It has been a long week at work. I can feel my tension drip away, as I walk out the office doors. Towering behind me is the 23 storey building I work in. As the glass revolver doors spit me out, I could not be happier. Despite the smog of the city I feel the warmth of the afternoon sun pierce through the clouds as I try to block out the stress of the day.
Waiting to cross the road my thoughts are shattered by the penetrating noise of traffic. I feel myself drowning in the racket of cars, buses, trains, trams and people, but a sigh of relief comes over me when I cross the road and begin the journey home.
As I casually walk along the foot path i hardly notice the people walking past and instead my thoughts focus on tomorrow. Without notice I then think back into the past and out of nowhere a memory is sparked from high school. However my thought is suddenly disrupted. I have arrived at the usual fork in the footpath, and for the first time I hesitate to walk down my path home. The same memory of high school springs back as I remember the poem the road less travelled, and while the author’s name escapes me, I remember the line “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”.
The unexpectable urge to take the second path ignites a feeling of excitement so I decide to go with it. As I walk along the pathway the hard concrete turns into lush green grass and the trees and bushes become much denser. As I peer around the bend, I see an old wooden seat, pushed up against the strong trunk of a willow tree which beckons me over.
As I sit perched on the seat I close my eyes and take a deep breathe in. The clean oxygen fills my lungs and the far away sounds of the city evaporate. In that moment my memory flashbacks to a time I felt connected and in unity with nature.
Suddenly I am 22 again and sitting under a mammoth oak tree with friends.
“Let’s do it then” my friend turns to me and says.
“Okay I am ready for it!” I say without hesitation. As I put my hand out and receive a white square piece of paper about 5mm big.
“Don’t be scared or worried, I have done this plenty of times and I am hear with
you” my friend says with enthusiasm.
“It is a psychedelic experience that forces you to face up to issues about your own life and mind, and if you are at all mentally unstable, unhappy with your life or yourself, if you have any unresolved mental conflicts, then it isn’t suggested you take it” my friend says with a serious look and deep tone.
“But!!!” she exclaims
“For those who are suited for it the experience can be so rich and rewarding in a multitude of ways” she says with great conviction.
Not long after consuming the LSD we started to laugh uncontrollably about anything and everything. It was a kind of laughter that I haven’t experienced since childhood, a deep and overwhelming mirth that shook my whole body to the core. The tears began streaming down our cheeks, as we gasped happily for breath.
After the laughter resided, I reached a peak, a plateau of sparkling clarity and consciousness. The world was sound, a vibrating molecular dance from the infinitesimally small to the infinitesimally vast, deeper than anything I'd ever imagined.
I looked up to the clouds churning through an endless sky. I saw light and colour and vacillating patterns possessed of an indescribable essence. I realized that the world around me was alive and that all things spring from the Divine Ground.
“This must have been what the ancients felt when they spoke of the Great Spirit” I said aloud.
As we wondered back towards the music my mind split into thousands of multicolored fragments and the universe seemed to rip open. As I looked up at the trees it occurred to me how beautiful and strong they where. The complex mysterious equations that dictated how the trees were pushed up out of the ground towards the sky suddenly became apparent to me. I also realized how these equations dictated the growth of the grass, the rolling of the hills, even our very bodies. I had a sudden respect for the complexity of things, with an intensity that I hadn't had before, and this complexity seemed sharper in everything I turned my eyes towards. I made myself promise to remember that moment- that moment of complete unity and harmony.
As I opened my eyes I realized I had been reminiscing for quiet sometime, as the sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon. As I looked around my eyes captured the essence of the greenery and a new profound appreciation swept over me. Golden flecks of sunlight bounced of trees and grass and a sense of calmness surrounded me. I suddenly realized that I was then living and thinking in the moment. My mind was not consumed with thoughts of the future nor of the past, but in that very moment. The realization hit me that I had not been living in the present moment, and that my thoughts nearly always reflected the past or the future
As I stood up and looked around I promised myself, once again, I would not forget this moment. Walking back along the footpath the luscious green grass turned back into hard concrete and although my surroundings changed, the feeling of unity and love stayed with me. Arriving back into reality, a young women passed me and instead of looking down I looked up, into her eyes and gave her a big smile and hi. With a surprised face, she looked back and smiled, looking slightly bewildered. Arriving on my street I realized that everywhere I looked I saw people wearing black, including myself, and wondered where the colour had faded too.
Looking around, i felt submerged in unfamiliar surroundings. The cold, hard concrete buildings and mechanically structures felt foreign and unnatural. The image of sparkling green trees and the soft grass summoned me back. I wondered how it is possible that we've come to accept this civilization we've built around us. I found myself wishing everyone could glimpse the path I had just taken. The path less travelled.
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