dead tree

I am sitting on a wooded hillside and before me is a small dead tree. Most of the bark has flaked away, leaving the naked wood exposed. One can see all the grains in the old wood. Here and there holes have formed. There are knots and there are whirls. It is beautiful.

This to me symbolises how our inner being – that we ordinarily are in such pains to hide underneath masks – that inner being is beautiful. We can afford to show it to the world. And those very features that we believe to be most unacceptable – our own holes and whirls and knots – those very features add to our beauty. They do not detract from it. So this dead wood is a reminder: a reminder that we can afford to unmask ourselves. We can afford to show our inner being and just trust, trust that it is beautiful, divine. We do not need to hide our inner beauty.

There is another thing that this dead tree is reminding me of and that is the way it is still supporting life. Moss is growing on the wood. Ivy is using it for support and thriving. Insects too are loving it. This reminds me that life is interconnected and that even when we may feel ourself to be rather dead and useless, the rest of existence is accepting us as we are and appreciating what we are offering. So altogether this little dead tree is a great reminder that we can have faith in our role in life, even if we do not see clearly what it is. We are all part of this great dance and we are living it perfectly, even at those times when we cannot see that.