Aonach Dubh
In the Highlands of Scotland, long before recorded history, the highlanders knew that they were – a part – of all that is. The human was not the sum and total, the human was an atom of existence connected to life, connected to the land, the rivers, mountains and the sea, to the trees and animals and the creatures who fly. Alba Scotland was inhabited by tribes of people who had no name, the Romans called them the Picts, the Pictii. As the Celts began to increase in number they replaced the aborigine peoples, the two became one.
The Picts and the Celts were sure of one thing. They were a small part of the greater whole, the earth sustained them, nourished them, housed them and provided continuance. Harm the earth and you harm yourself.
These ancient people related their own existence to their actual surroundings. People were also part of mountains, nature and the sea. The global intelligence reflected cosmic intelligence and so these people had a nature identity based on their teachers and their skills. The people were related to mountains, mountain spirits, trees, tree spirits, animals, animal spirits.
From childhood, Aonach Dubh, in the valley of Glenoce, Scotland was my teacher. After our meeting I ceased to exist as an individual entity and I became part of all that is. The mountain taught me, as it had taught my ancestors. The vision was of harmony, the provider of the vision was cosmos.
People come and people go, nations rise and nations fall, but behind the movements of man, animal and tree is the ground of being, the great mountains and the land below. They exist when all else falls away. If the earth would go silent, lose her atmosphere, lose her waters… the mountains would stand. Before humans walked the earth, the mountains were there. When humans no longer walk the earth, the mountains will stand. They are the guardians of Ea planet of water. They can exists in air and in water. The people of Atlantis fled as the mountains sank below the waves.
The mountains never stopped teaching us, the humans stopped listening to them.