December 13, 2004

Little Tree

There is a little maple tree outside my back door. This tree had amazing crimson leaves this autumn – all blown off with the last windstorm. The tree is now completely bare, naked of adornment. How beautiful and graceful it is in its emptiness. It reaches up, toward the light, unafraid and unprotected. Within its core, this little tree holds a creative potential that will undoubtedly yield plentiful leaves and new growth this coming spring. This will happen without effort or striving, without longing or desire. The original nature of this little tree is pure and perfect in its emptiness, lovely in its form and formlessness. Something of this essence is in us, within each of us, in our most basic form. Our original nature, unadorned by ego or arrogance, is perfect and complete. When we are empty - quiet and not striving, we, too, may find an amazing creative potential within our core.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

What a nice comparison. There is a very large red maple just behind my house. I don't think it will look the same to me for the rest of the winter.

Anonymous said...

Just doing what needs to be done, not distorted by 'want' or 'not want' ... how extraordinary that our aspiration is to be like the tree, just manifesting that nature fully, being most fully 'what we are', authentic being ... fully our potential.

wonderful ...

Thank you Meredith.

Larry Clayton said...

Meredith:
Maples are beautiful!
For 10 years we lived on a 14 acre place in SC, with about 50 species of trees. One area near the creek was literally covered with maple seedlings. It really impressed me that one or two of them might become trees like the one you described here.

To think about people in that light really distresses me.

Blake offers the greatest consolation to me, poetically beautiful, but I still weep for all those little seedlings.

Trev Diesel said...

No striving. No pushing. No stressing. No driving.

Just be. Just be. Just be.

Thank you for the gentle reminder that - in complete opposition to the ways of Modern Man - simply BEING is enough.

isaiah said...

Such a wonderful vantage point you see from. "Yes." This is how this one feels after meditating here. "Yes...aaahhhhhhh."

Darrell Grizzle said...

What a beautiful blog you have here! After a couple of hours of surfing the net, it's like a breath of fresh air to find this site. You are indeed a graceful presence on an often-graceless internet.

Darrell
http://wildfaith.blogspot.com/

Joe said...

Riding on Darrell's coattails...

While the world seems awash in ego fixated radiation, there are tiny cracks and fissures in empty space that harbor the robust bacteria of graceful presence. But even this bacteria needs to eat. What feeds it is communion, sharing your love and sense of celebration, sharing your bliss. When bliss is overflowing, share it. When you share your bliss you feed the bacteria of enlightenment, and it keeps on blooming; as long as there is a food source, it keeps on blossoming.

We may find ourselves in a tiny little fissure of cyberspace, but it is a rich, fecund vein of life, of spiritual vitality, imagination, and possibility. Obviously we are enjoying the energy here. There is a play of song and dance and poetry, of love and encouragement happening here. Occasionally the ripe aromas of this celebration of being drift out into the world. Floating on this fragrance, the spores of enlightened energy may find purchase in the most unlikely places - a professor’s eyelid, a politician’s nasal passage, a priest’s intestine, or a parent’s aorta, just to name a few.

The bacteria of presence love to sing and dance, releasing the spores of bliss all over creation - ten billion in one song alone, twelve billion in every dance. And the more celebration is released into the world, the more bliss gushes forth. The more you share, the more you give from your heart of bliss, all that much more becomes available to you. The source of blissful delight, the wellspring of celebration is infinite. But it needs to flow to stay alive. So give away your enlightened energy, sing your heart out, dance with as much ecstatic vitality as you can muster, share your treasure and it will grow. Don’t be miserly. When you have it, share it. Even if you feel stuck in a dark, cold crack, there is life and warmth in you, in your heart. Share that tiny flame. For someone it will shine like the sun, and bring forth brilliant flowers. We can love and encourage others, wherever they are on their path.

Marjorie said...

So very true, Akilesh. Meredith, I loved this post -- there is something in trees that speaks to me so deeply. I love to look out the window at the trees when I'm at church. The trees are beautiful in every season. I recently noticed that the bare branches make it more difficult to perceive depth -- trees that are further away seem to mingle with the branches close to the window. It has meaning, but I don't think about that. I just look at the branches and give thanks.

Using the Christian lens to see these things is helpful to me -- this blog is one of those things spoken of in Phillipians 4:8 -- ...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.

Thank you for giving us such beautiful things to look at.