Sometimes I love a book so much I just get 10 copies of it to give as gifts to people. Richard Wagamese’s posthumous collection: “Selected: What comes from Spirit” is one of those books. So I hope Abraxas will have plenty of copies on hand for others as well. For some reason, which I irrationally attribute to left-handedness, I don’t always start a book at its beginning. I may open it randomly and just get a taste of it, may skip the introduction until I’m ready to read it, may peruse for photos. If it’s non-fiction, I may start at the end. This book is perfect for my style, as it is a gathering of the great Wagamese’s meditations, short essays, observations, reflections & insights. And they are presented in differing typeface and formats, intermingled with surprise pages of a differing colour. It is such a treasure I am purposefully savouring it like the proverbial box of chocolates, and not devouring the whole thing in a sitting. I am indulging slowly in the richness of his writing, all the better to appreciate the wisdom in his words. Like “The truth stays the same”. Hmmm, now there’s something to ponder. I am enjoying it in several ways, from opening it to scattered surprises to following each page as presented. This feels very much like a book that will stay on my bedside table, or maybe travel everywhere with me, for a good long while, like Jon Kabat-Zinn’s “Wherever you go, There you Are’, or Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the “Tao Te Ching”.
In his piece on Wood Ducks, Wagamese recounts his hidden observation from a tree, of the nest of a pair of wood ducks, his patient and deep immersion in the waiting process while the eggs hatched. He was living through an extremely difficult and unsettled time after his trapper family lost their home and livelihood through flooding for an Ontario dam, placement in foster care with no contact with his birth family, moving three times in a year, three different locales, three different schools. He had lost his mooring.
And yet, he writes:
“Some things in life remain. Some things transcend the losses and leavings of our living. I found the essence of my tribal self in that tree above the nest and it never left me. When the time was right, and I was ready, I emerged as a tribal person, as pure and natural as breathing.” In his unshakeable connection to the natural world and its cycles of renewal, Wagamese finds his home, his grounding.
Suffering teaches so many lessons; yet we can gain insight in a myriad of ways. Nothing is without cost. I often think we privileged ones carry the burden of too much. We are so surrounded by abundance that we come to expect it as our “right”. We are so safely tucked into our beds and our homes that we fail to expand our humanity to those who haven’t beds or homes. We look the other way and we don’t develop our compassion beyond caring for those closest to us. Speaking recently about the effects of Brexit with a Brit long-based in Vancouver, she said: “Well, we just couldn’t take any more immigrants; we have no more room.” And I asked her about the 13,000 acre estates of the gentry, and whether there might be some room there for housing, which the socialist in her conceded. What struck me was how we take the gross inequities of the world for granted, as if the ultra-rich actually are entitled to live as they do, on the backs of those who make their clothes in a sweat shop, build their high rises as “migrant labour” or clean their toilets. People blame those suffering the effects of climate crisis and disaster capitalism – primarily created by the wealthy industrialized nations – for wanting to live in safety and security. Close the borders, keep them out we shout, rather than addressing the causes that make them seek asylum in the first place.
Surely the angst of the current world climate – temperatures rising, forest fire evacuations happening in Fort Nelson right now, unprecedented storms and flooding not “just” in Bangladesh, but in California yet, together with the deep divisions and catastrophic death & destruction being caused by two unwinnable wars in the West, ought to be a time when we search for insight. What do we need to do differently for our common survival? How can we lessen our generalized anxiety?
To my view, one of the key things we need to do is recalibrate our thinking to decolonize our minds. We have to emerge/evolve as “tribal people” in a tribe that includes all of humanity. This is our tribe and we’d better get used to it. No one is secure until all are secure. We need to reexamine our scarcity mindset and find fairer, more equitable ways to live, love and work together as earthlings. This is our one & only home, and we need to share it. When we come to this realization, there comes to us a sense of calmness and belonging. But is it too late as some say? Is there time to do this justice work of recognition, reallocation and reconciliation? As a friend wisely told me recently, “We have all the time there is”.
