[I was chosen to give one of the graduation speeches from our Wilderness Awareness Residential Program. In preparation for it I thought about the experiences we had and the things we learned this past 9 months. Then I opened up and the following is what came through my mind, my heart and my soul. See if you can find the elements of the Archetypes of the Six Directions: Inspiration, Joyful Attention to Detail, Wandering, Honoring and Celebration, Unity, Awareness and Trickster.]
My name is Rees Maxwell. I was born in 1967. I grew up in Palo Alto, CA. Lived for 5 years in Eugene, OR before coming up to Duvall, WA for the Residential Program. At this rate, I think I’ll probably die somewhere in the Yukon, Canada!
Life happens in a straight line doesn’t it?
I was born and am going to die.
I began the residential program, and just completed it.
My mind sees things happening in a straight line.
---There’s another way of seeing things.
Circles & Cycles
Maybe that straight line is really bent into a circle, or spiral.
This talk I’m giving will soon be finished, but it won’t be completed. It will then exist in each of your minds. And what will it influence in each of you?
How will it next be expressed?
Circles & Cycles
Is there an end to anything? And is there a beginning?
This school was founded by Jon Young – but he didn’t begin it. He was mentored by Tom Brown, Jr. – who was mentored by an Apache elder named Stalking Wolf – who was raised by his tribe ... where is the beginning?
Circles & Cycles
Where do things end?
The sun sets in the West, from my perspective. But really, the sun just sits in place.
It is us who spin around with the earth each 24 hours causing day and night.
And it is our earth orbiting around the sun which causes the seasons of the year.
Did you know that our entire solar system is just a wee little speck on the elbow of an arm of our galaxy that is spinning around its center?
Circles & Cycles
The more I look, the more I see that everything happens in circles & cycles.
Is there not one thing we can count on at any time, at any place?
Is there not one thing that is beyond the ebb and flow of life?
---I think there is.
It is this moment.
This one.
Right now.
This moment is always here. Everything circles and cycles through this moment.
All of the diversity and richness of life exists in this single moment.
Circles & Cycles
And Celebration. This moment is sacred. We all made it this far though our lives to be right here, together.
There is much to celebrate.
We celebrate Wilderness Awareness students having completed their year here and entering a new cycle.
But we can all celebrate our own lives. I am often reminded that there were many animals who didn’t awake this morning .. but we did!
Circles & Cycles
This line that is bent into a circle ... maybe it is really just a point. Maybe the only thing humans can perceive is this moment.
This moment is all we have, and that we’ve made it to this moment, and everything that has taken place to get us to this moment, is to be celebrated.
I am Rees Maxwell, and I am here, right now.
Close your eyes and listen to this moment.
Go ahead, just for this moment, close your eyes and listen.
