There has been much said about spirituality and nature. But today, it gets harder to see this clearly because with the conflicting voices coming from the rush to see capitalism through its death throes, a great deal in compassion is missing in the sound and fury of it all. In such times many turn to religion and spirituality but do not always get what they need from there either.

For instance, take Buddhism. In many ways, as it is taught today and as it is followed in many monasteries: there is a focus on meditational techniques, the doctrinal understanding of the teachings and the moral principles espoused in them. This is necessary.

But what is seen little of in many places of institutional religion and spirituality around the world are teaching emphases and being living examples, by those who proclaim them, of compassion and unconditional love; and while we’re at it, gratitude as well.

Which comes back to what did the Buddha do first thing upon attaining Enlightenment? We are told that the Master stood in front of the pipal tree under which he attained Realization, and gazed at it for seven days and seven nights without moving as an act of gratitude.

True, he had developed supernormal powers by then, but there were many things he could have done like, well, look for food or something (which is what most of us would think of doing). But he just stood there radiating love, compassion and gratitude.

This is the cornerstone of Buddhism: that with Enlightenment, or on the path to it, compassion and gratitude are defining characteristics. Especially since one has seen through the illusion of ego, you realize that you owe more to what is around than what everyone else is supposed to owe you -- this is still a novel thought for many.   

But, why a tree? Because it is a living thing. Because it was the shelter. Because it is harmless and provides a service to all life around, including for humans who know how to synergize with rather than desecrate it. Because, and this may be contrary to the view of orthodox Buddhism: it is a gift from God (yes, the Creator, the Universal, All That There Is, etc).

Again this may be shocking to some, but the Buddha never denied the existence of God nor the existence of a soul: what he did say is that it's of little use to pontificate about such matters when you should focus on actions leading to your salvation.

The Buddhist idea of anatta is a complex one. It is actually non-ego but tends to be interpreted as non-Self or no-soul. It was a revolutionary concept in the context of the time as it meant that the person you think you are is an illusion, in that the desires and projections that come from the ego generated by the senses are the cause of dissatisfaction in life. It certainly predates anything that psychoanalysis and our so-called ‘scientific’ pathological studies may provide today.

One of the reasons for veering away from traditional philosophical questions on the origin of the universe and God in Buddhism was because India at the time was full of all kinds of spiritual teachers and quacks and metaphysical speculation was the in-thing.

Yet it can also be pointed out that much of what the Buddha says was already put forward in Hindu teachings but without the former's minimal leaning on metaphysics. For all the great Teachers of the world have had the same message, it just has been adulterated through the ego and religious texts have been expurgated by those who use them, and via the institutions built on them, to instill fear and control over others.

The focus in Buddhism is on practising the teachings and less on philosophical debate. But like today, while we talk a lot about doing good, we don’t always follow it with action. Despite its talk of renunciation of many things, Buddhism is about action. You walk the talk.

Sometimes you stand in your truth by acquiring stillness and radiating gratitude to a tree. If we can’t even show gratitude to the natural world around us, can we genuinely show gratitude to people and loved ones? Or are our relations tainted by conditions: we state loudly ‘through sickness and in health’ (but mean through a ‘healthy’ bank balance too, better if it is a fat one).

Some of us know what fair weather friends are like. They are there when the going is good, there are even more of them (some of whom you never knew were your friends) when the going gets better. 

As good old Dr Samuel Johnson says: “Adversity is the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free from admirers then.”

How true.

However, through thick and thin, earth abides. It is always there for us. The trees and plants and the natural world are always there. And we are always there to tear them down to build fancy condominiums as investment strategies and to find ways of making a buck from life. We have been led to believe and even adamantly proclaim ourselves, that what good is the world and life around us if we can’t make money from it?

Just look at the world around us to see the happy effect of this kind of indoctrination and ideology.

When the Buddha was abandoned by those who knew him as in the spiritual seekers who were his band of brothers, he had only himself and the tree. In coming to his full Awakening and realizing the Unconditioned termed Nirvana, he sets an example for the ages through demonstrating Unconditional love and gratitude to a tree.

After this act of gratitude, the first group of people the Buddha searches out to impart his teaching of love and freedom from birth and death is the band of seekers who left him. Why does the Buddha seek them out?

Because there is no discrimination against those who may have left him and if you have compassion and gratitude to all, then you have that to each person without conditions. He is also grateful for the experiences of adversity. This is something people don’t get as we tend to look at many difficulties as terrible suffering and want to run away from them only to end up sometimes in even worse conditions.

The point is not to be a sado-masochist but see in the difficulties, the challenges and lessons for growth (not the GDP, $$$ kind) as human beings evolving back to Godhead. That without the adversity and ‘abandonment’ it would be difficult to see who you truly are. As you have identified your ego self by those around you without sometimes the slightest discernment. We can be quite self conscious of what others think of us. You see yourself as represented through the eyes of others full of their own ego.

But on your own with the right spiritual balance, you can discover the Oneness of all life. You can tap into the eternal light of All That Is and there is only light and energy, as even our lame and ego driven scientific theories claim. And energy can be transformed.

If energy is devoid of fear, harm and greed, it can transform you and the world. The lesson from the natural world can also come in the form of how uncomplaining a tree, plant or animal is when left on its own within its habitat. The tree does not complain whatever the weather is, it does not react violently when it is cut down or stripped of its branches, it does not show anger when careless people carve their names on it, nor does it discriminate as to who can take the fruit from its boughs.

This is reflected in Buddhism in which we are told to let go of many things; let go of ego, fear, greed, anger, hatred, unbridled desires, intoxication and anything that is of harm to you or life. By doing so you allow yourself to be filled with love, compassion, peace and happiness – abundance enters your life, and there is indeed a lot to be grateful for.

As you can find in Matthew these words of wisdom (6:25-34):

    ²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

²⁶"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹"So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

The words speak for themselves.

Read them carefully over a period of time. Think over them. Read them again, and yet again, and then once more.

Observe and see if there is not, over time, truth in them. If you do what you’re supposed to do caring for the world and people and life around you, you will be taken care of. The world and everything in it will turn out well. This can be practiced in daily life within the family, workplace, and society.

Difficult, sure, who on earth said it was always a walk across a field.

The earth is a demanding school for learning through adversity. Through the greatest challenges come the greatest learning and advancement and peace. And the greatest rewards. There will always be enough, you need to know how to draw from it, and that requires a paradigm shift; but all these shifts are spiritual in nature.

If you ground your energies in gratitude to the world and the miracle of life around you there will be in time a joy, peace and freedom that comes from it that cannot be measured in any form. In that moment of being here now, where you are, and not wanting to be anywhere else you see the grace of the divine flowing through you, and slowly but surely you understand why you are here and that everything will be well. When you learn such lessons, don’t be surprised to see a shooting star one night that tells you’ve been given a star for a lesson recently learnt.

But usually, the immediate response from a world of incessant handphone buzzing, stock markets, advertising and media mania, and inveterate i-padding is -- why can’t the results happen now, since you tried to be ‘good’ for one day. But the lesson is only learnt and bears fruit through patience, which the Buddha rightly proclaims is the highest austerity.

The ego wants everything now, but God tells you, all in good time. We still haven’t got it yet, but we are not in control of the universe. However, on this planet given for our learning, the results of our choices from free will are coming back to show us where we stray. If that is still unapparent, then witness the turmoil of the weather and the world. This is a time of cleansing.

Through making the right choices and doing the right thing, a balance will be regained, but until then you can prepare for much upheaval globally in every sense of the word and in each aspect of your life.

Our conscious thoughts are creating our reality. The more we live and believe in lack and the need to beggar someone else to get ‘ahead’ or sustain ourselves, the more difficult things will be till we learn from them.

There is the famous question that also underlies quantum physics as once raised by Berkeley on the impact of consciousness on what happens in the world that comes in the form: does a tree actually fall in the woods unless you are there to listen or perceive that it is so.

You may ask so what does such thinking have to do with the very real problems of the unrest in Egypt and what may take place elsewhere?

Well, sometimes the sound of one hand clapping comes from extreme satori. It is the sound and knowledge you get that the tree really is falling when it comes crashing down on your head.

There is a lesson in that somewhere.