Are you aware that you are conditioned?

Are you aware that you are conditioned? That is the first thing to ask yourself, not how to be free of your conditioning. You may never be free of it, and if you say, 'I must be free of it', you may fall into another trap of another form of conditioning. So are you aware that you are conditioned? Do you know that even when you look at a tree and say, 'That is an oak tree', or 'that is a banyan tree', the naming of the tree, which is botanical knowledge, has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and actually seeing the tree? To come in contact with the tree you have to put your hand on it and the word will not help you to touch it.

I do know this...but never really thought about it before.

I have spent many, many hours up in trees, and I do recall saying "ooooh, what a beautiful Banyan(or whatever kind it is) tree" before I start my ascent, you actually learn more about and feel more connected to a tree by being/ laying up in it for a length of time,I call it tree hammocking Although I do tree hugging too, especially if it is unclimbable

 Do you know that even when you look at a tree and say, 'That is an oak tree', or 'that is a banyan tree', the naming of the tree, which is botanical knowledge, has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and actually seeing the tree? To come in contact with the tree you have to put your hand on it and the word will not help you to touch it.

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My favorite meditation is walking through a forest with a still mind and seeing the forest for what it really is and not my idea of it. As I walk the idea of I dissapears as the reality of the oneness of all things becomes apparent

that's beautiful Jerry