Day 38i: Where the strongest trees Grow … (05/22/2019)
“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating of Truth-tellers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in thick forests and gentle groves. And yet even more I revere them when they stand alone – not like reclusive hermits who have stolen away from society out of some fear or weakness, but rather like history’s great and solitary men & women (like Beethoven or Peace Pilgrim); those who stand apart due to their fantastic talent or fiercer nobility. For those such as these, the world rustles through their highest boughs and their roots are ensconced in infinity; and yet they do not lose themselves in either. For they struggle instead with all the force of their lives for one thing and one thing only: to fulfill their highest selves to the greatest of their intentions and abilities. And nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than such a beautifully strong & solitudinous being. When such a tree reaches the end of its majestic days and is cut down, one can read its whole history in the luminously inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years – the thin years of struggle and suffering, and the thicker times of delight and prosperity. And every wise forester knows that the hardest and noblest wood always has the narrowest rings; that it is high on the mountains and in continuing danger that the most indestructible and most ideal trees grow.” ~ inspired by Herman Hesse
;