Weekend Word, BBC Radio Wales, 02/08/2019
Some years ago, I moved into a suburban house with a large, nondescript garden and started to imagine how it might look. Before long I’d caught the gardening bug and I’ve gradually created a beautiful space filled with flowers and vegetables.
Behind my house is a large ash tree, perhaps 30 metres tall, that shades much of the garden. Digging down I encountered its huge roots and, seeing how the tree depletes the soil, I started to resent it for hampering my gardening efforts.
I now see that resentment as an example of how our culture regards the natural world. The forests that once covered Wales have long since been cleared or turned into timber plantations, and we’re only belatedly realising what we’ve lost. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, support animal life and prevent erosion; and the Committee on Climate Change recently urged the UK government to plant millions more trees each year. Meanwhile, we heard this week that the rate at which loggers are destroying the Amazon Rainforest is dramatically increasing under President Bolsonaro.
We don’t just need more forests, we need to relate differently to nature; and if we only consider how the natural world is useful to us, we miss the bigger picture. The essential Buddhist image shows the Buddha sat beneath a spreading fig tree, reaching down to touch the earth. It suggests that knowing our place as a part of the natural world is the basis for human fulfilment. As the Dalai Lama says, ‘It is important to realize we are part of nature’.
Things changed for me when I started to look properly at the ash, noticing its new growth, falling leaves and bare branches and reflecting that the same seasons affect me. Seeing the birds and insects who live in it, I reflect that I stand on the same soil and depend on the same air. Nowadays, I find the ash tree arching above my garden more beautiful than anything I’ve planted beneath it.
In learning to see differently, I’ve also learned to be different. As I look at the ash in the mornings, my spine straightens like a tree trunk and I sense the earth beneath me. And I’m inspired to plant more trees and support woodland schemes, not just because they’re useful, but out of love for nature.
