As Maria Popova’s quotes, ∇ Ram Dass drew on the human-tree analogy,
When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. … You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.
The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, “You’re too this, or I’m too this.” That judging mind comes in.
In other words, when surrounded by people, competition sets in. That is what we have learned. But, tragically, we miss out on what competition hides,
When a tree is very small we protect it by surrounding it with a fence so that animals do not step on it. Later when the tree is bigger it no longer needs the fence. Then it can give shelter to many.
We need to learn to “just allow it” and collaborate.
The fence is the community of support…, the kindred spirits with whom we surround ourselves when we are still vulnerable … [A] lovely reminder of that mycelial connection that binds us to each other, just like the mycorrhizal network undergirds the forest with its web of communication and nutrition.
ENDNOTES
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Maria Popova. How to Be Less Harsh with Yourself (and Others): Ram Dass on the Spiritual Lessons of Trees. The Marginalian, January 13, 2023. <https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/13/ram-dass-tree/>
