“The Other Side” is an excerpt from
Entosophy: The Wisdom of Trees, a collection of ecological interviews conducted by Amanda Nicole in which she asks Nature Beings to describe Ultimate Reality and the Ideal Society.
Q: What is Ultimate Reality?
A: Ultimate Reality is sweeter than any of you have yet imagined. You absorb life's bitterness. You pucker. You spit it out. You don't allow yourselves to move through the bitter to the sweet. You don't allow yourselves to come through to the Other Side. I am here to help you transition to the Other Side. I am here not for the Now but for the Then. If all you knew was that it was and would be sweet, then you would know all you need to know. Ultimate Reality is sweet. This is all I have to say in response to this question.
Q: What Ethics flow from this view of Reality?
A: Let yourself taste the sweetness. Do all you can to suck the very marrow out of this life. Live life. Live it to its fullest. Gorge yourself on its sweetness.
I see you cry. I see you grieve. I see you hurt. Do all you can to ease the transitions. Create rituals and ceremonies. Sing songs. Practice crossing over the river. Cross Earth's rivers. Ferry one another across the rivers. Carry one another to the Other Side. Leave no one behind. See yourselves as tenders of souls. See yourselves as caretakers of precious cargo. Who can you fit inside your boat? Who can you ferry across the river? May your ethics be kind. May they make for sweetness. Notice the lost souls. Notice the sad souls. Notice their grief. You can see it in their eyes. Take their hand. Lead them to the water's edge and ferry them to the Other Side.
Q: What Embodied Expressions or Policies would you recommend?
A: I miss those old-time baptisms down by the river. Step into the water. Get your head wet. Go under. Become familiar with the water. Become familiar with the ways of water. Water is always in transition. It flows and shifts from one form to the next, and it does so with such grace and ease. Water doesn't resist, does it? No, it surrenders, Water lets go.
Take care of your water. Take care of your waterways. Keep them clear. Keep them pure. Remove the dams. Make room for your tears. Create spaces where people can cry.
I think your grandmother, Jenny, got stuck here in the In Between. You can make a home in the In Between, but the In Between is not where you're meant to settle. It's not where you're meant to be. The In Between is not the place to stay. The In Between was never meant to be permanent. Jenny needed someone to ferry her across the river.
I chose to be a companion and a guardian to Jenny and stay with her here in the In Between. She resisted me. She resisted making the transition to the Other Side. She resented me. She resented my steadfastness. I couldn't make her do anything. All I could do was promise not to leave. Jenny chose. It is up to you if you remain in the In Between.
Be sure you're holding each other's hands. Ask one another, Where do you want to go? Who would you like to be? Talk to one another about your dreams and about the life that your soul is imagining. Then say to one another, I will help you get there. Did anyone ask Jenny what she wanted to be when she grew up? Jenny did the best she could, and she did well. She created a beautiful, loving life in this space that is the In Between.
Q: What is the Ideal Society?
A: The Ideal Society is the place where everyone is living their dream. The Ideal Society is where each and every one of you has arrived at the Other Side of the Grief, the Pain, the Abandonment, the Bankruptcy, the Break-up, the Breakdown, the Change. The Ideal Society is the land that lies just over the river. The Ideal Society is the Other Side. It's not too far. You can get there by ferrying one another across the river, one by one and boat by boat. Ask each other, Where are you headed? Then, wait patiently for the answer. Not everyone immediately knows where they are going. It can take a moment to find your way and get your bearings, but there is time. There is time to get to the Other Side. Also, you are always free to make suggestions. You are always free to suggest someone cross over to a place they never dreamed they would go.
In the Ideal Society, Jenny would be free, and in the Ideal Society, Jenny would have arrived on the Other Side. I want to honor Jenny for the beauty she created right here in this place. Not everyone makes such a Beautiful Thing of the In Between.
Q: Do you have any final thoughts?
A: I have lived a good life. I lived a good life with Jenny. She was my girl, and I was her tree. Now that she's gone, I don't mind to go. I don't mind to follow her across the river, but if I go, then she'll go with me. I am a memory keeper.
Do you think her family doesn't like my shade? I create it for them. I expand and stretch and reach for them. Maybe make some medicine from my hulls this fall. I drop limbs because some things are worth letting go. Some things are too heavy to carry any longer.
I am willing to be the last thing you see. Come lie down and rest beneath me. Souls transition through my leaves.
I want the world to know that I was Jenny's tree. She had a strange way of showing her connection to me, but I was her constant. Jenny would have been happier if she had let herself sit beneath me. Together, she and I could have found a way to the Other Side. Tell the world that I, the Black Walnut tree, loved the heart of Genevieve. If you cut me down, please consider a marker that says, Here lies Jenny's tree.
Be sure to ferry each other across the river to the Other Side.
