Can You Trust a Tree?

Can You Trust a Tree?

That’s a bizarre question, right?  What does it even mean to trust a tree, or distrust a tree for that matter? That question doesn’t make sense because trust is fundamental to the way Nature works and thinks — to Nature’s Paradigm.

In the “real world”, the world of the Conventional Paradigm, you really can’t trust anyone. That’s because, in the “real world”, resources are limited and there’s not enough to go around. You know that, ultimately, you have to look out for yourself because no one else will. In our dog-eat-dog world, you’ve got to play the game and play to win, whatever it takes. You’ve got to get a lot while you can, while it lasts. You’ve got to protect yourself and reject them and their ideas, especially their ideas for change. The “real world” isn’t very nice, so distrust is quite appropriate.

Is that how you feel? Is that what you believe to be true about the world? Probably, sometimes, as that is what our current dominant cultural paradigm drives us to feel and believe. It’s good for exploitative capitalism, political divisiveness, and mass manipulation — as well as climate change, biodiversity loss, and racism.  

Is that how you want to feel? Is that what you want to believe to be true about the world? I hope not! Thankfully, you likely don’t feel that way all the time. Your feelings and beliefs are likely quite different when you’re walking in the woods, lost in music, or noticing the ephemeral beauty of a sunbeam passing through the steam rising from your morning cuppa. In those moments, you may feel expansive and appreciative of the wonders of our world. You may have a sense that things are good, that good things are possible. You have a relaxed innate sense of trust. In these moments you are experiencing Nature’s Paradigm, your natural paradigm.. 

A tree — as well as a mushroom, a robin, and a bacteria — live and grow and thrive because they value and believe in abundance, systems, synergies, resilience, curiosity, and trust. In Nature, trust is knowing what is true and real, and relying on that. It is taking only what you need, knowing that others will do the same.It is about fully participating in the systems that support you and knowing that others will also. Trust is knowing who and what you are and living in full alignment with your own priorities and truths.

That’s what a tree does, so the answer is yes, you can trust a tree. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all trust each other the same way?

You may not be able to change everyone else, but you can change yourself, how you think. You can easily learn to think like Nature, because you ARE Nature!