Story Links:
Tao of Green
What are Story Stones?
This set of handcrafted Lapidary Art bookends features high-grade Green Aventurine, speckled Green Zebra Stone from India, and Walnut Wood. The wood is lined with cork to protect both the books and display surface from scuffs.
Inspired by Dale Bertram's trip through a rainforest in French Guiana, searching for Poison Dart Frogs. His overwhelming experience there led to an epiphany of sorts, which is expressed and examined here in the Tao of Green and its accompanying story. Four specific books accompany the bookends, selected for their significance to the Tao of Green.
The included books are:
Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell
French Guiana: The Bizarre and the Beautiful by Donna Mulvenna
Poison-Arrow Frogs: Their Natural History and Care in Captivity by Ralf Heselhaus
Papillon by Henri Charrière
Each Bookend is:
L x W: 15cm x 15cm (5.75" x 5.75")
Depth: 13.4cm (5.25")
Total weight: 3.98lbs (64oz)
Tao of Green
Obsession is the sine qua non (Latin for “without which not”) of artistic creativity. To be sure, obsession can sometimes be rather dysfunctional, but it is a necessary vehicle for gaining insight into the core essence of a matter: the Tao. Many years ago, before I became interested in rock art, I had an adventure that is represented here by these beautiful green stones. I had always wanted to experience a virgin tropical rainforest. At that time, I was obsessed with Poison Dart Frogs (another story). I had previously traveled the whole length of the Amazon River, from Belém on the Atlantic coast of Brazil to as far up the river as Iquitos, Peru. Although this was an incredible experience, I was disappointed to discover that the entire length of the river had been drastically altered - and not for the better - by human activity, principally logging. I wanted to see the real deal: untouched, unlogged, hundred-foot-high canopy, old growth rainforest.
I got my chance to do this when I traveled to Saül, French Guiana to collect poison dart frogs. If you want to collect them, you need be in their habitat during the rainy season. The implications of this are that relentless rain causes relentless misery for the would-be adventurer. We were camped in the rainforest, using hammocks to get off the rain-saturated ground, making the nights the best we could. After about a week, early one morning I found myself sitting atop Mont Bœuf Mort (Dead Cow Mountain) contemplating the folly of this endeavor.
The mountain was high enough that I could look out across the top of the canopy of the rainforest below. I was struck by the stunning variety of millions of different subtle hues of green. As the sun began to warm the jungle such that a mist rose up from the canopy below me, everything seemed green - even the mist was green. The musty air was thick with it. It was like swimming in greenness. The energy of the place began to come alive, vibrating on some wavelength never known to me before. The greenness of the place was truly astonishing.
I had no idea that there were so many different shades. For a while I forgot how miserable I was. As I was sitting there, the rising sun caused the dew to sparkle, creating little sparks of green light in the air. I could taste and smell and feel the greenness so strongly I thought I might just be becoming part of it. I had to check my skin to see if I was turning green. It became an overwhelming multisensory experience.
I will admit that the malaria medication I had taken the day before might have had something to do with all this. We took this stuff once a week to prevent malaria, and for the first two days after a dose things sometimes seemed a little weird - a bit otherworldly. Nevertheless, the remarkable epiphany that resulted was tangible, the notion that GREEN is the essence of ALL LIFE on this planet. It is the Tao. The Tao of Green!
The green color of the vegetation I stared at is caused by the presence of chlorophyll, an organic molecule used by plants to create energy out of sunlight. The same energy that drives the planet and sustains all life. Without such, the world as we know it would not exist. To truly understand the Tao of Green I had to bring myself to the limit of my physical and mental endurance in a place where humans are not really needed - not wanted, and maybe (probably) shouldn’t be there at all.