Feeling Cloud Foresty

Monte Verde, August 2014

Grayvin looks up at the blue-crowned motmot, gracefully perched at the end of a delicate tree branch. I am sure that he has seen this bird over a thousand times, yet he still stands there and looks at it with the most sincere awe and admiration.

He has been doing this since he was eight years old, he tells us. He grew up in this forest, searching for animals and insects, plants and parasites, amphibians and arachnids. Overtime, he has come to know just where to look to find the most unbelievably camouflaged organisms. He knows the best times to traverse the cloud forest in search of venomous snakes and colorful hummingbirds. He navigates with diligence and ease, yet full of inspiration and wonder.

Most importantly, Grayvin has developed a feeling.

Sure, he can give you the scientific name of all the plants and birds and fungi that you may point to. Of course, he can tell you the current number of snake species that exist in Costa Rica.  Without a doubt, he can spot you the male black-breasted wood quail amongst the covey. But what is most intriguing about Grayvin is that he lives in harmony with the forest.

He understands that to cut down a tree, is not just to lose a tree in the forest. It is to destroy a family. He understands the interdependence of the moss and the motmots. He understands the evolving ecosystems that give life to one another within the rainforest.

He feels it.

He says that when he is inside the forest there is energy. The soil and the plants can feel the vibrations of his footsteps. The animals are alerted by his presence. His idea of interconnectedness is not an abstract image. It is as real and tangible as the Guarumo tree that houses the two-toed sloth. He knows for certainty that as human beings we are part of nature because our very lungs expand to absorb the oxygen created by those same trees. This forest is our true existence.

The Cloud Forest Sage,
Sketch by Brian Carville

And for those few hours that we walk with Grayvin, I can feel it, too. I don’t need to remind myself “we are one”. I walk it.

Grayvin is many things: an amazing biologist, a well-studied environmental scientist, and a brilliant tour guide. However, to me he is something more: a sage. Grayvin tells me, "only about 30% of his learning he attributes to books and formal education.” The remaining 70% of his knowledge comes from direct observation of nature. It comes from being nature. 

This is what I call wisdom. It is a feeling.

And you can feel it, too. You just need to take a walk with him.