Monday 13 April 2009, 6:59PM
’It is the light continuously falling from heaven which alone gives a tree the energy to send powerful roots deep into the earth. The tree is really rooted in the sky.’ Human Personality, Simone Weil.
A simple and very beautiful quote I came across while idly glancing through a book on holiday last week. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
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This blog collects the sundry thoughts of Justin Reynolds, a web designer living in Stow, a village in the Scottish Borders near Edinburgh. Justin is married to Kate, and has a cat, Coleridge.
My wife Kate maintains her own blog: 'a place of wanderings and wonderings, ramblings and reflections, and maybe the odd story or two…' Visit A Telling Place »
My web design studio develops websites for small to medium sized organisations, prices starting at around £500. 'What, only £500?' Yes, £500. Visit Lucent Web Design »
Comments (6)
1 virginia gal ~ Thursday 16 April 2009, 4:35AM
It is my simplistic interpretation that does this mean something about God and faith? In Islam, light is equated to God (hence so many of our mosques being open air). Does God root us to our everyday earth life? yes, I think my faith, my belief in God, does do that, but what than attests to my joy in earthly pleasures (over spiritual ones), does that make me more rooted in the earth?
2 Justin Reynolds ~ Saturday 18 April 2009, 8:49AM
Simone Weil was, essentially, a mystic, though not a follower of the orthodoxy of any faith, so the quote carries a spiritual message. My own interpretation is that she is saying that while we appear to be material beings, in the sense that we are totally dependent on the earth for our day-to-day necessities and comforts, our lives are actually given meaning and purpose through relation to that which transcends the material: God. The same is true for an organic, non-conscious entity such as the tree. Our tendency is to think of the tree as deriving its life from its roots in the ground, but, if we think about it, we see that it reaches out towards the sky, which is the source of seemingly ‘immaterial’ sources of energy such as oxygen and light, and which are the fundamental reasons for its existence and life.
3 Elizabeth ~ Tuesday 21 April 2009, 6:04PM
This is great! Thanks for posting.
4 Elizabeth ~ Tuesday 21 April 2009, 6:08PM
To me, the quote suggests the intense interconnection of earth and sky. The tree derives energy from sunlight, but without the sustenance and support of earth and water it would not survive. Perhaps another way of suggesting a marriage of heaven and earth?
PS. Appropriately, the question your blog asks me is the colour of the sky. I’m tempted to answer grey, but happily, today I can say blue with a clear conscience!
5 Justin Reynolds ~ Wednesday 22 April 2009, 11:57PM
Hello Elizabeth, thanks for your comment, and welcome back - hope you had a good holiday.
6 pnnwqxhqp ~ Wednesday 22 April 2009, 11:58PM
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