The Existential Crisis of Trees

My work puts me in front of many people who are asking life’s most basic questions: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? Where Am I Going? What Is This All About? I think most people who don’t do what I do, as a spiritualist minister and counselor, would be shocked at how similar everyone’s questions are to one another.  Recently I had an epiphany about this phenomenon. Almost all of us have the time to explore life’s deeper mysteries because of the fantastically prosperous world we live in. “What?” you’re thinking.  “Prosperous?” Yes, prosperous. We live in a fundamentally prosperous world. The evidence you need is as close as some family members. Only a few generations ago, people worked from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. And they worked hard, physically. There were no Starbucks, no ‘fast food’, not to mention no cell phones and no internet. Trust me I am not in favor of returning to the ‘days of old’, on balance I like the world I live in today. I like the fact the people, in general, are working less and having more. That is certainly one of my primary definitions of prosperity.

Even though we complain about how fast paced our lives are, they are filled with more things (more lunches with friends, more little league games, more family visits, more travel… etc) because we have more time on our hands than any generation before.

Our shared prosperity, in both time and money, however, comes not without a price.

The gift we have been given is the luxury of time. Precious time can be used to create, to enjoy, and to love. Instead of taking advantage of the gift of more time by creating a better world for ourselves and our families, by stopping to enjoy a beautiful sunset, or taking time to tell the people we most cherish that we love them, we fill our time with extra things to do. It’s this focus on quantity and not quality that robs us of our ability to enjoy the extra time that our society affords us. And the time we haven’t filled with stuff… we fill with worry.

Whenever I am looking for an answer in my own life, I often look to nature to see how it handles the problem. One day while sitting in the park, I took notice of a large oak tree. I wondered how old it was and what stories it would tell, if it could. But, of course it can’t tell any stories because it is too busy ‘being’ a tree. Then my mind began to wonder… What would it be like to be that tree?

I live in a climate controlled environment (my house), I have the ability to be mobile when needed, my nutritional needs are met for me with little or no effort on my part, and I rest when I need to rest. Instead of spending all its time ‘being a tree, what if that tree had an ‘existential crisis’ and acted like most people I know… including myself. Just imagine what a tree goes through over the course of just one year.

The first thing you’d hear is “I have been standing here for God only knows how long!” “I ask you… did God give every living thing the ability to lie down and rest, except trees?” Every time a storm was gathering on the horizon, the tree would start waving its branches screaming “Oh my God! A storm is coming.” “What if its winds tear off all my leaves?” “What if I am struck by lightning?” “What will I do?” In mid-summer, the tree would be complaining to anyone that would listen about ‘how hot it is’ asking “Seriously, will it ever end?” Come autumn the tree would be in outright panic. “I AM LOSING MY LEAVES!” “Don’t you get it? I get all my nutrition through my leaves. All of it people!” And by mid-winter the funk of the old oak tree would be in full bloom. “Fine, go in your warm home. I, on the other hand, cannot go anywhere because I have roots. I have to stay here no matter what.” A full sigh would be heard from that old oak tree. Then, the arrival of spring lifts the spirits of the old oak. The sun is shining brightly, the leaves are returning, the sap is flowing abundantly and life is good. Then once again a thunderstorm gathers on the horizon, and the old oak tree asks his most pondered question “A Thunderstorm. Hmmm.  Why do I keep creating these thunderstorms in my life? “Maybe I hate myself for being a tree.”

Of course trees don’t have these thoughts and emotions. They are anchored in a much deeper truth than most of us. The purpose of being a tree… is being a tree. Its life is fated to be spent exposed to the elements. Its only task is to grow and fill out completely, to catch as many rays of sunlight that are possible for it to catch, and to store valuable rain water in its root system. In just being a tree, it provides a home for animals, and shade for people to enjoy. It even cleans our air- returning much needed oxygen to the world.  Like the tree, our purpose is fairly straight forward; be the best we can be. When you find yourself faced with life’s deeper questions, don’t ask ‘Why am I here?’ and then stop… start with that question. Ask God, the Universe or Spirit to show you how you can grow tall and full, spiritually, like the old oak tree.

The difference between most of us and the tree is; we worry that we will never find the answers we are looking for. We worry our leaves will go away and never come back. That single act of worry stops us from being ‘who’ and ‘what’ we are. We worry so much about life that we fail to live life. Life is an endless cycle of the seasons… friends come and go; we have good crops and bad crops; rainy seasons and droughts. Most of our experiences are just expressions of the cycles of life we all participate in.

Make a commitment today to take your life in a new direction. Jump fully into your own life. Own it. Own it ALL- the good, the bad, and the down-right ugly. Part of our nature is to want to tackle the big stuff first.  Imagine a 14 month old baby wanting to run a marathon. Heck, she can hardly stand without wobbling. Start with the easy stuff. Find an area of your life that you can easily make changes in. Then make the desired changes. Then, like the shampoo bottle says, rinse and repeat. Success breeds success. You’ll get so good at making positive changes in your own life; the big stuff will get taken care through the power of momentum alone.

Some people say they would like to be a teacher of others. Well, people will flock to you when they can see that you practice what you preach. And, nothing speaks louder than the results in your own life.  I hear others say that they want to “heal the world.” Jesus said (Luke 4:23) “Physician, heal thyself.” If you want to heal the world, you’ll have to heal your own world first.

I invite you to create a new experience in your life.

Don’t fritter away life’s precious moments being the ‘neurotic tree’ fussing about the natural cycle of things. Choose today to stop worrying and complaining about the weather, politics, money, the future, the past and all the other things that fill our idle conversations with subtle negativity. We teach that we attract what we hold most firmly in our own minds; so fill the abundance of time in your life with thoughts of peace, gratitude and forgiveness. Who couldn’t use more of those qualities in their own life? I know I could.