Nemanuh's Words

Nemanuh

Love comes from the heart not the eyes

In the winter months we dwell high up in the caves, we group together for warmth and tell stories of the old days in times gone by.  My grandfather is a great leader and has a vast knowledge of the “humans” and their ways, he warns us away from them and tells us of the great badness within them.  They have no teachings of the great mother and they seem to destroy and demolish as they go. But there was a time long ago when we dwelled together on this earth and helped each other to thrive and learn.  It’s warmer at the back of the cave where the wind doesn’t find you and the rain is just noise from outside, and that’s where I sit when the old ones teach and i soak in the knowledge with great need, because without the elders knowing it, i have been very close to the humans once and i have a yearning to know more. But first i shall explain our ways and why we avoid the humans at all cost….

The cave is high up in the mountains, and the winter snow keeps us safe and as all nature lies sleeping i look down onto the valley below, in long ago days it was a green and vast landscape of clean streams and forested land, a land of beauty and a plentiful supply of food for all, ourselves, the animal creatures and the humans, green trees of differing heights line the banks of the rivers which are filled with fish of all kinds, and meadows swaying in the breeze with long grasses and natures flowers.  A place for all and sacred to us. Nature is part of us, part of the animals but alas not the humans.  They came with their machines in the hundreds, took the trees and dirtied the rivers with their logging and mining, they shoot the animals for trophy (sometimes they kill each other too) all in the name of someone called “the mighty dollar” i have no understanding of this and have a yearning to learn more, why do they treat the land this way, why do they maim and hurt each other and the earth so?  Don’t they realise if you work with nature the whole world is blessed, to destroy nature is to harm yourself, and any living creature that walks the earth too.  So i watch from high up away from the smells and noxious gasses, away from the anger and violence, away from the destruction of all things living and i ponder on what it would be like if the humans could understand our ways and the earth’s needs.

Many summers ago when i was too young to go with the males, but old enough to leave my mother and the sister aunts, to explore and learn and grow.  The day was warm and i was hungry and knowing of a forbidden spot filled with food but a place of humans in the daytime, i could smell those small onions in my mind, feel the sharp sweet taste of them on my tongue, i wandered off down the forbidden tunnel that leads to old park land, with thoughts of eating in the sunlight filling my mind, as i approached i could hear laughing and giggling coming from one of the hidden areas? More of my kind with the same idea i thought, so i popped my head out to join and saw to my disbelief two human girls, who instantly became frightened, as if i was some kind of monster sent to hurt them, i opened my mouth to speak and explain, all to no avail, they screamed and ran, i could hear them for along time after i couldn’t see them anymore and i was hit with a feeling i had never experienced before, a feeling of loss and confusion, if they are the monsters why did they run from me, had the old ones taught me wrong (i doubted this greatly) are all humans encouraged to act this way with new things?  And then i realised the awful truth, to them i was the monster the unknown being and in their eyes something to be feared.  I went home without tasting the sweet food, lost in thought and feeling “wronged” somehow, i had no body to talk to, i could not reveal my mischief for fear of punishment, i knew the rules, they were there for good reason, to protect us from “them” and their kind. How could i find answers without breaking the rules. And i came up with a plan.

In the years that followed i watched one of the girls as she grew and changed, watched from afar so i didn’t scare her again, and in doing this i realised some of the humans had kind hearts, some of them wanted to learn our knowledge and our ways, their old ways they had forgotten along time ago. I watched as she visited the wood, she cleaned the humans filth away, helped the small animals and creatures and i saw her blossom each time, i longed to talk to her, to explain how i could teach her, but i didn’t, i stayed and watched her learn this herself, As she met others who had kind hearts and a longing for the old ways, they in turn visited the woods and learnt many things.  Then i got the courage to talk to some of my brothers and sisters at the gatherings and they too had seen the change in many humans, This makes my heart sing, as i watch her now old and grey teaching her young ones the right way and all the other humans who are learning to understand and spread the word, i wonder if one day, all of us will share this earth and nature as one? So i sit and wait and grow old myself, but i can feel the uprising coming, feel it growing stronger everyday, i watch the machines leave and the animals growing in numbers, the streams become clear again, i wonder if my small mistake had been a blessing in disguise.

                                                       

My mother chose my father Arak to be her male as he was a kind soul who shared her cave one lonely winter, i have not seen him since and it will be many years before he comes to teach me the ways of the males, i hear tales from the other youngers of rogue males that want to hurt or harm, i have never met them luckily and in my clan all are thoughtful, all are one.  For us nature is the Mother and we sway with her rhythm’s as does the earth,  I have heard talk of “humans” and their destructive ways, but as yet i have not seen them.  I am curious though, what animal could live within this land and chose to destroy this makes no sense to me as hurting a plant or tree is hurting yourself, taking in excess is forbidden and we know to take only what is needed, The trees were gifted by the great mother, the water flows cool and fresh and the fish, birds and animals rejoice in this, there is a pattern to life, each thought you make, each action you take has an affect on all of us as a whole.  We think as one, feel as one, hurt as one, can the humans not see this, not feel this?  Then my mother explains, once many times ago, the humans were connected as we were, attuned with nature, everything they needed the great forest provided, they too could feel this rhythm, and worked with it. But over time the humans changed, they choose control over nature, things over feelings and a great greed began to grow. A need of things replaced the need to feel, their hearts darkened, their thoughts and feelings changed in a way not suited to harmony or grace. They forgot how to exchange with each other and “the mighty dollar” came. (i thought at first this was a god or an ancient, but alas no) and the humans began to worship this dollar, with blind eyes they take and take, can they not see the destruction, the hurt, not only did they do this to themselves they encouraged others to join, to leave the old ways behind and become modern, they say they are free thinking, but i only see the wrong this is doing. As a younger i could not understand this, when grown i realised this had to stop, there must be a way? are all humans this closed off and shut down? Do none of them see the harm they are doing to themselves? We watched many humans fall along the way, their tribes lost to a memory, their values forgotten and the skills no longer used.  It was many years later when my father came for me that i realised that by changing the thoughts of one, many would follow and this gave me hope.  

                                                 

One time at the summer place, we stopped and rested, hidden in the shrubs and unseen by many, a singing voice so sweet we heard, so curious that some of us crept closer to watch, This singing filled our hearts and made us glow within, surely this was a soul of joy and happiness, for the tune was sweet, some of the youngers got so close they could see the human, not me i was too afraid, feared by the stories i had heard, i hid behind my mother Serena and stayed hidden. The human just sat in the glade singing and bringing joy to us all, she didn’t destroy, hurt or kill, left nothing behind but a happy memory as she set off home, and we rejoiced in this, I never did see her but i feel her happiness now and the song i can hear when the memory returns. This just made me want to know more a small feeling was starting to grow, like a tiny ember that then smoulders and bursts into flame, If one human could be as we are, then maybe there were others?  As time moved forward  summers passed and winters waned  we moved with the food and the seasons, sometimes alone with my mother, other times we re-grouped together as one clan and shared stories and news, more stories of humans respecting the earth, wrapping their arms around nature in a caring way began to be spoken. Way up in the mountain’s, down in the valleys and even in the towns and cities people were starting to yearn for the old ways, they sold off their belongings and came out to join other like minded souls. They could be seen caring for the mother earth, helping the animals and birds, helping the earth to heal. But still we held back, fear can be binding, it can keep you in one place and shut down your heart with blackness, and a collective fear is a powerful thing, many of the olders warned us, and we listened but secretly yearned to know more, but your path is set, i knew this and stopped fighting, i need to understand what had happened and why and with time will come my answers. So for now i eat and sleep and enjoy life in the moment with no care or worries, a happy life fulfilled and fruitful.

                                  

It was a few short years before i saw “my” humans, filled with fear and hating, I expected a monstrous looking hairless creature with a black heart and soulless eyes, that was not what i saw, she was small, tiny in fact with green eyes filled with confusion, a small mouth screaming in fear, and the thinnest legs i had ever seen, i worried about her as she left screaming, i saw the depths of her fear, even with our combined confusion i could tell her heart was warm and inviting, nothing like i had been told and my mind went back to the singing human from summers gone. My curiosity peaked, and i heard the way she went, and i followed, it was many days before she came out of her home again, she looked different this time, beaten down somehow, filled with confusing thoughts and i tried to help but she was shut down in her heart to scared to feel. I watched over and over as she tried to find answers, i knew there were humans that could help she just hadn’t found them yet, she looked for answers in books and papers anywhere an answer may lie hidden, but without her knowing the answer was inside her all along. As she grew the fear also grew, i watched her reach out and people shun her, i watched her avoiding the world lost and alone, but for her the future would bring great knowledge and understanding, some paths are hard to walk, but in doing so lead to a paradise never known before. I smile in my heart as i think back on this, smile because i know together we can make a change, a small change that will grow like the oaks, from a tiny seeding to a mighty oak, like a raindrop becoming an ocean and with her i wait, always watching always feeling our hearts beat in tune.  Wheels turn and weather changes and so must we, so i carry on my day to day living, growing fitter becoming an older myself, travelling with my father to learn the way of the males as others of my kind do, each one finding “their” human and waiting to help and empower, some come quickly to the knowledge while others wander blindly, for a human to understand they have to push down all the lies, all that has been taught them, they have to carry a knowledge that no adult has and this is harder than anything the world has presented so far, but some find a way, they put the human things aside and embrace their new found knowledge, they re-wild, become one with the earth and are accepted by us and we can show ourselves to them. The whole world is ours to enjoy and every now and then the humans join us, and we become one in our hearts together with one goal in mind, the healing of this planet and a return to the old ways.  In other parts of the world people see us, from Scotland to Canada, Russia and Europe, Buhtan to the mighty Himalaya’s we grow in numbers as the humans take more, we spread love and blessings wherever we can, we leave signs for the humans, some understand them some walk right by without even looking, and we know it’s the curious ones that need our time, the blind ones will continue to stumble, but we await them with loving arms non the less. For all are welcome, all can be absolved, the earth mother can be forgiving and teaches us to do the same.  There are steps we can take to bring them closer to each other, and fate as you call it will do the rest, One caring human can become two, then two becomes a whole team and with differing skills and insight an understanding starts to be formed. A knowledge is shared and more and more flock to join, they too can feel a quickening of the spirit a need to go further, form relationships, learn from us and each other, and we too begin to learn from them, like us humans come in all shapes, sizes and colours, all with their own values and needs, some more connected than others, some more closed off.  For as we travel this world, some continue to hunt us, the prize of a body is needed, when just an opening of the mind can bring you all the answers you need, but some humans can’t trust, can’t believe without seeing and they are the ones we avoid.  They come in camo with cameras and guns, in teams with traps to hunt us, they try to trick us with claps and whoops, wood knocking and announcing their presence from a long way off, but we retreat, stay hidden keep our youngers safe and wait for them to leave, but some humans come with open hearts, share food with us, sing to us and talk out loud, explaining all with their calm presence and caring ways and we become less and less afraid. We start to open up, too Kathryn with her wood walks, Charmaine with her confidant knowledge, Adam with his sharing skills, each being brought together for a reason, each with a yearning to know. Jason has a quiet way about him, even the skeptical ones are being given little glimpses of what would come if they truly believed, all over the world this is happening to little groups and people alone, wood walkers like Mary who just enjoys the day with her hounds and nature , outsiders the humans call them, laugh at their actions and words, but all to no avail. Each one knowing and feeling along with the next.  In every country whether Jan or John they come to an awakening, whatever the name, wherever the town, slowly they build until they are no longer the few but many and the voice of many is a powerful thing.