Life Is But A Dream
We create our stories and then our stories in turn create us. Stories are like a dream that our mind creates, and while we are in the dream we have no doubt that it is true, reinforced by everyone else who is participating in our dream. When we start to wake from a particular dream, it is sometimes difficult to know which reality is true.
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight."
I find myself awakening from one of those dreams, and still the dream holds on, swirling through my head with the echo chamber of ideology; rule over the earth and subdue it, it is only matter, exploit it and profit off its destruction, control it, spend your time turning it into money... Oh, but to awaken from a dream is to sometimes see and laugh at the absurdity of illusions.
"The process of Tikkun involves seeing through and transcending the illusion of the imaginary ‘separate’ self and recognizing our true self, which is a ‘self’ that is interconnected and interdependent with all beings."
And so it is with the illusion of Kudzu. The enemy that supposedly invaded and cursed the south, is not really an enemy at all. As I rub my eyes from a long night of sleep, I am waking to the reality that Kudzu is actually an incredible ally; a vine that now illuminates, heals, feeds, and teaches. What my dreaming self was prevented from seeing was that Kudzu really only flourishes in disturbed environments, that it tries to heal the soil by fixing nitrogen back into it, that it tries to prevent erosion through its adventitious roots, that its deep taproot draws up valuable minerals to the subsoil and topsoil, that its fibers can be used to make clothes, paper, baskets, soaps and lotions, and that its roots, leaves, and flowers are not only nutrient dense edibles, but that they also have a long history of medicinal use. As my eyes become fully open and I begin to stretch out, it now becomes clear why many cultures throughout the world consider Kudzu to be a most honored vine within the plant kingdom.
"When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you."
