The seed of the jack pine will not be given up by the cone unless the cone itself is subjected to sustained and concentrated heat. The forest fire sweeps all before it and there remain but the charred remainders of a former growth and a former beauty. It is then in the midst of the ashes that the secret of the cone is exposed. The tender seed finds the stirring of life deep within itself - and what is deepest in the seed reaches out to what is deepest in life - the result? A tender shoot, gentle roots, until, at last, there stands straight against the sky the majestic glory of the jack pine.
The opening words from Dr. Howard Thurman tell the story of the Jack Pine…a tree that grows in difficult conditions and only releases its seeds when it has been exposed to fire. Thurman writes, the secret of the cone is exposed…the potential is revealed. It is then that we see what was hidden in that cone…in the deepest parts, shielded from its environment, until the fire comes. And when this happens, life happens…tender, precious life. Thurman uses this as a metaphor for our human experience. He writes:
It is not too far afield to suggest that there are things deep within the human spirit that are firmly imbedded, dormant, latent and inactive. These things are always positive, even though they may be destructive rather than creative. But there they remain until our lives are swept by the forest fire: some tragedy, either personal or collective. The experience releases something that has been locked up within all through the years. If it be something that calls to the deepest things in life, we may, like the jack pine, grow tall and straight against the sky!
Did we hear that correctly? These things are always positive! What is Thurman saying? Is this the feel-good message that is often referred to as a spiritual bypass…a message that it’s all good…that all we have to do is look at the bright side, say some affirmations and out problems will disappear? Gabor Mate describes it as a spiritual band-aid made up of joy and peace. I’m quite sure that this is not what Thurman is referring to. Instead, Thurman wrote often and openly about the vicissitudes of life…the both creative and destructive forces that abound in our daily life. Instead, I think Thurman, a profound mystic, was echoing the sentiments and wisdom of a previous mystic, Julian of Norwich who said,
All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.
This is widely quoted as a way to feel good about life and to know that actually there is nothing we need to do. But I don’t think that is what Julian meant. She continues:
He did not say: you will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but he did say: You will not be overcome.
Of course, we have heard this before and since…we know it to be true. We know that we will not be overcome!
We know this at a deep level…perhaps the level of the seed…deeply imbedded in our soul. Now, Julian lived in the 14th century, and wrote a book in 1393 entitled, Revelations of Divine Love. Julian was led to the famous quote about being well during a time of profound illness, from which she was not expected to recover. She says that this is when she received the message about being well. She also received a series of visions, one of which was of another seed…
And in this [sight], he showed a little thing the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand as it seemed to me, and it was as round as any ball. I looked therein with the eye of my understanding, and thought: “What may this be?” And it was answered generally thus: “It is all that is made.” I marveled how it might last, for it seemed to me it might suddenly have fallen into nought for its littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: “It lasteth and ever shall, because God loveth it. And so hath all things being by the love of God.
This revelation highlights our human ability to be curious…to wonder. This curiosity demands a humility and an openness to the current moment…to what might be. Instead of a small, insignificant thing…or a destructive force like a fire, our curiosity allows us to be curious about the moments and to see them as opportunities…as treasures to be explored. Julian understood this. She understood that curiosity has the power to wipe away our assumptions…our judgments about ourselves and about each other and helps us to grow…like the seed of the Jack Pine and like the hazelnut seed. If we are able to be curious about our ourselves and about each other, we may not be so prone to fighting, to abusing and to oppressing each other and to repressing and covering up parts of ourselves.
Of course, we know that what we find when we are curious may not be to our liking…it may not make us feel good…we may not go away thinking All Shall Be Well. This is the reality that Thich Nhat Hanh spoke of in this poem:
Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a spring branch,
To be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest…
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life.
My pain is like a river of tears, so full it fills up the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up,
And so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion.
Julian also was clear that embedded in this seed…the seed of the current moment is the compassion of divine love. She wrote:
Our life is grounded and rooted in love, and without love we may not live.
We know this is true as well. Most of us have seen the horrible results of a child that is not nurtured. He or she does indeed not survive. We need the love and nurturance that causes us to grow…causes the tender shoots and gentle roots to emerge. We need to remember that this is a tender process…this curiosity, for without tenderness, we will not connect in a deep way with others…we will be unable to be vulnerable with each other. It is this ability to be vulnerable that Thurman spoke of when he said that we were stripped to the literal substance of ourselves.
This vulnerability is not always comfortable...it is indeed like a fire...we are "cooked" much like the chickpea in Rumi's poem:
A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it's being boiled.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
The cook knocks him down with the ladle.
"Don't you try to jump out.
You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor,
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being..."
Like the chickpea, we may try to escape...we may try to close up again so that we do not experience the discomfort. But we need to stay there in the fire, experiencing the vulnerability for the sake of flavor and vitality…for the sake of the possibility of the majestic pine Thurman spoke of.
But whatever this fire may be, an external event...an internal process...the response to the awesome pull of the divine...it causes us to open...open to the possibility...open to what has always lain dormant within…and what is deepest within us reaches out to what is deepest in life.
As luck would have it, it is our daily life that can provide plenty of opportunities for this growth...of the tender shoots and gentle roots...plenty of opportunities to experience that vulnerability...that is if we are able to respond to life.
Gabor Mate defines this ability to respond to our experience of the present moment as our response-ability. This is indeed an awesome responsibility that we have...the ability to respond with action…not only for our own lives but for the broader community and the world. We can measure up...we can stand tall like the majestic jack pine, reaching for the sky. We can do this with the help of each other in community and with the help of the Great Spirit of life who knows our ways...who knows when we choose the right action...and also knows when we do not...the spirit of life who knows me altogether...as in psalm 139...the psalm that tells us that we are never alone...that although we have a great responsibility, the God of life understands us...understands our weaknesses and our strengths and stands ready to support us in our strivings.
May each of us rest in the knowledge that there is strength sufficient for all our needs, and that with genuine curiosity for life, for ourselves and for each other, we will be able to keep before us the moments of our high resolve. That we may we not forget that to which our lives are committed. And may we respond to life and to each other with a compassion that is so deep, that it informs our every action.
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