I originally posted this on Medium, a platform I'm currently using to write. Just thought I repost here in case anyone wanted a light read .
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As I drove back home this morning after doing the school runs, and as the traffic trickled by pretty slowly (lots of people either driving to work or trying to get their children to school), I suddenly became aware of the trees I was passing by. The road we were on had trees, about 2 meters apart from each other, lining one side of the road. As can sometimes happen, it felt like I was “noticing” the presence of the trees for the first time, and almost in a
spiritual way. I was looking at these trees from the eyes of a person who suddenly realized, whilst observing the aged lines and rough bark of the trees (they looked quite old- not “too” old but they looked like they’d been there a long time), that these trees had been around for a long time. A lot of them had seen and existed through different generations of humans and so, if they were “living creations”, with some type of “life”, they had a soul, or did they? WHAT did they have? They’ve been around long enough to have this “plant soul” observe different generations of the human specie: I wonder what they “thought”, if they did. How did view humans? What stories could these trees tell if they were opportune to? And as I thought these weird thoughts, it suddenly came to me that, people actually did worship trees, didn’t they? I made a mental note to research it once I got back home and these were my findings:- Tree worship is an actual thing and a lot of people, tribes, religions, sects etc. consider trees to be sacred.
- Tree worship is core part of religions whose core beliefs include the eco-friendly belief that trees, forests, rivers, mountains, etc have a life force (Aha! The initial use of the words “life”, “living creations”, “soul”, now seem rather fitting with the term “Life Force”).
- Trees have played a notable part in history and stories about them have been written to articulate their essence, their importance, the substance they carried and the character and power inherent within them. Stories to capture the nature of the force within them, their Life force. For instance, the Bible tells us about the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Buddhist’s believe that Lord Buddha was born, enlightened, and reclaimed under the Bodhi Fig Tree, which is also referred to as the Tree of Awakening. Hinduism has often positioned trees as the givers of knowledge and enlightenment. Trees are revered in Hinduism; the Rig Veda instructs not to cut down trees or uproot them as they provide protection to living beings. The sacred Banyan Tree is the national tree of India. There was the Fig Tree that the Lord Jesus cursed and that withered away. It “heard” what the Lord Jesus said to it; trees have the ability to hear then.
There were so many more interesting insights and articles I saw online but I guess I had somewhat satisfied the curiosity of my mind that had come from having these seemingly weird questions bubble up from within myself. Trees were living creatures and I’m sure that, locked up within that often scarred and rough bark, were tales of times and seasons that these creations have lived through.
As I bring this story to a close, I’d say that, as a Christian and a Believer, I believe that creation, as a whole, are living entities. The Bible tells me this and I believe, indeed, that “ the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God- Romans 8:19”. And so I believe that “creation” are alive, with Life Force, and are “awaiting” something, the revealing of the sons of God.
Until my next post,
Love and Light,
Judith.
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