ORCHIDS NEVER LIE. They are not fools or idiots. They do not march behind fools and idiots. They bring no ugliness into the world. They pollute nothing, spiritually, mentally, or physically. They are simply themselves, and in being themselves, they speak of beauty and integrity.

What I say of orchids can be said as well of oak trees, and pines. Of wood thrushes and cardinals. Of rocks and rivers and moon and stars. And thus some of us are drawn to Nature, to a world of honesty and clarity in which things are what they seem. It is a world not without mystery or difficulty, pain or loss, but one in which such things are factored in and accepted, because they are real.

When one walks in a shadowed woods, or paddles a canoe on a deep, clearwater lake, or lays outstretched upon the night-cool earth, gazing into the heavens, one becomes aware, gradually, of belonging. Of knowing. Of sensing the truth that everything is more than we think it is. And that our lives are more than we think they are.

And when this truth strikes home, it is no longer possible to tolerate lies and ugliness, coercion and deception and manipulation as the parameters of life. The orchids say that life is more than that. It is both more beautiful and more real, steeped in mystery and meaning. The orchids say that perhaps, someday, somehow… it is beauty itself that will save the world.