One Tree Does Not a Forest Make

There is a timeless wisdom to nature, of which all that lives is a part. Trees from from seed to sapling to a harmonious complex of roots, branches, and leaves. Human beings grow from equally humble beginnings into vessels of consciousness itself. Such is nature's wisdom. The world is order and order, the world. This great rock beneath our feet dances in the rhythms of vibrant life. All is connected and inseparable in this harmony.

As is the tree, so are men. We expand ever outwards and upwards as we grow, our branches extending. Our thoughts unfold as budding leaves, until their forgetful withering. Yet, new buds come with each hour, day, and year. In these changes we are not alone. Rather, we live among our brothers and sisters in a great forest. Our companions are as many as our leaves--and more. Animals tread amongst us, nibbling at the greeneries of thought. They are that which thought sustains: our worldly creations. In so being, they are also that which sustains our networks or roots and branches.

This forest is complete unto itself. The winds of time stir all branches, and the branches slice through the wind. Still, there is no hurry--urgency has no place here. All will grow, and all will die. The pace is steady, and the end the beginning. The great mother reclaims all of her children in time. The earth reclaims the forest, piece by piece. The sun will reclaim each world with fiery embrace. Eternity holds claim to all.

Back and forth the universe swings, its oscillations magnifying, dampening, and magnifying again. The wisdom of eternity is this rhythm. The expression of the rhythm is the universe. The melody of the universe is life. All is a magnificent symphony, and we are the musicians. The vast forest sings the undying theme of creation, and trembles with the coming reprise.

The sun rises and sets in endless succession as time sends our branches farther skyward. In time, the branches will die. Death finds all with equal ardor. Yet it is not the nature, nor the wisdom, of the forest to mourn.

As the sun sets, so shall it rise again. One shall live where another has died. This is the rhythm, and only another oscillation. Back and forth we swing, sometimes soaring higher, sometimes swinging lower. Ebb and flow, extend and retract. All is in motion, caught up in the dance. Forms are impermanent. The tree is not the tree. Life is transition. One iteration after another, we come to know this as truth.

We are all travelers without origin or destination. Behold! When we reach the end, we find the beginning. Lessons are learned from the journey, and as the journey is endless, so are the lessons. This is to say, we may find the same path to have different features when we next travel. This is of our own doing. Maybe we made a bridge of a simple log to ease the crossing of a stream. Maybe we hacked through thorns blocking the way. We might have left signs warning of danger, or to remind us of a clever and unique discovery. And each time we walk our path, the way is more clearly defined by the dirt that packs beneath our feet.

We grow more comfortable as the path becomes more familiar. We see the forest until we know each tree by name. We hear birdsong, water-music, and the rapid treading of footfalls until we finally learn the song. Only then are we content to retire to the glorious sleep of the infinite. And so eternity reclaims its own. And, as the wisdom goes, we dream again of the path, this time winding though a different forest. The dream is of all dreams, and the forest is every forest.

This oscillation complete, we awaken to the beginning that follows every end. The rising sun dispels the darkness. We hear the reprise bleeding into a new overture until all we hear is the swell of the new theme. For a brief moment we are every tree, bird, and brook in the forest. And as this wholeness fades, we know fear. But we are still the wisdom, just as much as we are our mounting terror. We soon forget, as we always do, who we truly are. So, once again, we find our only option is to walk. And this is our wisdom.