It struck me this morning as I was looking around at my neighborhood from the porch how much trees are used symbolically to show how we humans "should" be. A common grounding technique is to visualize yourself as a tree, with roots that stretch down into the earth to draw up the energy, allowing the energy to rise through you as sap rises in a tree, out down your arms like branches and back down to the earth like leaves falling to the ground. It's a way to stay connected to the earth and her energy, a way to stay present, and a way to release unwanted energy like harmful emotions.
We also talk about how trees are flexible, bending with the wind. Sometimes in strong wind they break, but the strongest among them do not. They flow with the wind, supple as well as strong, so that the wind cannot break them. Their branches also slow down the wind, creating an ideal natural windbreak that doesn't interrupt the wind currents. The wind passes through the branches, along it's normal currents, but slows considerably as it's energy is absorbed in the branches. Compared to a hard wall or mountain, which redirect the wind and can speed it up and which will eventually erode from the wind, the tree's gentle yet strong approach seems more sustainable in the long run, and less harmful overall.
There are trees all over the world, all sorts of different shapes and sizes and colors. Yet their basic systems remain the same - roots, trunk, branches, leaves or needles, seeds in some sort of "fruit", sap, and bark. While there may be all sorts of grasses and all sorts of vines and all sorts of algae all over the world, trees have some other familiar things. They grow from the ground up, getting taller as they age. They convert sunlight into vital nutrients. They are adaptable, flexible. They have a profound effect on their environment, branches creating shelter and shade, roots preventing erosion, their very bodies providing homes and food for various critters and other plants. Their absence is noted, as much as is their presence. In fact, their very absence or presence denotes the type of climate of a region.
We humans are much the same. We are all over the world, different shapes and sizes and types. While allergies and sensitivities may vary, we all still have the same basic biology and very similar DNA. We grow from the ground up, and our skin converts sunlight into the vital nutrient of vitamin D. We are adaptable, adjusting as needed to whatever environment we may wish or need to occupy. We have a profound effect on our environment, our activities as apex predators and foragers very much entwined in the ecosystem. How and where we build our homes, our interactions with animals and plants, all very much have a big impact on our environment. We have eliminated regional climates at times, destroyed microclimates, invented new climates, and have completely changed the climate of a region from one type to another. Our very presence alters the climate and ecosystem, as does our absence, both of which are equally noted.
Should it be a surprise that of all the plants in the world, we should connect to the trees so much? We see ourselves in them, and them in us. We see them as the wise ancients, who evolved in a way that can only be in harmony with nature. So much alike are we to our cousins, the trees, yet so much too are we different. We set up hard walls, physically in the world and emotionally or mentally in ourselves, walls that are liable to erode, crack, and crumble when buffeted by too much wind. But also we can be like the trees: yielding, flowing, allowing, and yet also strong and stable. We see the trees as shining examples of what we could attain, seeking answers of how to be by watching how they are.
We also talk about how trees are flexible, bending with the wind. Sometimes in strong wind they break, but the strongest among them do not. They flow with the wind, supple as well as strong, so that the wind cannot break them. Their branches also slow down the wind, creating an ideal natural windbreak that doesn't interrupt the wind currents. The wind passes through the branches, along it's normal currents, but slows considerably as it's energy is absorbed in the branches. Compared to a hard wall or mountain, which redirect the wind and can speed it up and which will eventually erode from the wind, the tree's gentle yet strong approach seems more sustainable in the long run, and less harmful overall.
There are trees all over the world, all sorts of different shapes and sizes and colors. Yet their basic systems remain the same - roots, trunk, branches, leaves or needles, seeds in some sort of "fruit", sap, and bark. While there may be all sorts of grasses and all sorts of vines and all sorts of algae all over the world, trees have some other familiar things. They grow from the ground up, getting taller as they age. They convert sunlight into vital nutrients. They are adaptable, flexible. They have a profound effect on their environment, branches creating shelter and shade, roots preventing erosion, their very bodies providing homes and food for various critters and other plants. Their absence is noted, as much as is their presence. In fact, their very absence or presence denotes the type of climate of a region.
We humans are much the same. We are all over the world, different shapes and sizes and types. While allergies and sensitivities may vary, we all still have the same basic biology and very similar DNA. We grow from the ground up, and our skin converts sunlight into the vital nutrient of vitamin D. We are adaptable, adjusting as needed to whatever environment we may wish or need to occupy. We have a profound effect on our environment, our activities as apex predators and foragers very much entwined in the ecosystem. How and where we build our homes, our interactions with animals and plants, all very much have a big impact on our environment. We have eliminated regional climates at times, destroyed microclimates, invented new climates, and have completely changed the climate of a region from one type to another. Our very presence alters the climate and ecosystem, as does our absence, both of which are equally noted.
Should it be a surprise that of all the plants in the world, we should connect to the trees so much? We see ourselves in them, and them in us. We see them as the wise ancients, who evolved in a way that can only be in harmony with nature. So much alike are we to our cousins, the trees, yet so much too are we different. We set up hard walls, physically in the world and emotionally or mentally in ourselves, walls that are liable to erode, crack, and crumble when buffeted by too much wind. But also we can be like the trees: yielding, flowing, allowing, and yet also strong and stable. We see the trees as shining examples of what we could attain, seeking answers of how to be by watching how they are.
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