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Show HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS Tree of Life By Erina Jeiin lOr ...Once upon a time a small nut fell from a tree. Soon a leaf flying in the wind hid it from foraging squirrels, It was dark under the leaf. The little nut was disappointed that even the squirrels squir-rels did not see it. "Maybe they are right that I am of no use to anyone," little lit-tle nut though. Rain fell. The temperature dropped. White stuff covered all the ground. Little Lit-tle nut began to feel drowsy and tried to sleep. Suddenly, all around was light whirling swirling. Images began to form, and scenes uncoiled from the vortex. Little nut was scared. Then a soft, kindly voice soothed its feelings and explained the colors and light as a vision of little nut's future soon to begin during the winter cycle. "Oh, the beauty. Oh, the wonders," thought little nut happily. Finally, exhausted ex-hausted and joyful, the nut began its winter rest. More time passed. Snows came and went. Moisture swelled in the nut and froze. Changes began as it slept. Many moons and suns later, Spring came in all her beauty and warmth. Buds shot forth and leaves unfolded from their hearts. Blossoms breathed out perfumes in the air, and the golden light penetrated the depths of the earth. Little nut awoke. "Oh, my shell! It's cracked." Little white filaments clung to the soil and debris of the forest floor. "My roots," cried little nut, "they-re growing." "My eye has grown upward. I can see out of the shell," Little nut remembered again the visions of the vortex. "Someday I will no longer need this shell. My roots will gather nutriment nutri-ment from the soil. My trunk will take my branches high up in the blue light where my leaves will convert it into food. Cycle after cycle I will grow strong and upright while the sun and rain caress my bark, encouraging me to observe and share what I can with all who are near. I can be useful after all." Little nut smiled. "I'm going to be a tree!" ...and so it came to pass, the little nut grew and shared and became one of the giants of the forest... How valuable are the fairy tales and legends of our kind! Little nut is a fantasy fan-tasy used for illustration, but there are many human beings of all ages, or stages of growth, who feel the sadness or the nothingness of life when their last fond dream has crumbled into the ground. Man has been compared to a tree. His story varies only according to the time, or the race of people who used it to train their offspring. We, like the Tree, are children of our parents, Mother Nature and Father Sky, or Mother Earth and Father Heaven, depending upon which myth you prefer. Earth and Sky are really One for are they not interchangeable in cycles and seasons? Is not atmosphere at-mosphere the evaporation of material substance? Is not material substance the condensation of atmosphere in some form, from some time? era?' Earth and Sky by expressing themselves in the ages have formed 'life, supported life, and evaporated life into the changes and evolutions of its Being. Through self-nutrition and growth, Aristotle thought, the living Beings Be-ings procreate and fulfill their alloted breadth, width, length and time. Our parents, Nature and Sky, have also been called a Tree of Life, knowing the needs of their children from a beginning beginn-ing in antiquity to the present stage. They gave us codes of identity, roots which we carry within us. They gave us ability to stand upright, like the trunk of the tree, connecting our roots with the branches, limbs and top (brain). According to our coded schematic we can grow in all directions appropriate for our species without bursting in any one direction. By using carefully the messages of our Tree (soul? psyche?), we can create first with thought images, and later we can build in material substance the reality of those unseen thoughts. Whether we think of self as roots, bio-flesh, or soul, we can see the varities of man from zero point to autonomous Being or Person. Philosophy, true beliefs, and realism use different terms for explaining man's realities, but what really matters mat-ters is that we use as much of our total potential and capacity as we can to create, to bring from memory the culture and needs of the present and future. We need artists, muscians, teachers, builders, writers, inventors, . social servers, scientists, physicians, nurses and others of all occupations and skills with the vision and integrity to balance the Tree of Life on a planetary level and a national one. We can build a comforting temple of peace, a beautiful refuge, a strength to help us live life through all its problems or challenges, to have patience with our children, friends, spouse, and gain self -control in the face of fiery elements. Our thoughts, like leaves soaring in the wind, can convey awakening to needs of the present, and whisper the visions of tomorrow. From the unreal we can travel to the real, the authority of the Tree. ..its present, silent example. |