This tree is about a mile down the ridge from where five men were murdered for their gold in 1863. They must have passed it on their way to the place where they died. I think it stands as a metaphor for humans and the human condition, which I'll explain at the bottom of the picture.
The rock represents the 'way things are'; that is, the immutable laws by which man and nature abide. This too will be swept away with time, but for now let's just say that it means that 'the way things are' cannot be changed -- none of it. 'The way things are' is buried in history and in the physical and natural laws that govern creation. Physical and natural laws include gravity, the difference between men and women, between humans of various backgrounds, and the role of death in survival of the living. Plants eat the nutrients left for them in the detritus of death of animals and plants alike, and through wondrous processes that harvest sunlight and water, create new forage for animals, release oxygen, grow, and become part of the 'way things are' by dying. Little fish are eaten by big fish, which are in turn eaten by whales and humans.
No plant, no tree, no animal, and no human can change 'the way things are.' That is all in the past, and in Creation no matter how you define it. The 'way things are' includes death, birth, slavery, suffering, murder, war, and the triumph of the human spirit--all in the past.
The tree represents 'what we do about it now.' This particular tree, responding to gravity according to the law of 'the way things are' grew straight up until it encountered an immovable object, the rock, coming face to face with 'the way things are.' The tree could respond in any number of ways. It could simply quit and die; it could fall over, grow sideways, turn around and grow back into the ground, all of which have been solutions to immutable problems posed by human beings as viable alternatives to the 'way things are.' It would, if it could, simply kill the rock and split it in the manner Egyptians used to harvest stone for the Pyramids. That has been done by trees from time to time, but it is primarily the job of lichens, gravity, freezing and thawing water, and wave action to kill rocks.
This tree went around 'the way things are' without violating any natural laws over which it had no control, and then resumed growth straight up according to its urge against gravity.
Human beings encounter necessity just like the tree encountered the rock. Sometimes that necessity is 'kill or be killed,' kill or die, kill or starve, kill or freeze. Some times, to be very blunt, it means necessity is bound up in the human propensity to be the bloodiest of all animals, which is very much a part of 'the way things are.'
Like the tree, human beings do have a choice. They can forgo murder and war, for example, by dint of sheer will. If they encounter the necessity of killing, they can kill and go on without killing further. They can forgo buying fur coats made from baby seals, which means that the seal hunter will have to kill seals for some other end--perhaps to eat.
I think the tree in the picture is powerful medicine. It shows necessity and response to necessity. It shows the choice we have right now against 'the way things are' right now. The rock tells us that we cannot avoid killing any more than death, because it is 'the way things are.'
But we can go around 'the way things are' and triumph like the tree did by growing straight up in our urge of necessity.
Even the rock, and the 'way things are,' will eventually crumble. In that, we have nothing to say at all. |
