Gather the wood alone, then burn it with others :: Draft

Life has rhythms.

Rhythms of contraction and expansion.
Moments of stabilisation and growth.
Times of introversion and extroversion.

This is what I have come to realise about myself:

There are times which I need to go out and gather wood to burn.
And there are other times when I need to burn that wood - with others.

Back when human kind lived in communities in harsh conditions. Back when having enough wood to burn was literally the difference between life and death: This is how life giving this act of gathering then burning the wood is to me.

Wood in this case, because I am lucky enough to not actually be in danger of physical death, is ideas.

There are long stretches where I wander alone in the woods, painstakingly gathering worthy pieces of ideas, knowledge and thoughts.

It satisfies me.

After a while, I get frustrated with myself. I start too many books. I think in circles. I have the same ideas the same wood that I carry with me.

This is the moment when I know, that I need to return to the village. To the warmth and the companionship of others. Arriving back at the village I throw the gathered wood on the fire and we see it burn.

And it transforms. It mutates and the wood becomes the heat that nourishes me. The ideas I have are added to the pile of others. We mix it all up. We talk late into the night over this fire. We reminince, we ramble we wander. While sitting safe and secure with others.

In this environment and in this moment we become humans meeting each other and fulfilling our greatest purpose: To grow, to connect, to be more us.

If you continue walking through the forest gathering food. And burn it by yourself, you lose out on this magic of the village. This magic of the many.

If you never gather wood by yourself and always just sit around a warmth giving fire you never recognise the pearls of wisdom. You never understand how the hard work of gathering work has led to the moment in which you are in.

You paradoxically live a meagre life, by being in the safety of the many your whole life.

Go out now my friend. Go gather the wood. Go be cold, miserable, alone. Struggle with yourself and your thoughts. Find us some hard wood. Wood that will burn bright and long into the night.

And bring this wood to the communal fire. Let us burn it and learn from it.

As the rhythm of life demands it to be.