The next task I want you to do is to go the forest.
Go to the forest, and find a large tree. The largest, oldest, and healthiest tree in the whole forest. Stand with your back against the tree, so that your shadow is completely obscured by the wise old shadow of the big tree.
It is crucial that the tree’s shadow is large enough to obscure your own shadow. You cannot see your own shadow. If you have a shadow, then you exist. You cannot exist.
You must become the tree’s shadow.
It must be a tree. No other shadow will do. Most people and things do not talk to their shadows. They look at them, sometimes stomp on them, out of curiosity. And that’s about it.
Trees, unlike others, talk to their shadow. Other plants too, but their shadows are not large enough for you to fit under.
Press your back firmly against the rough tree bark, and listen. Listen to the leaves move, instructing the shadow to move in perfect sync with the wind. Scratch your fingernail against the bark, and hear the tree growl at you, telling you to stop.
If you listen long enough, you can almost fool yourself that the tree is singing a song to you. That the friction of rustling leaves create a melody. Try to hum the approximate melody that the tree is singing. Your approximation will never be correct. Because your ears are imperfect. Since they are imperfect, they only hear a flawed version of the true melody.
In some other world, your ears are perfect, and you can hear the tree perfectly. You will need to find that other world soon.
But not yet.
Locate the lowest branch on the tree. Estimate how much weight it could hold. When the wind comes, listen if you hear slight creaking coming from that branch. You will need to determine if the branch will support your entire weight.
If the branch creaks a lot, the branch is telling you to go away. It’s telling you to rethink. It’s telling you to reconsider. It’s telling you to stop doing the only one thing that you’ve been 100 percent sure of in your whole damn life.
And you don’t want anyone to tell you to reconsider.
Find the closest branch that you are certain will support your entire weight. Take a picture of that branch and send it to me.