Seeing for the First Time
Posted by Robin Easton
This is the first in a series of posts that explore perceptions of sanity and insanity.
Sometimes we experience events that shatter or rattle our lifelong way of thinking, feeling, behaving, and being. We might feel confused, disoriented, and could even feel like we are going insane. At the time, this can seem like a traumatic experience, but when we look back in retrospect, we might see that those events actually were gifts. I was lucky to have this happen to me relatively early in my life, when I was living in the Daintree Rainforest. I was in the midst of personal crisis, and with it, carried an all encompassing fear of death. When I entered the rainforest my life changed forever. Everything was foreign and frightening, and yet new and exciting. (You can watch the VIDEOS where I talk about those changes and adventures: HERE )
I began to wander alone through the rainforest to seek solace, life at its fundamental source. To survive and escape the clutches of death I had do things that would keep me aware and feeling fully alive. This meant sometimes feeling uncomfortable, unknowing, and willing to detach from everything I had thought was true. I realized I had to be willing to start my life over again, and let go of the rules and conditioning I had brought with me from the society I had left. There would only be the laws of nature. If I did not come to full awareness of the life and death around me, I could die.
When I first let go, I thought I was going insane but in reality I already was insane. I was just seeing for the first time what I’d avoided all my life.
How many of us run when we have chances to confront and embrace ourselves? And why do we run? We often react by fortifying ourselves against this terrifying encroachment of self-awareness. We spend our lives trying to protect ourselves from complete awareness.
The passage below, from my book, Naked in Eden, reveals what occurred when I first began to move into a greater awareness of the world. To begin this journey, I would really have to embrace life, and would have to seek awareness in unexpected places and from unusual sources. I also would have to understand that “going sane” could initially feel uncomfortable and foreign to me.
What kind of magic is this place? Either I’m going insane or… The trees interrupted my thoughts. “No. That’s not true, Robin. You are not going insane. You have been insane and now have a chance to heal.” I’ve been starving on a meal of death. We have wars and crimes when there’s life like this in the world? We’re not connected to this anymore. Is everything I’ve lived a lie?
Mother Nature began her work of stripping away the fabrication I’d called “my life.” She spoke directly to my innermost self, and the human-animal within me heard her voice, pricked up its ears and grew restless. It crawled around inside me, seeking a way out, an opportunity to express itself. It rebelled against the muck and mire of my domestication. The contrast between who I really am and the role I’d tried to fill in society was so great it was beyond understanding. The trees guided me.
“Robin, your cultural story will decompose here in the forest. Let it happen. No one here will reinforce your old reality. We will not shame you back into place. Here amongst the trees you can explore and evolve.”
At some point I’m gonna have to act boldly with daring and courage, even when it doesn’t feel normal. Even when I’m scared.
Surrounded by emerald green leaves and surging brown tree trunks, the world I had known vanished. New emotions and possibilities seeped in and eagerly nibbled at the confines of my old reality. The “presence” entered my mind and spoke again. “You do not need to die, Robin. You are merely ravenous for life.” (Excerpt from Robin’s book, Naked in Eden)
Love,
Robin
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~ “NAKED IN EDEN” ~ Available on Amazon
Did you Enjoy reading Naked in Eden? Would love a review from you, HERE. If you’ve not yet read my Australian adventure book and would like to, you can order it on Amazon HERE. “Naked in Eden” is a spirited true-life Australian adventure story, filled with personal transformation. It is wonderfully life altering for adults, teens and tweens, and makes a memorable gift. Enjoy!
Thank you!
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This Site: © Robin Easton
Website: http://www.nakedineden.com
Blog: http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/
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11 Comments so far...
Ricky Ferdon Says:
7 November 2011 at 10:50 am.
Awesome! What a truly visceral pilgrimage in your life the rain forest was. And it stripped you down to your essence, and that essence is the essence of all, and now you so beautifully translate it for the rest of us. Namaste!
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Tess The Bold Life Says:
7 November 2011 at 11:27 am.
Hi Robin,
I love this and would reread the entire book but I shared it with someone else. Oh silly me! xoxo
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John Rocheleau - ZenMoments Says:
7 November 2011 at 11:33 am.
Wrote this on your FaceBook post. Reposting it here 
Really important and powerful message in this one Robin. I love Steve’s comment on this. There are so many ways to let go of all the wrappings we decorate our “persona” with, and all the pain and fear we have come to accept as a permanent aspect of who we are. You found that becoming a good animal in nature is one good way, and you expressed that process so well in your book, Naked In Eden.
Steve mentioned Don Juan’s teaching to Carlos Castaneda on disassembling his life. As I recall, Don Juan had Carlos recapitulate his life first. Carlos had to recall every possible detail in chronological order from birth to the present day. Don Juan felt that it was necessary to demystify his perception of his life, through this exercise, before he could let go of all the attachments and self images. Until we connect the dots, the mysteries of our life hold power beyond our control.
As I read your book, I saw that as you reduced your life to the essential, you also connected the dots in your own way, removing the power of the unresolved and the unknown in your past. That freed you to surrender to the moment, to survival, and to just being that essential human animal in a magnificent natural world, with all the other animals.
Your message is vital to anyone who wants to live a more genuine and powerful life. Some people will not be able to do so in the same way as you did, using nature as teacher, but they will be able to pull the essential message and method from your book.
John
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Jean Sampson Says:
7 November 2011 at 1:45 pm.
Hi Robin—–loved the videos! One thing that is so beautiful is that you are still so deeply touched by an experience that happened when you were younger. It seems that it didn’t just “happen” in the past but is alive, active and growing within you still. I wonder if each time you share this experience with others, it opens up a place that something similar could possibly grow within them, and I am guessing that the energy of it grows even stronger within you. The animal within you calls to the animal within others saying that they can be who they are, even it they don’t know who that is yet. Slowly, as I age, life strips things away that I thought were essential. At this point, I wonder how far the process will go and if I will be able to, not surrender to fear, but, as you put it, remain conscious no matter what, and know that I will just be getting closer to the essence of real life. I am so grateful to have you as a part of my life! Love and hugs to you!
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Nancy Shields Says:
7 November 2011 at 1:46 pm.
I love what you say about being ravenous for life!!!! I’m with you – it all stemed from LOVE of self my friend – to be in nature and totally naked with yourself – that’s where the growth happens – what is sane anyway????
In gratitude,
Nancy
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Sandra / Always Well Within Says:
7 November 2011 at 11:51 pm.
Dear Robin,
How courageous: “This meant sometimes feeling uncomfortable, unknowing, and willing to detach from everything I had thought was true.” Your story is such an inspiration.
This is such an amazing insight: “We spend our lives trying to protect ourselves from complete awareness.”
Here’s to complete awareness for all!
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Christopher Foster Says:
8 November 2011 at 9:53 am.
First of all, the pictures of you at the beginning of your post are absolutely gorgeous Robin. The simple genuineness that you discovered in those challenging and even frightening experiences shines through so beautifully.
The picture of you with your camera in your hand looking at the camera with such a radiant smile, a smile bigger than life itself. See, the way I see it, we get to know one another in stages. It doesn’t happen all at once. Like a tree growing, even.
I feel honored and immensely grateful that life has brought you into my life and vice versa, and I thank you for the privilege this is. When that inherent masterpiece within us all is freed at last as you so well describe here is the one and only true basis for communion and friendship isn’t it? I envy you the surround of Nature but I have a little bit of it here in the midst of the city, a beautiful stream that flows all year, the music the stream makes, the walking trail beside it. Life is good. Thanks for sharing it so generously.
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Zeenat{Positive Provocations} Says:
8 November 2011 at 1:35 pm.
Darling Robin,
What you share here resonates with me on so many levels. Thank you for always encouraging me to be more in tune with nature…Gods infinite bounties are so close….yet we spend all our lives looking. If only we saw from the heart…Like you my dear.
Sending you lots of love and glittery butterflies.
Z~
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Bernie Says:
12 November 2011 at 5:42 pm.
Each Moment is a Virgin Experience that Gives Birth to Everything that has always been Immaculate. One truly sees perhaps not with the eyes, but with an open heart.
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Michael Cheverie Dewey Says:
13 November 2011 at 6:06 am.
Lovely to pass through your rss feed of life in this insane world. I believe an awakening of mankind has been broiling in side our hearts for many moons now. I don’t get into the forests as you do… Yet I can see far too many can’t see the forest for the trees. Talking reasonably, to closed mind’s eyes, about compassion, seems insane to them in this winner take all world.
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Robin Easton Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
NOTE:
DEAR FRIENDS,
Thank you all for your kind and inspiring words. You’ve encouraged me to more deeply explore what is “sanity” and “insanity”, and not just on an individual level. I think we as a species have reached a place where we need to start asking ourselves how much of what we do is really “sane”. I am learning that even good people, including myself, can do insane things that affect others (including other species) directly or indirectly. My next post will further explore this idea.
In reading your comments, I feel loved, and seen, and I see both the beauty and sanity in each of you. I find it very heartening and supportive in my life and your words help me feel connected to you. I feel optimistic and safe knowing you are in the world.
Much love to each of you,
Robin
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