At the centre of my garden stands a Bodhi tree. It was grown from a pinch of seed and soil I gathered at a Buddhist temple in Asia. This was no ordinary tree, but a direct descendant of the original Bhodi tree beneath which Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha. Back in South Africa, a green-fingeredContinue reading “The Bhodi Tree”

I am sitting alone in the mountains of Utah, where the canyons of Zion unfold below me, carving majestic passageways through sandstone mountains. This is a place I have always wanted to visit, a land that evokes my imagination about the beauty of the natural world. As Edward Abbey once declared, “This is the mostContinue reading “The Great Grandmother”

I sit on top of a rocky outcrop, a lone rock penetrating the forest canopy, surrounded by a vista of mountain, forest and a perfectly lit dusk sky. This is a magical, quiet place I come to find peace. Here in the spring afternoon, with birdsong saturating the air, the wind whispers its secret. So,Continue reading “The Wind And The Way”

There is no love affair greater than the love between a river and a mountain. Theirs is the closest of all unions. In their sojourn from mountain to ocean their love lights the world with fertility and wild greenery. A love like this lasts a lifetime. The river has a wild mind and it saysContinue reading “River of Light”

Looking out into a garden where impossibly tall palm trees draw long stripes into the sky, as though sketched with delicate cross-hatchings for leaves. How does one speak of the fullness of the sky? This visible skin gilded with the humidity of the tropics. My neck stretches to take in the sight of the giganticContinue reading “Balinese Evocations”

This morning, I walked a winding trail inside a dense coastal forest. I am fortunate to live right here, so near to this primal natural world, to feel the wildness of nature so close at all times. This place is sacred, it is a verdant unfolding of dappled greenery nestled alongside a narrow stretch of coastline thatContinue reading “Deep Forest: Inward Perambulations of Love”

Heavy rains have descended into the dry Karoo desert in recent months.The ground has been saturated, caressed by the touch of the clouds, a rare tryst in this arid land where the sky is selfish with gifts of water. The sweet drink served to the body of the earth has momentarily quenched her insatiable thirst.Continue reading “Wild Flower”

Set aside your thoughts and bring your attention to this page. Sit for a moment and be still with me. I want to share with you a story of the birdsong at dawn and the secrets it tells: It is barely light outside—the crack of dawn. First light reveals the faint outline of the distantContinue reading “Birdsong”

This morning I walk in the mountains. I feel like abandoning life and beating a path of rugged undulations into the mountain, to erase the outside and explore the vast, empty wilderness inside this dark and fertile void of my being. The morning mist descends, sinking gracefully below the mountain peaks that rise above it likeContinue reading “A Walk in the Mountains”

It is not often that you get to die. I tasted death once. It was excruciatingly beautiful. The taste of death turned me inside out, the vast emptiness of my existence laid bare. All vestiges of my small self dissolved into absolute darkness. Ground zero, the void. Honestly I was expecting to see the light.Continue reading “A Story About Dying”