Being Human

Image of the Week
Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
Image of the Week

I wonder if the Sun debates dawn
some mornings
not wanting to rise
out of bed
from under the down-feather horizon
if the sky grows tired
of being everywhere at once
adapting to the mood
swings of the weather
if clouds drift off
trying to hold themselves together
make deals with gravity
to loiter a little longer
I wonder if rain is scared
of falling
if it has trouble
letting go
if snow flakes get sick
of being perfect all the time
each one
trying to be one-of-a-kind
I wonder if stars wish
upon themselves before the die
if they need to teach their young
how to shine
I wonder if shadows long
to just-for-once feel the Sun
if they get lost in the shuffle
not knowing where they’re from
I wonder if sunrise
and sunset
respect each other
even though they’ve never met
if volcanoes get stressed
if storms have regrets
if compost believes in life
after death
I wonder if breath ever thinks of suicide
if the wind just wants to sit
still sometimes
and watch the world pass by
if smoke was born
knowing how to rise
if rainbows get shy back stage
not sure if their colors match right
I wonder if lightning sets an alarm clock
to know when to crack
if rivers ever stop
and think of turning back
if streams meet the wrong sea
and their whole lives run off-track
I wonder if the snow
wants to be black
if the soil thinks she’s too dark
if butterflies want to cover up their marks
if rocks are self-conscious of their weight
if mountains are insecure of their strength
I wonder if waves get discouraged
crawling up the sand
only to be pulled back again
to where they began
if land feels stepped upon
if sand feels insignificant
if trees need to question their lovers
to know where they stand
if branches waver at the crossroads
unsure of which way to grow
if the leaves understand they’re replaceable
and still dance when the wind blows
I wonder
where the Moon goes
when she is in hiding
I want to find her there
and watch the ocean
spin from a distance
listen to her
stir in her sleep
effort give way to existence
 

Seed Questions for Reflection

What does it mean to you to be human? Can you share a personal story of a time nature outside helped you connect with your own nature? What helps you understand your own nature?

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Add Your Reflection

17 Past Reflections
J
Apr 9, 2021
A lot of meaning.
EZ
Ezra
Jun 8, 2020
This was so beautiful and perfectly timed with things that I question myself. It's nice to feel human and still relate to nature. It makes me feel a whole lot less lonely.
DI
Dibay
Feb 14, 2020
For me being human is savoring all the feelings that arise inside me. It's being aware of my feelings and where they are rooted in my beliefs and how I learned these. It's both joy and sadness, laughter and tears, connection and solitude. Nature teaches me... trees that continue to stand tall under the hard sun and pressing furious rain, flowers that bloom no matter what the weather is, winds that blow strong but pass on... just like my feelings. Nature teaches me about interconnectedness - that while I enjoy my solitude, I know I am always connected to a world of people and Higher Source.
MA
Feb 12, 2020
In this universe only we as human got gift of expression. We can feel and express all kind of feelings, we can learn from mistakes, we can get up every morning until we are not dead and say thank you to god for being alive, being human. We can have a wisdom to make next moment better, we can have a wisdom to do anything, we can feel pain for other person or for a snail. These small-2 things can make us human.
When we were kid , my granny used to say "Being born as Human is result of so many great deeds". That time it was hard to understand but now I know why she said that. So I am trying to make my each day count. Small act of kindness is helping me to be human. I just wish not to stop that.
Thank you every one to believe in each other.
BA
barb
Feb 11, 2020
being human is learning to live with contradiction: living with silence AND noise, light AND dark, winter AND summer, happiness AND grief, peace AND chaos, rich and poor, health and disease, loved and hated. Nature is the perfect place to help us understandthese contradictions and give us the breathing room to figure out our interconnectedness with them. Unless she doesn't give us time.
MA
Feb 11, 2020
This. Thank you. Praise God.
VO
Vonda
Feb 11, 2020
To be human is to experience the grace of being alive. Wild, Gusty Grace by Vonda Drees It became my fall routine – a daily slip and slide down the river’s high bank. My trust and gratitude grew for Dogwood and Alder, whose branches I learned to grasp to steady my descent. And then one day when the river was particularly low, I sat for just a bit longer on the warm, smooth stones of the shore. In the distant green hills, a gust of wind created a shiver among the trees. As it approached, it skimmed over the shallow water. Before I knew what was happening, the shiver came through me, too, raising the hairs on my arms and sending tingles through my body. Memories are like that: rhythmic dilations of consciousness pulsing through us in unguarded moments – unguarded moments. This wild grace -- such a shift in power, such a surrendering from within, such a stir on our skin.... View full comment
MA
marc
Feb 11, 2020
some weeks ago i was meditating on a energy spot, at a time i felt empty and wanted to shift to a mantrato fill the space, but i hesitated and said to me, "just wait" and suddenly i felt through my feet and limbs and my whole body connected to the soil and the world I felt trulyalive and human and often reflect about the spark of that moment.
LI
Lisa Feb 11, 2020
Oh - I have had this feeling/sensation as well when I connect with nature! I fell part of the soil and part of the sky and wind as well. It is the phenomena that Thich Nhat Hanh calls "inter-being."
RP
Feb 11, 2020
Being Human means not to hurt any living being by mind, speech and body to the slightest extent and let my mind, body, and speech be used to oblige others.
JF
Jody Ferris
Feb 11, 2020
Being human is realizing that each and everyone of us were all born equally deserving of a full life that is only surmounted by the deeds we sll do together to make this world a better place to live and coexist with all that there is. We live to fulfill our inner being with the rays of our heavenly father so that we may too some day be the light that gives life.
PI
Feb 11, 2020
To me being human is being my trueself / natural self. The self that feels normal and right within. Multiple things in nature helps me connect and reminds me to be my trueself.

Water - natural quality is calm and it always come back to that. My natural quality is peace and love and that's what feels right within. Other qualities like anger, ego don't feel right, natural or normal.

Sunlight - it shines the same to everyone. No judgement. I shouldn't give up my values or character traits because of other's behavior or circumstances.
​​​​​​
Waves - there will be ups and downs but eventually it settles down. Nothing is permanent - good or bad.
RS
Renu Singh
Feb 11, 2020
Why is there pressure to be better and better - why can't I just BE
VI
Feb 9, 2020
to be human is to just "be".
as we are. where we are.
for everything in nature is perfect.
as it is.
DD
Feb 7, 2020
To be human is to be an expression of God in a particular form with a particular consciousness, in the world and interrelated with all the rest of creation. As I became more aware of nature outside, that is, nature different than me, I became aware that every form of nature is a unique expression of One Source, which awareness helps me appreciate and connect with my own nature. I don't know what is meant by understanding my own nature. Being human I have the ability to analyze, but I prefer to be human rather than analyze what it means to be human. I do understand it in the sense of standing under it being supportive of it. I find that being mindful, being in the present and paying attention to what I am experiencing, help me to value and enjoy my nature.
JP
Feb 7, 2020
To me Human without Being is like the Sun without Light, Stillness without Movement, Silence without Sound, Up without Down, Beginning without Ending. They are intertwined. There is beautiful Sanskrit word , Sahaja, which means Natural, Effortless. Nature follows hernatural rhythm. Body goes through its four natural cycles-birth, growth, decline and death. The challenge for me is to live as a Human Being maintaining connection between Human and Being. Human without Being is incomplete, self-centered, egotistic and narcissistic. When I take a mindful walk in nature I feel naturally connected with external nature- the vastness of the sky, the touch of the wind, the fragrance of flowers, the chirping of birds, the sound of silence. I feel such effortless connection between my inner nature and outer nature when I meditate and when I get absorbed in chanting or listening to chanting. I feel at home. I always take time out to be with me and be fully present with me. I take a mindful walk, ... View full comment
MA
malcolm Apr 9, 2021
Good Pom. A lot of meaning