - Yukon. When the land came up for sale there were more people
than plots. So the landowner had a brilliant idea no doubt taken
from gold rush days. Those wishing to purchase were amassed on the
opposite side of Otley Bridge and at the drop of a flag surged across
to stake their claim.
I
may have mentioned this before to Chris. You will be aquainted with
the name Thomas Chippendale, Cabinet Maker. The chap whose company
made a few odds and ends now in the Yellow Oval Room in your White
House. When a lad he would have played in the fields where ‘Yukon’
now stands. During our Civil War it is said Cromwell’s troops
watered their horses nearby. The Archbishop of York formerly had a
Manor House of great proportion on the opposite side of the river.
The artist Turner would have used the riverside path on his rambles
from Farnley Hall, just down river. As too, no doubt, would Ruskin.
Standing
with your back to the houses one can see the Chevin, a large expanse
of high ground above the town. On the lower edge of the Chevin are
Caley Crag’s. Or as some would have you believe The Alps in
Turner’s painting of Hannibal crossing them. Back to the riverside
and directly opposite the houses stands a small park. In the mid
twenties it was the haunt of local nannies and child minders bringing
their charges for fresh air. They nick-named it Titty Bottle Park
much to the amusement of folk thereabouts. A couple of years ago the
new owner of a nearby cafe wanted to rename his establishment Titty
Bottle Bistro. The local politically correct brigade went ballistic.
It even made National TV. A PR agent couldn’t have wished for
such publicity if they had tried.
Coming
back to the present, one or the other of you mentioned the fast
disappearance of Alaska’s glaciers. I was wondering what the
condition of trees over there is like. Because Ilkley is a new town,
new as in it developed from 1840 onwards, the majority of ‘mature’
trees date from that era forward. Yew (Taxus baccata) is either dying
off or growing at speed. One individual has put on near six feet in
two years. I’ve been taking particular note of our broad-leaved
species and there is a definite change overall. Many are showing
signs of distress, especially those around a hundred years old. More
than usual die back of large limbs, dropping bark, to put it bluntly,
a right mess.
A
friend in Northern Greece has noticed something similar, as too
another contact on the Indian sub-continent. So while our respective
Government’s are knocking seven bells out of distant climes Mother
Nature is quietly having a ball. Are we to let our trees go the same
way as the Carrier Pigeon? Oops sorry about that, got a little
carried away. Perhaps
I could interest you in a couple of books. The
Healing Energies of Trees by Patrice Bouchardon. ISBN 1-85675-100-7.
The Healing Energies of Water by Charlie Ryrie. ISBN 1-8675-105-8.
Both are from Gaia Books www.Gaiabooks.co.uk and if it’s possible
to find them over there I thoroughly recommend them. The former
frequently speaks of Native American customs and there’s a
fantastic double page spread of a Redwood Grove in winter.