A covid look at the christmas tree
As I was contemplating our christmas tree and the covid year that we have all endured, I was reminded of John O’Donohue’s words regarding ‘The Tree As Artist of Belonging.’ O’Donohue’s words (see below) will centre my reflections as I enter into the new covid normal Christmas season.
“There is something so sure and dignified in a tree’s presence . . . The tree rises from the dark. It circles around the ‘heart of darkness’ from where it reaches towards the light. A tree is a perfect presence. It is somehow able to engage and integrate its own dissolution. The tree is wise in knowing how to foster its own loss. It does not become haunted by the loss nor addicted to it. The tree shelters and minds the loss. Out of this comes the quiet dignity and poise of a tree’s presence. Trees stand beautifully on the clay. They stand with dignity. A life that wishes to honour its own possibility has to learn too how to integrate the suffering of dark and bleak times into a dignity of presence. Letting go of old forms of life, a tree practices hospitality towards new forms of life. It balances the perennial energies of winter and spring within its own living bark. The tree is wise in the art of belonging. The tree teaches us how to journey. Too frequently our inner journeys have no depth. We move forward feverishly into new situations and experiences which neither nourish nor challenge us because we have left our deeper selves behind us....The tree can reach towards the light, endure wind, rain and storm, precisely because it is rooted . . The wisdom of the tree balances the path inwards with the pathway outwards.”
