Posts Tagged ‘earth centered spirituality’

Trees Breathe

On a trip out to the biosphere near Tuscon, Arizona with a colleague, I learned that trees, like humans, breathe in a way.   Their ‘breath’ is our form of life.  Trees inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.  This is why trees are so important at a fundamental, biological level. Trees provide the oxygen human beings need to breathe and live.  We exhale carbon dioxide and so provide the necessary element for trees to live.

Look around.  How many times per day do you see someone on an oxygen tank? This is a necessary piece of equipment for those who need more oxygen to breathe and stay alive.   The oxygen tank improves quality of life and ensures survival for those just on the edge of it.

How are trees also important in the magical universe? Trees are like human beings.

A tree has a long trunk and many branches.  Humans have a ‘trunk’ or body and arms, legs, fingers and toes.

A tree has friends, such as squirrels and many varieties of birds that live inside of it.  Humans can live alone, but often choose to live with other human beings.

A tree has speech.  It speaks when the wind blows and rattles its branches and leaves.  Humans also speak in verbal language, often too much.

Trees have deep roots that wander in the soil far beneath their obvious growth.  That ‘s why when a tree is taken down, it still seems to grow.  Humans create deep roots with their homes, often staying in the same place for a lifetime.

Trees lose their leaves in the autumn, retract totally in the winter and are reborn in the spring.  Humans get nervous in the late fall, retract totally into their home in the winter (except for winter sports lovers) and seem to be reborn in the spring and summer months when they begin to go outdoors again.

Trees give birth to baby trees.  An oak tree carries acorns that it discards on the ground, and if they take to the soil are born as new trees.  This is how a forest grows through propagation.  Humans are mammals, so when a human egg is fertilized it takes nine months to grow into a child and be born into the world.

We as humans have a great deal in common with trees.  Perhaps some may think this blog is as a bit of a stretch, but I don’t think so at all.  After visiting the biosphere, I learned how critical trees are on earth.  That’s why there’s so much screaming when trees (or whole forests) are demolished. Don’t be one of those people who heartlessly tears down trees and thinks it’s OK.  It’s not OK.  Trees are a form of life on earth that are so necessary to our survival.  Why do humans harvest trees?  For money of course.  When a landowner decides to ‘timber’ land and rid it of trees, there is money to be made.  So many objects, including homes and furniture, are made from trees.

There are alternative living beings (such as bamboo) that can be used for building homes and furniture, floors and other objects humans cherish.  Bamboo is so prolific it grows like weeds and repopulates itself in just a season.  It takes a tree so much longer to propagate itself that it just can’t keep up with human greed or need.  We need to re-envision what materials are used in building and stop heartlessly ripping down trees and whole forests.

The natural world is filled with the perils of human greed and need. When a forest is ripped down, animals and birds lose their homes – that is the trees.  Humans would not like it if animals and birds destroyed our homes, so why do we take the destruction of trees so lightly? The answer is there’s an almost total separation of humans from the natural world.  Nowadays, devices and computers continue to separate the human from nature as we automate almost everything.

One day, when I have so much money I can’t keep track of it, I am going to buy whole mountains in order to preserve the trees.  The forests are so integral to my way of life, living close to the earth and taking pleasure in walking in the woods for so long, I want to give something back – and that is keeping trees alive.  Without trees, where would we be?  Even large cities and the people who run them think it’s important to plant and keep trees.

Stop with the ignorance! Hugging a tree is just one way of saying, “Tree – you are important to my life.”  In fact, if we come to understand the way in which trees breathe, we find out that we need trees for life on earth.  Think about the way trees live next time one is torn down.  Look around and see how the animals and birds react differently, once the tree is gone.  Understand you can be a part of preserving trees, right on your own property – if you are lucky enough to own it. Honor. love and respect trees and thank them aloud for keeping us alive.