Our Cradle In The Trees

       
How amazingly intricate this tree is how awesome it looks in its strangeness. It's familiar like a memory that has always existed in all of us an unconscious memory from our beginnings wired into us, just as much a part of us as our own genetic code. We have always had a connectedness with nature and trees especially, They have throughout many cultures held great importance, significance, power, and protection. Even worshipped by some considered sacred and held in reverence. This isn't surprising when you consider what trees were to our primitive selves. They were our homes and they provided us with shelter from the elements, safety from predators below, relief and cool shade from the warmth of the sun. They gave nourishment with there bounty of fruits and nuts and collected dew and drops of rain upon their leaves to quench our thirst. They raised us above all that was below giving us the ability to see more, see further and watch the world around us from the safe embrace of branches that cradled us and hid us from danger. They provided us with our first real tools twigs and sticks that we could use to search for bugs and grubs that we fed on.

Later as time passed we ventured across forests traveled and lived in different trees, forged in their leaves and slept in their safety. Just like the branches of our home, we began ourselves to branch outward moving and spreading towards the next patch of forest the next dense jungle. Our world was within the trees, for us it was the only world and our home.
In time we left the safe haven in the leaves to explore beyond the boundaries of the trees, perhaps we reached a place where the forests grew less dense provided fewer resources and were forced to meet the world below in search of food. Maybe one maybe three perhaps a few or more groups were more curious than fearful, a trait carried on in us even today, but whatever the reason we were propelled forward into a new unfamiliar world, one in which we probably only went at first out of necessity before quickly retreating to the safe world above. Until the next time, we had to brave that world unknown. Yet with each brave journey from our canopy above to the grounds below, we became less fearful of the new world we found ourselves in. In time the world we had watched from a safe distance high above for so very long became just another part of our world. In these times our world as we knew it grew vaster and larger and all that was provided from above was also provided down below, our world grew in a blink of an eye to encompass more of everything, and with that new things to figure out. Soon we would find ways to harness the world we knew in the trees to conquer the world we had discovered. We stayed close to our home in the protected shade and shadows of our forests, close enough to escape danger from below if necessary. We used our observational skills and ability to survey from above to keep others safe who were below working in unison we were able to explore and learn about this new part of the world, what was edible and what was not and what to avoid. We came across new substances hard material, different shapes and sizes different textures some bumpy others smooth some sharp and jagged and so hard it could be used to break large branches by smashing them against them, this allowed us to collect bigger stronger parts of the trees to be used for building temporary huts or as tools for moving what would be called a rock or stone of the larger heavier variety they could also leverage the boulders using these stronger branches. We discovered things that grew in the dirt and underneath it, things that were tasty, some that were not, some plants helped cure pain or ease an upset stomach. Others were less helpful even deadly the more we found around us the more ways we found to do new things. Everything would forever be different.
If we wanted to be safe when on the ground below we needed to figure out a way to protect evade or hide. Over time we discovered ways to use the hard rocks and stones to shape our sturdy branches into sharp points and made a multipurpose tool, something that can be used for digging and also protection. Eventually we would find another use for it probably while defending ourselves from a predator we discovered our tool could do more then keep the enemy at bay it could vanquish them if they worked together and teamed up using there crude spear together the hunted became the hunter the use of tools and the growing intellect along with our ability to coordinate, plan and work as a group gave us the upper hand against beasts many times fiercer, larger, and stronger then one of us. Now forging and gathering expanded into hunting and gathering.
At some point, we discovered yet another gift from the trees, the gift of fuel. Discovering that the dry fallen wood could be collected and stacked up then used to feed a spark that could be created by using two kinds of stones and clicking them together with a bit of dry leafs for kindling once the spark came to life it could be built up into a strong warm blaze and maintained with the collected wood. Eventually, we figured out the meat from our kills could be made easier to consume when putting it over a fire to cook.
And in time we were able to figure out which rocks were strongest, which were best for being shaped into tools and stone spearheads. We were able to use our gained knowledge of the world below the treetops in combination with our knowledge of the world above to create a brand new world. A world in which we were the designers, explorers, and creators of what we needed. We were no longer the primitive animal we had once been. We mastered many things after we descended from the treetops. We even eventually mastered the beasts able to tame them, raise and breed them for food, clothes and hard labor. We became the masters of our destiny, the builders of our future!
Yet still, something in us never forgets our beginnings.
We left the safe nurturing embrace of our branches just as a child eventually grows and leaves their mother and father and builds a family of their own. They are never far from their parents love, support and comfort, but no longer do they need to be protected and lulled to sleep each night. In this way, we were the same with the trees. We always remembered all they did to help us survive and they are a constant presence always their when and if we need them. They continue to help us as we grow never turning us away when in need of a shady spot to rest, or a shelter from a passing storm, if we are in need of a fire to keep warm the trees provide for us, if we need a permanent or even temporary shelter trees give themselves so we may have a roof and walls to protect us, the trees provide for us, when we want to write down our thoughts, print our knowledge for others to read, take a note down or just a reminder, when we feel the creative urge to draw or paint maybe just simply make a paper airplane, the trees provide for us. They give us the air making the oxygen we need to live and breath, the trees provide for us.
This is something if you search deep down inside yourself you will find is apart of us, something wired into our being an understanding not taught or learned just simply felt and known. The fact that trees are our beginning, our first world, our guardians and our protectors, they are our and Earths record keepers and most of all the trees provide for us.
Without them life as we know it would not be, we would not be. This I believe explains why so many different cultures have a similar respect and reverence for trees, why some of the earliest forms of religious beliefs and practices were to the forests or a certain tree or trees and nature its where the legends, myths and stories of The World Tree, The Celtic Tree of Life, Or The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of Judaism and Christianity.
The Banyan Tree and The Bodhi Tree in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
The Bodhi tree symbolizes enlightenment and wisdom and people continue even today to meditate under it in order to obtain Buddhahood.
In Egyptian mythology, there is an ancient Egyptian tale of two Brothers from around 3000 years ago in it one of the brothers leaves his heart on the top of the flower of the Acacia and falls dead when it is cut down. The Talein of Burma prays to the tree before he cuts it down. And sacred trees remain common all across India, found in villages, the countryside and the heart of some temples. Shripad Vaidya of Nagpur, Maharashtra is one such temple and has been called an eco-worship center. It is the first in the world and is known for the worship of the environment through plants.
There is a connectedness between trees and nature that is undeniable I feel like I have always felt it for as long as I can remember when I was a kid I loved gazing up at trees they were so large so tall so majestic and something always felt safe when I was with trees. I loved climbing them I loved the smell they had and the patterns in the leaves and various shapes and colors it always felt like a familiar old friend even a tree I had never seen. Some days when my mind drifts I look at a tree and feel it again like it is speaking to me, whispering a secret between two friends. The knowledge of our history with trees is like the need to sleep or eat or like hearing and seeing. You don't think about it, It just happens it is a part of our design we are creatures who can see and hear and our body doesn't need to be taught how to do so, it just does it exactly as it was designed to do. I only recently recognized this truth that has always been deep inside and when I did I realized it was always with me like a distant memory never forgotten just hidden away in some part of my soul, a memory from the beginning one not taught or learned, a memory as much a part of me as my cellular structure, or my DNA and just as real as my need to breath the oxygen provided to everything, provided by those amazing magnificent trees.
~ By Martha Ewell 07/24/2019