Owen Barfield's Participation with Nature

 We can't go back to the ancient mind unless we are in some sort of altered state.  And I'm not sure even then. We are just too far removed.  Too imbued with scientific thinking.  

To the extent we even slow down for a moment and pay even a modicum of attention, we are still trying to orient a self in relation to this "other" that we call a tree, a rock, a building, or a dog.  We project a meaning and an relationship onto nature.  And we try to understand and make use of everything as it relates to us.  

 I think Barfield is glimpsing at something different:  a participation in nature.  Something we do not analyze or filter through us--but the very connection and meaning is obtained through nature in a participatory process.  In interfacing with nature, we become.  And what we hold hands with in nature becomes what we are.

Attention, Blood Flow, Receptive Nerve Endings

 So its all about going within, right? Feeling body sensations. Its all the rage, mindfulness. Whatever.  

Attention seems to direct blood flow.  When you focus on an area of the brain, for example, there is likely an increase of blood flow to that region.  Perhaps that is what you feel.  A sense of fullness.  A sense of aliveness.  Not surprising that an increased flow of blood would do that.  

What happens when you focus on the area above you head?  No nerve endings literally above our head.  At least that we know about.  What creates this sensation, or is it more an imaginal image in the mind.  But it still feels like something is there, doesn't it?   And it doesn't stop there.  Do a 360 scan of the space around you.  Are we just projecting this sensation, or is something else going on.  

What exactly is going on when blood goes to the nerves or whatever to create this.  When things come together, some call it love.  Don't you just love your receptive nerve endings?  Think of all the warm fuzzy feelings you get from it.  And dissolution produces a much different effect.  

Perhaps this is why bonds of blood are the most intense, literally and figuratively.