Have you ever taken trees as spiritual beings?

Published on 31 May 2021

I 'd like to reshare a blog I wrote about tree that I published in "Age of Awareness" community on Medium last year. Just to remind myself of how trees are important to me and this planet. This blog is like a short academic essay on the "spirituality" of trees. My professor advised me to post that blog on a social platform so that more people can learn about the issue, and so I published it on Medium instead of my blog. Yes, 80 claps of hand for that blog is like a great number for me. HAHA.

Location: captured in Singapore, 2019

I grew up in the countryside in Northern Vietnam where trees are ubiquitous. My house, with its three sides surrounded by paddy fields, faces a range of hills where I was immersed in my childhood. In the village, every house has a little garden to plant vegetables and fruit trees. The inborn attachment, perhaps, made me take the existence of trees for granted until I realize that trees are beautiful spiritual beings.

What comes to your mind when you think of trees?

Trees are green. Significantly, trees are natural objects that are mostly viewed under the perspective of science such as biology, physics or chemistry. The lessons of how trees absorb carbon dioxide and provide oxide for humans must have been repeated year after year in my biology textbooks in K-12 education. A remarkable knowledge was that green tree leaves are made of chlorophyll. I learned the characteristics of different parts of trees and how they are connected to transfer nutrition and water around to feed the tree itself. However, other meanings of trees to life are rarely educated such as well-being, aesthetic, environmental, community building, urban design, nor economic benefits. Since trees have tremendously transformed my physical and spiritual life, this blog will mainly discuss the effects of trees on human well-being rather than their entire functions in life.

Location: Trees at Thammasat University Campus

You have more concerns as you turn to adulthood. At a point, I started to be thirsty for nature. Music, movies, technological entertainment, even confiding with close friends couldn’t help me out of stress. I was in deep desperation and it even stopped me from listening or sharing with others. I decided to come to trees to seek peace, but then I discovered something of my inner mind as if I could feel the soul of the trees. I got back the clarity of mind while paying attention to my breath. Trees ignited a sense of calm and tranquility inside me. Ever since then, I have been grateful for the healing effects of trees, learnt and been inspired by their flexibility and resilience in a severe natural environment! Moreover, I started to feel not at ease when witnessing harmful acts of humans on trees for the sake of urban development.

Cities originally built from a natural piece of land, unfortunately, are mostly transformed into a plain area of abundant buildings and people together with a decreasing number of trees. Positively, some Asian mega-cities managed to have a high percentage of green coverage in public space, defined as accessible open and publicly owned spaces, thanks to smart urban planning with Hong Kong (40%), Shenzhen (45%) and Singapore (47%) (Hickman, 2019). European countries rank slightly behind in this green landscape such as London (33%), Madrid (35%) and Rome (34,5). While countries in the US have a significantly decent percentage of public green space such as New York (27%), San Francisco (13.7%) and Toronto (12,7%). On the other hand, developing countries like Vietnam have been facing rapid loss and fragmentation of green space (Uy and Nakagoshi, 2007). Infrastructure projects usually end up cutting down thousands of trees in the cities, especially Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. The driving force to urbanization in Hanoi is the speedy economic growth which has caused trade-offs at the expense of tree destruction.

Do you know about the recent terrific forest fire in California that cautiously shook the globe? Of course, the forest is more representative than trees standing spaciously in urban areas. Not until you go through the disaster caused by climate change that you see how essential trees are. In fact, trees live like the heart of cities, sheltering people, neutralizing urban temperature and purifying air for the dense population. Sadly, trees are like “street furniture” passed by unnoticed by millions of people (Clayton, 2003). Many trees are exploited in the pavement of cities in Vietnam by street vendors. How pitiful to see trees are objectified to serve their business and recreational activities. On the other hand, many Hanoians have the habit of seeking shady places while waiting for traffic lights. Even if only for 60 seconds being covered under trees means so much to cool their physical body. Sometimes, people are selfish to take the shades rather than follow the rules. On nice days of Autumn, Hanoi residents love to come to streets where trees are planted on both sides to take photos. I miss the days wandering around, by walking or biking over those peaceful branches. I was lost in thoughts due to the power of nature. It carried my mind to a realm in the future or sometimes in the past but I also didn’t forget to live in the present.

Trees represent both the means and the end to helping in human survival and dominance of the planet. (Coder, 2011)

Trees are told to have spiritual dimensions, hold religious beliefs, express the beauty of life and represent hope. Trees are seen as “an indication of civic concern”, connecting presence and the past regarding personal memories and family history (Clayton, 2003). According to the book Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature, in terms of urban role, trees contribute to building local identity by making strangers into a community. Trees canopy provides common spaces for street residents and bypassers. People carry seeds to plant trees as cultural icons, and revere trees as “valuable social and personal property” (Coder, 2011). Trees have life stages like the way humans do. Trees have a juvenile period, reproductive function and successional position that all play an intertwined role. Trees are also the symbol of life, death and rebirth. In nature, trees flexibly live in different climates, develop new leaves and shed them. It is true that the cyclic nature of life is embodied in trees (Coder, 2011). From these essential characteristics, trees prove themselves to be resilient beings that will survive and live over the lifespan.

Green Rangers Team, Plant trees in Chiang Dao, summer 2020

Indeed, the place you were born does not necessarily claim your awareness of the importance of trees. Many trees had existed before your birth so you tend to take them for granted. You didn’t know how they got to stand there but you enjoyed the shades free of charge. Thus the free values should be disregarded? Why do I have to care for a thing that can grow easily and at any time? Do you know how long it takes for a tree to give shades? You can grow trees easily but how many people are willing to plant trees in their lifetime? How much effort do you put on to preserve them afterward? I once joined a tree planting event in Chiang Dao where my friend, a documentary creator, came to interview the Green Ranger organization on their green action and preservation. In reality, many government organizations in Thailand appear to plant trees to solely build a positive image, then leave the trees to grow themselves. Infant trees are like babies in need of care. If not having resources for maintenance, then the whole point of the “fancy” tree planting events is wasteful. After all, if you aspire to nurture your body and soul, you might consider nurturing trees with practical and committed acts and intentions.

Throughout different periods of the year, at different points of the day, you come to trees very often. Have you ever been aware of the spiritual attraction of trees?

Reference:

Clayton, L. W. (2003). Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature. Mit Press.

Coder, K. D. (2011). Trees & humankind: Cultural and psychological bindings.

Hickman, Matt (2019, July 23). The Global Cities with the most — and the least — public green space. The Treehugger. Retrieved from:https://www.treehugger.com/global-cities-most-and-least-public-green-space-4868715

Sommer, R. (2003). Trees and human identity. Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature, 179–204.

Uy, P. D., & Nakagoshi, N. (2007). Analyzing urban green space pattern and eco-network in Hanoi, Vietnam. Landscape and Ecological Engineering, 3(2), 143–157.