Songlines

Some of the oldest storytellers on the planet are Aboriginal Australians, whose stories go back thousands and thousands of years.

Landforms and animals that we see simply as rocks, watering holes, Perente lizards, kangaroos, even majestic Uluru (Ayers Rock) are, for Aboriginal Australians, not what they appear and more than they appear: they are the Songlines that enable the people to travel with absolute surety the vast, unmarked distances of the Outback.

"The knowledge of songs and paths tells us where we are going, without maps and compasses,” said Aboriginal elder Burnam Burnam. “It tells us what the desert and mountains can be expected to offer by way of water and resources. Bonds between us and land can never be broken while a person lives, regardless of the clothes we wear, the processed food we eat, or the cars we drive. (…) If people are in communication with their own essential nature, they will also possess a natural link to other beings and creation.”

We, too, need Songlines in our lives - stories that can help us find our way when we feel lost in the outback of our own fear, despondency, loneliness, hurt. Stories that can lead us back to our own essential nature.

What stories do you sing that help you remember how connected to everything you truly are?