🧭Protocol for Light Forest Explorers

We are walking in the forest.

In front is a clear trail and signs put up by travelers. We started out with a map, now you even have an app with an AI assistant! It tells us we are on the right path.

We can feel safe as we listen to the orchestra of the Cicadas, the sound of thunder, look at that fungi growing on the underside of a damp log. (🎧sample the audio narration embedded up top)

Eventually this path starts to feel dull. We’ve seen it all before. We find ourself looking at our AI more and more looking for action. Our mind and body grows weary.

Then we hear the call of a bird that sounds mysterious we’ve never heard before. It sounds like its coming from a little deeper in the woods. We turn back to the path but now that we’ve heard it the first time we keep hearing it. Has it been there the whole time?

What else have we missed following the map handed to us so long ago we cannot even remember life before it. We were trained to walk this very path. We’re pretty decent at it. It’s got us this far. But going forward we know we cannot be on auto-pilot anymore. We want to be explorers.

What does it mean to be truly free to forge your own path? How might we truly experience the depths of the forest?

🧭A (working) protocol for us Light Forest explorers

∞Unlearning to an Open Mind

We live in a culture that places a lot of emphasis on learning and knowledge. Unlearning is more difficult yet we don’t practice. Why unlearn? So we can let go of worldviews, habits, beliefs which we find no longer serve us as Light Forest explorers.

The Mind OS (operating system) is layered with interconnected beliefs that drive the nature of our thoughts, emotions, and subsequently, our lives. Spiritual coach Byron Katie says it decides who we are and what we become, both mentally and physically. As we explore we may find unquestioned beliefs about love, technology, food, sex, politics, time, success, money etc. We may come to see that some do not serve our higher good anymore.

Unlearning is actually a powerful way to learn. In Daoism and Zen a state of being called 无心(wu xin) or ‘the No Mind’ is taught. This is not an empty mind. Quite the opposite. This is a state of fullness, vitality, and insight. In this state we experience what J. Krishnamurti describes to be ‘a free mind that is learning never concluding’. We can begin to ‘detach from the central rituals’ as Ivan Illych says is necessary to create radical change.

As we practice unlearning we start to explore with more freedom.

The real learning is unlearning all that one has learnt —Sufi Complete Sayings 957

⏳Grounding in the Present, the Now

We ground ourselves in this very moment. As an explorer in the forest you need to be intensly aware or you’ll be dead. Not dead as in death. Dead as in trapped in the mind, a stupor, a dulling of your vitality. Thats far worse than death and will eventually get you actually killed.

How much of our life do we sacrifice in exchange for a mythical future in which we will be content and happy? How many of our own (and our planet’s) urgent problems do we pledge to solve in the future allowing the situation to worsen today. Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh says ‘worry about today and the future will take care of itself’. In Zen tradition they simply ask: ‘if not now, when?’ Every spiritual tradition since the dawn of time (lol) is rooted on an intense focus on the present moment and a disassociation with the past and future.

Unlearning our perception of time may seem mind boggling. Thats because the mind cannot grasp this, just like a fish cannot survive out of water. But as we begin to feel into this state of being the forest gets more illuminated. We take it moment by moment.

Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now— Ekhart Tolle

🧗🏼Living Fearlessness

But we’re in a forest, with snakes, bears, big foot, poisonous fungi…fear keeps me alive. It’s true, fear is a powerful and useful emotion that makes up our survival instinct. But if we want to forge your own path and actually enjoy it rather than feel constant paralysis we must to learn how to live fearlessly.

Fear is the baseline that dictates how we live life. Fear of poverty, loneliness, death, obesity, illness, ugliness, failure, sadness, pain…fear of fear itself. We are all burdened by fear merely by having being born in this society. Institutions have weaponized it for generations. Genocide, war, nations, debt, insurance, etc. All depend on fear.

Healer and Physician Gabor Mate says fear keeps us from living authentically. The Course in Miracles teaches us that as long as we identify as a lone, separate self we will experience fear. Ultimately the only way to dissolve fear is a true remembrance that we are in truth fully connected into a tapestry of life that includes the trees, the birds, fungi, and the entirety of the universe.

Fear has probably proven itself to be a useful motivator in life to achieve. What if we could tap into its polarity, courage, and form a new baseline for life? Most people never stray away from the forest path, despite deep unhappiness, because of fear. Whatever your motivation, you are here now. At Light Forest we will explore what it means to live fearlessly.

Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings obliteration. I will face my fear and permit it to pass over through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain
Frank Herbert (Dune)

👩🏽‍🎤Play

Lets be clear we’re not in the forest to work. We’re here to Play with a capital P. Work may happen, but it doesnt have to feel like work.

Play is the effortlessness joy, creativity, bliss, and fun that arises from within us. Play is a state of being from which the force of our life may be allowed to flow in whichever direction we chose to direct it: our partner, a hobby, a startup, a breakup, illness, or an artistic endeavor.

The Daoist principle Wuwei 无为, and the Advaita principle of non-doership can be our guide to Play. It centers on perception. Rather than identify as the do-er or author of an action. Instead we can see ourselves as a sort of medium or vehicle through which a deeper energy and ideas flows, as the moment demands. In simpler words we listen to the wisdom of the body, we go with the flow and not fight against it.

We know that we tend to be at our best and happiest when we do things that feel Play. As explorers in this forest so full of life why should we settle for anything less.

Creativity is not just about music, it is the process involved in living an inventive,
inspired, and meaningful life—Herbie Hancock

❤️Agape on tap - boundless love

As we open our minds we drop into our hearts. As explorers what are truly seeking for if not love? But not a hungry, condition-based, approval seeking form of love prevalent in popular culture.

Agape, an ancient Greek term, represents an unconditional, universal, boundless love that has no ending or beginning. It’s a love of generosity, kindness and care. Chinese speak of Ren ai仁爱, Buddhists speak of Metta, Sufis speak of Ashk, Indians speak of Sat Chit Ananda. All words that reflect one light of truth.

Love is the light that illuminates the forest and heals all. When we open our hearts we experience our true connection to the forest in the knowing that we did not need from anyone or anything but it is simply our inheritance.

Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find it yourself in it’s hidden depths—Rumi

So fellow explorers, let us journey together…

These are an initial set of protocols to guide us. Naturally each of the protocols are linked and as we practice one we start to feel into and understand the others better. You may find some come easier than others thats okay. This is the beauty of being an explorer. Every step is a moment to practice and validate this for ourselves. Just remember to forgive yourself when you fall.

Over time we may start to witness an evolution into how we see the world. We can also bring this insight into in our roles as builders, designers, and thinkers.

For instance, as we think about the regeneration of the Web, we may speculate, where is technology helping me actually Play and where does it actively obstruct? What could digital spaces look like if they were optimized for these protocols? How can we build spaces that help people to take their own journeys?

As we transform internally our world starts to change.
Thank you for reading from wherever you are on your journey. I recommend giving the audio narration (embedded at top) as sample as i’ve tried to be a bit more playful with sound.
Writing this is part of my practice to Play!

truth has no path, and that is the beauty of truth, it is living — J. Krishnamurt i