The Joy of Dancing

an Entosophy Interview with Red Maple

An Entosophy Interview
Red Maple
Received by Amanda Nicole
South Carolina Botanical Gardens
7.3.2023

** I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LISTENING TO THE RECORDING. THE AUDIO IS UNDENIABLY PART OF RED MAPLE’S MESSAGE.** And then, enjoy reading — there are beautiful field notes along the way.

Q: What is your view of Ultimate Reality?

the world is on fire
On Fire!
it is so full of life!
passion!
pizzazz!
the world is awake!
alive!
no sleeping here!

there is a fire
a vitality
that pulses
through Everything
i can feel it
in my blood
my hips

do you want to dance?

[ red maple begins to sing ]

Come on, shake your body baby do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger
Don't you fight it till you've tried it do the conga beat!

Life
the nature of Reality is Life
Nature is alive!
matthew told you that
he was right!
everything is alive
conscious
moving
desiring
dancing

you can’t see it
but everything
at its heart
is dancing

you would probably describe this
as atoms
as particles
you are welcome to speak
in that way

but I prefer dancing!

[ she moves her hips, her long, red hair swaying
honestly, it’s hard to interview her:
she just wants to dance and move ]

Q: What Ethics flow from this view of reality?

Ethics?!
Pleasure!
who has time to think about Ethics
when we’re dancing?
when we’re hypnotized by
my hips?

Q: Can you stop dancing for a moment?

no, not for a minute!
because Life is a dance
I AM alive
I AM  dancing
I AM  as i should be
I  AM as I AM

maybe that’s ethics!
dancing!

anything that makes for more dancing
do that!
anything that makes for more life
do that!
anything that undeniably pulses with blood
do that!
anything that inspires you to move
to move your hips:
do that!
anything that gives you joy
anything that gives you pleasure
anything that reminds you
you have a body:
do that!

[ she honestly hasn’t stopped moving her hips ]

Q: What Embodied Expressions -- Policies -- flow from these Ethics?

policies  that love the body
that love the flesh
cherish it
revere it
honor it

the body is sacred
movement is sacred
dance is sacred

humans
return to dancing together
barefeet
stomping
stepping
to the heartbeat of the Earth
you have certainly forgotten
the sound (the feel) of
her heartbeat
like a mother
like a child
you grew up
come down again

seriously though
you’ve forgotten how to dance
you  want to know
all the things
you “should” say no to
but what about all the things
to which you can say
Yes!

what if this were a policy:
more dancing
dance everyday
dance or die
what if
rather than town meetings
there were town dances
(didn’t there used to be those?)

Q: What is the Ideal Society?

dance with me!
get up and dance!

[ she reaches out her arms
so i get up
and begin to move my hips
how could i not? she insists!

and so, for a moment, we danced:
in rhythm, hips connected
One
and i smiled
and she smiled
and for a few moments
we forgot the problems
forgot the questions
because there weren’t any
we were dancing
we were the answer ]

Connection
Connection is the Ideal Socieity

I
You
We
One

a lot of problems can be solved when
you move your hips

Q: Do you have any final thoughts?

it feels good to dance
dance with me
always dance with me
move your body
get into it
remember you have it

you’re so much in you r head
find your heart
find your hips
move them

don’t you feel better
having danced with me?

alice walker said
hard times call for serious dancing

whenever it gets hard
stand up
and move those hips!

[ before i go, she wants to give me her name: annette ]

* i forgot to ask about the challenges. her movement and dancing were so distracting, but also, i think it would be safe to say she likely wouldn’t think there were any challenges -- except the lack of hip movement in this world — that couldn’t be solved by dancing. i may return and ask again sometime. 

enjoy the pictures and notes below. interviewing red maple was magical.

when i sit with trees, it is rare i receive an image of what some would call a tree spirit or deva. usually, i simply feel them and ‘hear’ their words, receiving images only as a way of illustrating the message. but with red maple, the image was VIVID. she presented herself as a woman with long, long hair the color of warm, golden red autumn leaves, and she was *constantly* in motion, moving her hips, full of vitality, life, and joy. i have truly never received such a sustained, visual image of the spirit of a plant.

at the end of the interview, she insisted i take her picture and began posing for different shots, wanting me to see and notice her from various angles.

honestly: you can almost see the curves of her body in this photo: the breasts, the hips, and that moss: that is the made-just-for-her velvet green dress she was wearing as she danced with life.

i’m always saying: you cannot make this stuff up! at the end of red maple’s interview, as she posed for pictures, i kept feeling like i hadn’t quite captured her. there was something i was missing. so i stood still for a moment and felt a nudge to look to my right, and there: one — and only one — of her leaves was spinning and dancing. it’s all so magical, so miraculous.

The First Entosophy Interview: Tulip Poplar & Ultimate Reality

Whispers Plant Spirit Medicine Podcast w/ Amanda Nicole

Ancient Tree: A Song Collaboration w/ Tulip Poplar & Amanda Nicole

A Conversation with Matthew (mentioned by Red Maple) & Amanda Nicole