The Wisdom of the Trees by Shobana Kataria

The Wisdom of the Trees

The trees do not speak, they whisper.

A whisper that enters straight into you.

When I sit on the ground, leaning against a humble beech.

Falling asleep on soft moss, their messages come to me in dreamtime.

I go to the heart of my love and my sadness.

WILD : adjective :  Living in a state of nature, not tamed or domesticated. (Webster dictionary)

I’ve come here to say I’m sorry.

I realise that I’ve been complicit in creating a life and a society

driven by over-consumption and wealth production

to suit the agenda of big businesses.

Industrial growth society: The expectation that businesses keep growing to thrive. 

They do this by creating more demand through marketing which instills the feeling of lack in the consumer.

In other words, the job of marketing is to make me feel that I am lacking something which I have been getting along fine without thus far.

The cultural aspiration of accumulation of bigger, better, faster works, as long as it continues to be aspirational. When I get there, the story does not deliver happiness but is replaced by further aspiration.

A corollary of this malaise is that I will always continue to want something that I don’t have. This pursuit is endless. The machinery of industry needs to be fed by my wants and needs. The system of consumerism churns this circle of wanting something out of reach. Blatantly, unashamedly, consuming the resources of the earth; the titanic hurtling towards the iceberg, while we are on the dancefloor.

I’ve been duped by the idea that more is better

and that technology is going to fix the problem.

The narrative of the story of the technological fix to all my problems has broken. It simply has not and cannot deliver. This problem is bigger than the next new research-based innovation that will solve all my problems. I know that will only be the next business opportunity for someone.

I can see that low-cost and convenience have determined my buying decisions

without consideration of wider implications which are so easy to gloss over.

Corporations do not account for the ecological cost of their actions.

Technology and globalisation have de-skilled me and made me lazy. I no longer sew my own clothes, grow my own veg, walk to places, know my way anywhere, wash my car, clean my house, go to the local shops, the market, the ironmonger, the greengrocer. Its cheaper and more convenient to buy these goods and services in a global marketplace. I spend my money and get jobs done from my sofa. I spend my time going out, having coffee, meals and evenings in the cinema. More ways to spend money.

The oak talks of times long ago when the trees took part in our stories.

When everyone could hear them.

They were the standing people, members of society.

Their interests were represented when humans made any decisions.

I ask, where are the stories from the ancestors to help us here?

Stories which we can use to navigate our way out of this mess?

I see stories of protagonists and antagonist,

fast adrenaline-fuelled good vs evil battles

that hurtle towards their tidy endings.

Romances, heroes, dystopian worlds, apocalypses and disaster stories.

I don’t see anything to overcome this slow growing malaise.

A dis-ease that has a slow onset.

This discomfort, where I am the perpetrator

and the one who can save the situation.

All I see is the futility of myself acting as one person

against an over-arching trend of globalisation and homogenisation.

The solution has at its heart, a myriad of mundane choices which involve me choosing to pay a realistic price for local goods and services. It may be less convenient at times. The delivery of goods and services is just so damn convenient and cheap. In a world view programmed to ‘go for the cheaper option because it’s cheaper’. I now see how I have been controlled and manipulated by this race to the bottom.

The Acers, speak of their homeland;

Where cherry trees blossom and temples are still visited.

Our roots need a lot of water.

You too, need to be watered of your homeland.

There are no stories because yours is not yet written.

This story will tell of individual longings and awakenings turning to collective consciousness.

….. I dream of cherry blossoms falling like snow.

Of temple bells and prayers ringing across a warm mountain breeze.

Money : A medium that can be exchanged for goods and services and is used as a measure of their value on the market. (The free dictionary)

Money has made every transaction a business transaction. When money is not used, people do things for each other which results in creating a closer relationship. Gifting surplus to each other.  Here, each transaction is an exchange that creates the bond of closeness between individuals and brings the community closer.

In my dream, I am a bird flying over the land,

I see tremors and stirrings of awakenings.

People awakening to unfair subsidies

and of an uneven competitive landscape.

More conscious choices made to create a life-sustaining society.

New systems of money based around reciprocity.

Local businesses thriving.

Communities rebuilding and coming together

Creating new structures and a thriving local economy.

Actions taken when we stop hoping that someone else will fix the problem.

Revolution : noun:  A turning around or rotation (The free dictionary)

Below the ground, the roots hear of this.

Of nations awakening, of the skies clearing

When industry is paused.

Of reconnection of the land and the people.

A new story is being written – one that has no hero, no fast and tidy ending.

A story of people, plants and animals

Of purpose that transcends.

When individual and collective responsibility is taken

The ancestors could not have written this story,

they could not even have imagined it necessary.

It is one that our future generations are speaking into existence through us.

Come, sit with us, to imagine…

how our future generations would want this story to unfold

Awakening: noun : the start of feeling or awareness in a person (The free dictionary)

The Great Pause has allowed me to listen

to the longing within my heart.

To connect with you, Gaia,

to tread your soil,

sip from your stream.

To watch the majesty of the moon

and the glory of the sunrise.

I’ve seen hedgerows come to life and meadows bloom.

I’ve discovered simplicity.

The epiphany I was searching for

was here all along

Thank you.

Shobana Kataria June 2020