close
more_vert

>...would you think that the physical process of getting to many tma-ish places is the kind of thing that might induce a meditative state of brain/mind?<

Yes I'd go along with that.

Also that there are probably many ways of opening up those 'Doors of Perception' - dancing, chanting, walking, light through the trees, just slowing down as Peter describes. Saunter is a nice word you know - probably from Middle English <i>santren</i> 'to muse'.

Also agree with Steve that, "...nature is not just strange, it's very, very, very strange." That doesn't mean it belongs in the realm of religion - it's just strange and we don't understand why... yet :-)

I'm sure that slowing down and getting the old brainwaves into a certain calmer rhythm is essential. We are all different and not everyone likes a long walk or is able to walk over rough ground.

Consider Person A who dashes from one megalithic site to another. He jumps out, bangs away with his camera, consults his list of targets, zooms off, jumps out, bangs away, zooms off ... OK he may get to a dozen sites in a day, but has he really looked at any of them? He is unlikely to have had a "spiritual" experience in his rushed day and in his memory, all the sites have become jumbled together - he doesn't know them at all.

Consider Person B who takes a sketch pad and maybe a box of paints. She wanders around the site and looks at it from all angles. She looks at the light and the weather and the background landscape. She chooses her position with care and then unhurriedly begins to draw. Now it is a truism that when you draw something you really look at it with an intensity that cannot be matched by any other activity. You really look at it. At the end of the day, she knows that site intimately and has established a profound relationship with it. Her drawing may never win a prize or sell, but that doesn't matter - her whole day has been one of profound meditation and communion. She really knows that site now.

Why did I subconsciously give the male gender to A and female to B?