Good wood

There’s something similar about trees and the human mind. We do not know how far the roots go down or spread around under the ground. When it comes to searching for nutrients and water, the tree shows nature’s intelligence in adapting to what is – the roots go anywhere they can find sustenance. Above ground, we do not see the root system – it is a kind of theoretical knowledge we have about the tree’s underground nature. That’s like our human subconscious or unconscious. It’s our root system to which we hardly ever pay attention in our minds – being difficult to see, as we mostly concentrate on the “outer world”, but not impossible. We can look inwards and see the nutrients rising up… On the surface, what we do see is the trunk rising up and all the branches spreading out. In this photo, there’s not much spread because the trees are a little crowded in their forest habitat and strive to rise higher than those around them, to reach the vital sunshine when their leaves come out in spring. That’s the part of our minds we normally have access to. Notice how the trunks and branches adapt to their environment, twisting and turning to form a kind of “personality” that adapts more or less their surroundings, much like our personalities adapt to our human society. With the soil below and the sky above, the tree just grows and thrives or, if it can’t, it dies and rots away to form more soil. The trees can’t move; their roots keep them bound to the earth. We should learn from this. We humans, with our minds, have the possibility of movement over the surface of life, and that keeps us constantly entertained and… maybe even distracted. We interact with others, conveying ourselves from place to place. But what are our roots doing? Where are they searching for nutrients? What are our trunks formed of? How slow or fast does the sap run through us? What kind of growth rings do we produce as each year rolls by? What do our branches reach out to? Where are our tree tops? When do our leaves come out of their buds? When will they wither, turn brown and drop off? What species of tree are we? Will we produce good wood? Do we grow fruit and seeds? What will happen when the lumberjack arrives and cuts us down? How should we live our lives in a forest of thoughts, feelings and instincts? Where is the "tyger, tyger, burning bright, in the forest of the night"? And more questions, and more...