Druid Thoughts
There’s a quote from Terry Pratchett witches like to quote:
“A witch ought never to be frightened in the darkest forest, Granny Weatherwax had once told her, because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her.”
But this is not quite right. Last night traveling through a dark forest I remembered that what it teaches you is there is nothing truly terrifying.
Fear and worry are only ever inside you, and in the darkness of a forest the inside and outside disappear completely.
You become the forest, and the forest becomes you.
And in such a state, nothing can ever truly terrify. Terror requires an Other to be terrified of, and when there is no Other there can be no terror.
So if you are afraid, go walk through a forest at night. Turn off your flashlight and stumble through the dark. And let the terror of what is outside you dissolve into the fierce wholeness of the Other that is also you.
