I enjoy stopping by a few beloved trees in my neighbourhood. It's actually a necessity to visit them now and again! I feel their wisdom and sense of history, as though they hold many stories and release sage energy into the air from their branches, and the earth from their roots. The comfort tree: A solid maple that offers me steadfast company when life feels wavering. The connecting tree: The willow branches remind me of the fluid beauty of life, as it shifts and changes. The calm tree: I have a couple of them. It's where I go to ponder, when I need to breathe, release emotion and trust. The texture of the bark feels grounding.
I recently discovered Hermann Hesse's eloquent writing on trees.
Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.
A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else.
-Hermann Hesse
Where is your favourite tree, and why does it resonate with you?
