I Once Was a Tree
A friend told me a story about a man who claimed he remembered all of his reincarnations. According to that story, at the beginning of the cycle we are all trees. The idea that humans can reincarnate as trees is a concept found in various spiritual and philosophical traditions, particularly those that embrace a wide interpretation of Samsara-the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever.
And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.
The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
— Ram Dass