Spider Sense

"We dance around in a ring and suppose but the secret sits in the middle and knows."

Robert Frost

Nature taught me another lesson just recently. Spending some much-needed time by the water, I asked for guidance, a little insight into whatever I needed to know at the time. As for any answers I seek like this, I never know what will come, and I need to stay clear and present.

As I perched on a large boulder under some trees, I began to notice a host of spider webs around me among the rocks and plants. One such web caught my attention nearby, as something told me to take notice. A smallish, delicate spider sat in the centre, doing what spiders do, and I saw nothing out of the ordinary.  As I watched, each leg gave a careful tug on the strands, detecting whatever might have graced its presence. A couple of times, it scurried down a strand to investigate. Each strand was the extension of its universe, with its central headquarters, where the spider always returned.

For a moment, I looked out onto the water and admired the scene on this perfect summer day. The sound of the wind through the trees was one of pure tranquility; my place I had chosen was private and perfect.

After a brief disappearance of the spider, somewhere beneath a large rock, what had taken its place was a much larger spider that looked to be of a different species, lumbering around the web.  I was a little shocked and watched as it busily set about destroying the web. It appeared to be devouring the web and by the time it was done, three quarters of the web was gone. I was astonished! I wondered how a spider could do this to another, and I was intrigued and maybe a little upset. The spider then disappeared and the original spider returned, taking its position in the centre, seemingly unperturbed.

When I got home, I did a little research on this behavior. It turned out that the larger spider was probably the female and the smaller one the male. Apparently, the larger female ate the silk of the web for food, as they sometimes do.

Okay, so I assumed something false, and I got a little emotional while the spiders were just doing their jobs.

The spiders taught me to keep my centre. There will always be opportunities to be offended, and the better way is to return to our centre. Who are we and what is our place in the universe? To be centred is to be present; always awake and watchful, paying attention. Like the spider who tugs its strands, the universe is made up of strands that connect us all, and what happens far away can affect us where we sit, as we are all connected by the same stuff that makes up the universe.  Where is our centre, and how do we access the world around us?

The other thing I had to remember is how our thoughts can be our worst enemy, assuming things that aren’t true, especially concerning things we don’t understand, so spirit must take precedence, as it is truth.