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Tree as the Origin of Life
A maple tree grows near my first-floor balcony. It’s green now, just on the cusp of yellowing for fall. When these words are read, it might already be autumn gold or leafless in winter — or the budding green of new spring. Time doesn’t matter so much when it comes to trees.
Buddha was said to have reached enlightenment beneath a fig tree, and Odin tied himself to Yggdrasil — the world tree — for nine days and nights to gain knowledge. The ancient Irish believed that eating the nut of the hazel tree would give a person poetic inspiration.
In the region where I live, Lenape tribal legend says humans sprouted from the roots and branches of a tree on the back of a giant turtle.
There are stories of sacred trees in every culture. And no wonder: they make up entire biomes, providing nourishment and protection for vegetation and animals alike. One of the largest organisms on earth is a colony of quaking aspen called Pando. An entire forest, interconnected and related by root and seed.
A tree is a home, then, and an ecosystem. When a tree stands in the desert for many arid centuries, it petrifies and becomes stone.
How many things can claim such fluid nature?
