bark of the plane tree

Do you know the plane tree? The plane tree has a beautiful mottled appearance on its trunk and branches – patches of

different colours – browns, olive greens, lighter, almost white patches. It is beautiful to look at, and looking closely one can see that these patches come about by bark peeling off, flaking away. Seeing this, I am reminded of the way that, on the spiritual path, our own bark – our own defences – flake away.

To discover our essence, we have to reveal ourself. We have to reveal ourself to other people and to ourself. We have to drop our masks, our defences. We have to peel away at those crusty layers that we have built up around ourself over the years. We may feel safe behind our bark but we are also isolated by that bark, cut off from the rest of existence, and cut off from ourself. We are living a fake life covered with the masks of the persona, hiding, inauthentic.

So chipping away at those masks, discarding them, throwing open the doors of our soul: this is what the spiritual journey is all about, allowing ourself to be seen by others and by ourself. For whilst we are deceiving others, we are also deceiving ourself, the two go hand in hand. So we too, like the plane tree, can start to flake away that boundary. We can start to drop our defences, un-peel ourself. And who knows, we too may look as beautiful as the plane tree, as our defences drop away.