
As I travelled I found this tree - or perhaps it found me, who knows. I stopped, and don't remember if I asked permission to take its picture - I rather think I didn't as I was looking out for traffic and lost in my egoic mind - so I just took it anyway. Not something I would do to other beings of course - other people that is. But then we humans have short memories, and think we hold so much more value than everything else, do we not...
What a mighty tree it is! How it has twisted in growth over the years... how it has turned with the seasons, ever upward, ever downward, stretching out in all ways to find itself in space and time. I would like to know it better. Sit beneath its mighty bows with my back against its trunk. Get to know the essence, the spirit and the personality of this awesome tree. Find the oneness that we two will share. But look! There is a fence between the tree and me. A fence that says politely, 'This tree is not for you - you may observe, but do not touch, do not make contact with its form, keep out!' Some take no notice of fences, and I envy them. They step over man-made boundaries that have been forged from the distortion of a society based on exclusion. 'This is mine' the fences say 'this very land belongs to me'. And I, as a well adapted child of social conditioning, complies absolutely. The fear put in me as an infant ensures I keep to the paths I am allowed to walk, and never stray across the border to taste freedom and truth.
How sad that seems to me today. How sad I cannot hug a tree without fear. The tree misses out too, I do believe. Another loving connection not made where one could have been, and all the while, never hurt a living soul.
But I see the tree in the picture, and I see it in my mind. I will see it again I think.