There is a Plains Indian tradition in the United States called a vision quest. There are most likely similar traditions in various cultures and religions, but I am most familiar with the Lakota tradition. One of the interesting things about the vision quest is that it's done in seclusion, but with the help of the community.

It takes quite a bit of preparation to do a vision quest. This includes working with a medicine man, preparing small sacks of tobacco for the creation of the circle, sweat lodges for cleansing before the vision quest, and prayers from the community during it. There is no eating or drinking for four days, so one comes close to death. One sits in the middle of a circle outside. One prays, one observes, and one seeks for a vision that will help the community.

I have often thought about doing a vision quest. Perhaps I will some day. Even without doing a vision quest, through personal experiences, I have realized what one can learn from nature just by sitting and being quite. If one just sits in the woods near a tree, or in a circle, and begins to look around, it's like entering into another world. One begins to notice several birds and insects that one doesn't often see. Animals that usually hide seem to come out into the open performing their daily tasks. Some even seem to become more bold as they come up to explore you. I seems that one's sharp edges begin to soften and that one becomes more of a part of nature than before. Just standing there and watching, or sitting and watching reminds one of this, if she has an open mind.

I have also experienced this doing Standing Like a Tree Chi-kung meditation, or just by sitting on a bench outside. That's why many spiritual directors feel that it is important to spend time outside. In the book, The Four Fold Path to Spirituality, the author suggests that one stay outside at least one hour a day. I would agree with that. The truth is that nature is our teacher. As we stand and as we watch we begin to learn about our greater identities. As we observe animals going about their business in intelligent ways we learn that we are not the only thinking beings in the world, nor are we the center of the universe, except for in our own minds. As we learn these things by seeing them, r

We learn to feel at home in the world. We learn that we are here on earth and in these bodies in the now. We only experience this moment one time. It doesn't matter if we come back after we die, it doesn't matter where we are from, what matters is that we are experiencing this moment if we are intelligent enough. If we can experience this moment, this now, fully and completely, our lives will be beautiful.

Many of us have learned to fear nature. Sometimes that gets in the way. We have been told that it has been cursed. We are told that it is violent and dangerous. Some of us fear the chaos of nature and work to separate ourselves from it. All of the things that we learned about nature are true to some extent, but are damaging when taken to extreme. There's nothing worse than a natural disaster or some type of wild animal attacking someone in the woods, but in our personal lives we don't always experience natural disasters, nor are we always attacked by wild animals. When we realize this and put our fears into perspective we can see that there is also a beauty and logic in nature, and that we are not separate from it. Nature is just outside the front door.

We all evolved from the same elements from the stars, suns and planets from which the earth is made. We are all part of nature. We are all connected on this small globe called Earth. If we accept that fact we will never be alone again. Every living thing will be brother, sister, mother and father to us, and we will, in that sense, always be loved and always be at home.