{"id":643,"date":"2012-03-26T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/?p=643"},"modified":"2012-03-26T09:00:10","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T09:00:10","slug":"getting-guidance-from-a-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/blog\/2012\/03\/26\/getting-guidance-from-a-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Guidance from a Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe life of the world, innate in everything, is clearly propagated into plants and trees, like the body-hair and tresses of its body.<\/em>\u00a0 -Marsilio Ficino<\/p>\n

We can say that the earth has a vegetative soul.\u00a0 <\/em>-Leonardo da Vinci<\/p>\n

Promise me that when I die, I shall be buried near–as near as they can make my grave–to the tree
\nwe saw today<\/em>. (Smike)\u00a0 From Nicholas Nickleby\u00a0<\/em> -Charles Dickens<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em>I\u2019ve always been comforted by trees\u2014whether I find them in a forest, in a park, in a yard, or in a plot of earth along a concrete street.<\/p>\n

And although I love all trees, there is one particular tree in my life that lives in a park near where I moved a couple of years ago. This tree has a twisted shape\u2014the two parts of her go in different directions, yet are joined together.\u00a0 Come to think of it, I often feel that I\u2019m moving in two directions too.<\/p>\n

It seems a miracle she\u2019s alive, because the bottom part of her trunk appears to be exposed and not buried very deeply in the earth.\u00a0 I know this is an illusion, however, and that it\u2019s only from my limited perspective that she looks like she’s about to topple over.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure she\u2019s been standing where she is for a very long time.<\/p>\n

Because of her shape, I can simultaneously press my heart against her and lay my arms out to either side. I drape myself around her and I\u2019m at peace.\u00a0 She offers unconditional love.\u00a0 Sometimes when I\u2019m with her, I contemplate my current dilemmas and then listen; she always has a ready answer.\u00a0 Perhaps I find in her a kindred spirit.<\/p>\n

Our ancestors on this planet had a powerful, instinctual understanding of nature.\u00a0 Their lives were closely dependent on rivers, animals, trees, oceans, and forests.\u00a0 We have never stopped being dependent on nature–we are nature too–but we have learned to dominate it more often often than listen to it.\u00a0 Still, then as now, all of life on earth is interrelated.<\/p>\n

During the Renaissance, when artists and philosophers looked back to ancient thought, there was a renewed appreciation of the divinity of nature.\u00a0 Philosophers said that everything in the universe\u2014rocks, trees, animals, humans, planets and stars\u2014was infused with a common, divine essence, the Soul of the World.<\/p>\n

Of course the belief in the holiness of the world, and in trees in particular, can be found in many theologies and mythologies. Early Native Americans, for instance, spoke of the earth as a living body, endowed with a kind of innate wisdom.\u00a0 They believed that certain trees would speak to them when the wind blew through the limbs. And in ancient Greece, at the shrine of Dodona, priestesses and priests interpreted the rustling of the oak leaves to decide what actions they should take. The Buddha was awakened while sitting in meditation under a tree.<\/p>\n

In any case, it’s obvious that trees are remarkable beings. They are amazingly patient and put up with just about anything: garbage strewn around their roots, plastic bags hanging from their branches, loud traffic whizzing past.\u00a0 Trees are beautiful to look at, quiet, calm, patient, and full of dignity. \u00a0 And think of just some of the services they provide.\u00a0 The breath of trees cleans, humidifies, and cools the atmosphere.\u00a0 Trees retain CO2, as well as other chemicals and pollutants, and release oxygen. They offer homes to many species.\u00a0 I think they deserve to be hugged\u2014and it feels so good to hold onto them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The life of the world, innate in everything, is clearly propagated into plants and trees, like the body-hair and tresses of its body.\u00a0 -Marsilio Ficino We can say that the earth has a vegetative soul.\u00a0 -Leonardo da Vinci Promise me that when I die, I shall be buried near–as near as they can make my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[189,191,192,193],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","tag-mythology","tag-renaissance","tag-soul-of-the-world","tag-trees","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}