Why we're all just a blade of grass in the big wide world, says columnist Lisa Fouweather
‘To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your handand eternity in an hour.’
The words of William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence.
In today’s world, our attention, as a species, is lost – lost to the seemingly endless blur of appointments, to-do lists, where there’s a house to clean, food to cook, always ‘something’ that needs to be done – where there is endless worry, concern, agitation - all of which forms modern-day society – the ‘land of make-believe.’
So caught up are we in doing more/in being in a constant state of ‘productivity’ that, us human beings? We have all become uncomfortable with, ironically, just being.
Unlike my dogs, my cats, every other species on earth, all of whom wake up every day with no plan for the day ahead/with no ‘to-do list’, us humans, from the moment we awaken, are constantly thinking; ‘what next?’
Never satisfied, we are always striving for more.
Sometimes, however, for the briefest of moments, we do pick up a scent that there is something more going on than this daily round of survival, as we catch a glimpse of nature -birds singing in the promise of a new day, with zero expectation, other than to live 100% in the present.
Blades of grass being blown in the wind – seemingly so inconsequential in the grand scheme of the universe but, in reality, an essential part of a much bigger whole, like us – an essential part of a much bigger whole.
And so, this is why I will start telling myself that ‘I am a blade of grass’ – just one blade as a reminder of my, as a reminder of our (humanities) true nature.
Like a blade of grass, we are all a mere speck in the present, and an even smaller dot in the history of the universe.
We live each day, morning to night, in complete anonymity – a unique part of a bigger being, but still, just a blade of grass
Always at one with nature.
Always present.
Always steady.
Always calm.
Always in the background.
Eternal.
Idyllic.
How freeing a realisation is this to realise how small we all are and to realise that the world can function just fine without us.
How freeing a realisation, providing us with the freedom we need to be present in each and every moment/the freedom we need to just be human beings not human ‘doings‘ – the freedom we need to be exactly that – free as free as a blade of grass.