THE WONDER OF A FOREST

The forests of the world are the most populated of all the land ecosystem on the planet, from under the forest floor, rising to well above its leafy canopy, literally millions of life forms occupy every part of the forest, their lives interwoven with one another like the pattern of a beautifully crafted tapestry. Thousands upon thousands of years of existence have enabled the forests to form and develop relations between the microscopic creatures, insects, birds and animals and themselves which are mutually beneficial and life sustaining to all.

Depending on whether the forests are growing across either the temperate, subtropical or tropical regions of the world, they are very different in the type of trees and cover vegetation and filled with very different creatures that inhabit them. From conifer forests beginning in the arctic regions, to the giant rain forests of the hot, steamy regions around the equator, the variation is a wonder to behold.

The forests of the world provide many of the raw resources that mankind has come to rely upon and much more importantly, they perform the vital task of absorbing a large proportion of potentially dangerous carbon from our air and water and returning clean pure oxygen into our atmosphere. This, as you would already know, is one of the most vital reasons for keeping our wonderful forests and helping them to grow and expand in area all around the world where they proliferate.

Although our forests are an absolute necessity to keep the health of our planet in good order and to create an environment which will provide sustenance and sustainability of the creatures that inhabit them, they also perform another very important function for us. This other remarkable service that the forests of the world provide, is to help re-establish our spiritual connection with our ancient past, where, for the most part, our ancestors lives were totally bound up in the physical and spiritual presence of the great forests.

Long before we began to move to establish societies which relied on people collecting and living together in ever increasing numbers and urban societies became the dominant structure of our population, we lived in a world dominated by forests. We lived in them, we made our homes from them and we eat our food from them. It is no wonder that they played such a significant part in our lives. Because of their importance to us physically, they also became totally bound up with our spiritual concept of ourselves and our world, and although our way of life has changed so dramatically, especially in the modern era in which we now live, for most of us, deep in our subconscious self we are still aware of our more primitive past and the significance and power that the spell of the forest can and often does have over us.

Fortunately, we can experience this connection with our past and this former world and way of life for a short time by taking a walk in a forest. A comforting sense that we belong there, that we have a right to be able to access the calm, stillness and peace that is created by the towering tree trunks and cooling shady canopy of green foliage above. The presence of birds, insects, reptiles and mammals only enhance the primeval experience and we are, for that short time taken back to our human roots buried deep in the past.

Our peace of mind and our sense of harmony are enhanced, and we usually, for a short while, have an opportunity to revaluate whether some of the things we consider so important to us are really worthy of being as high up on our list of important things in our life. It is true that most of us would find it almost impossible to return to a life in the forest, even if we wanted to, and let us be honest, most of us would not even really want to. However, we are blessed to still have forests available to most of us, where it is possible to have these wonderful experiences and we should consider it part of our responsibility as the current custodians of the planet to enlighten and encourage our children, families and others to appreciate the value, visual magnificence and spiritual significance of these great and small forest areas growing across the world which, fortunately for us, are still here and are still accessible to us.

It may well be a very worthwhile act to thank the Creator of the universe every now and again for his blessing of creating the great forests of the world.