Tree There is a beautiful tree in my field. It’s not the biggest, nor the tallest, nor the straightest. It is simply a tree. One can tell the weathered path it has taken until this point by its small crooked trunk, bending back and forth as it rises from the grassy slope it occupies. It has struggled sharing the light of the sun, competing against the larger trees surrounding it. As the tree climbs up and up thinly, its trunk, with its scars and bruises moving in, out, back, forth, it has few branches at the very top, spreading its canopy modestly. The leaves are sparse with scraggly little braches supporting them as they move gently in the wind, creating its own unpretentious space. One can see how its struggled here. There is a beauty here. There is character here. There is a truth here, presenting itself to the world - I am, quiet, somber, unique. Tree of life, I witness my similarities, our collective similarities. I witness the lesson here on this field. We share ourselves in this world, struggling at times to grow and to create our own space. But there is something deeper here, something beyond our physical beings. We share in the space it envelopes. Not a space between us creating distance, but one we all occupy with our own scraggly branches. Our canopies need not be the largest, showing ourselves extensively to the world, but one that shares its space, sharing its shelter and shade. We share the space of obtaining the light, allowing others to seek and grow, being nurtured by the light. We share in the breezes that touch us, sending us gentle, warm reminders that we are together here, in this world. We all have our crooked trunks that at times seem too weak to support us, and all too often forgetting the strength in ourselves. We forget that our own unique self has the opportunity to continue to grow, no matter the circumstances; no matter how steep the slope we walk, because there is beauty in the field to awaken our senses. We forget that we stand amongst others who are the same as us. Each struggling to create their own space, fighting against the environment, worried about their strengths, seeing them at time as weakness; demanding their uniqueness. All the while, our actions seem to not take into consideration, nor taking the time, to experience the beauty of the others in our view; holding ourselves proud and not understanding we all share the light. This tree, this creation, is not just an object stressed by its situation, but is our own being, our own soul, waiting to be awakened with an opportunity to observe our conscious self connecting to each other in the field, having no distance between us, but space occupied and shared. There is no self, no center, no boundaries, but an expanse of lightness available to all of us. This tree symbolizes our awareness to the truth that we are all beautiful, that we share our scars and bruises, that we share our uniqueness, we share the breezes, we are who we are and that, collectively, are our own truth, together. Jackson Butler January 08, 2009
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:24:51 +0000
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