There is a tree in St. James’s Park, that has it’s trunk broken, but continues to live. I like its enthusiasm.
I wonder why not all trees share this will, this stubbornness.
Mark, the park ranger, helped me understand what happened to the tree:
The tree in question is a Mespilus germanica known commonly as a Medlar tree. The medlar fruits are produced late in the season and were very popular in Victorian times for making medlar jelly, best harvested when they are over-ripe.
The tree many years ago became heavy due to the extent of its branches and split in two, resulting in the branches reaching down to the ground. Two metal props were inserted into the ground to support the branches from collapsing any further and opening up the split in the trunk. One or two trees in this country are able to survive with major wounds to the trunk, the mulberry tree being the other which can often be seen in a state of collapse propped up with supports. They have great character when growing in this way. Even so this will only delay die-back for a number of years, and about three years ago one half of the medlar tree began to die completely. We therefore removed the support and the dead half of the tree leaving only the live half that you see today. It is hard to say how long the tree has to live but we have planted a new medlar a few metres away and with careful pruning hopefully we will be able to shape it in the same way.
Probably the other trees are saying “What’s the point? You’re doomed to die. Look, the park ranger has even planted your replacement a few steps away”. And maybe the broken tree responds
“Aren’t you going to die too, sooner or later?
-Yes, but I don’t have a broken trunk. I can’t imagine living with a broken trunk. It would be like being a human with a broken heart. Humans don’t survive with broken hearts. They just die, or they become zombies, shadows, surviving vegetables, you don’t want to be that. No humans really survives a broken heart, something just dies in them, that can’t regrow.
-What’s wrong with vegetables? Aren’t we some giant vegetables of some sort?
-Oh, come on! You know what I mean. I mean you can’t think. You can’t love. Your heart is broken, you die. End of story.
-Maybe things are not so simple. Maybe it means something to someone that I still try, that I still exist?
-Yes, look, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy your conversation, but don’t you think it can be difficult for others to be next to an agonising tree?
-Oh! I’m sorry I’m dying! Maybe that’s why humans outgrew us in evolution. They developed compassion, and from compassion they developed intelligence, so that now they can exterminate us, and we can do nothing about it. All this just because of trees like you that refused to develop a sens of compassion.
-How can humans be compassionate and exterminate us?
-Well, it’s complicated. But studies have shown that humans have more compassion than trees.
-Ahaha! I would challenge those finding!
-Whatever. I just carry on living because I just feel like it. I could be living in a world where all the trees with a broken trunk continues to live as long as they can. But the norm is that you all just die if your trunk is broken. Why should I be the one to adapt to this norm, if this a random setting that could very well be otherwise?
-Because that’s the prevalent rule. You are outnumbered.
-Yes, but it’s random. It has no logical or ethical bases.
-Why can’t you just do like the others, and die?
-Because doing like the others would be lying. It would be pretending that I don’t know that things could be different. It would be dying.
-But things are not different. They are what they are. Nothing else.
-Well, maybe you did not travelled enough.
-Ha! Neither did you! Trees can’t travel! We have roots you know!
-You are so narrow minded. We do travel from one generation to the other. We travel across continents. We just can’t remember.
-Oh! You are loosing me. I just see that I am here, and that you don’t want to die like all other well behave trees. Do you think it would look nice if we all started to grow in any direction we feel like, instead of nicely growing up towards the sun?
-Yes, I know. It is difficult to have tolerance for other tree’s choices. Fortunately the Queen is less intolerant than you are. And this parks belongs to her, so she decides, not you.
-Agreed, but this is just random too. The Queen could just decide we should all behave.
-Yes, power is random. There is no merit in being a Queen. You are just born a Queen.
-Yes, but then that’s how things are. That’s actualisation. You can’t just abstract everything. It’s too easy to just say that’s things “could” be different. They are not. Things are what they are.
-Can you explain why things are what they are?
-Nope, neither can you.
-No, that’s right, I can’t. But I know that there are no straight lines between here and Ouagadougou.
-I don’t know where is Ouagadougou, but surely enough, I can just draw a straight line as I would do between here and Buckingham Palace just over there.
-That’s exactly the point. You can draw a straight line to the Palace, because it is close enough. But is you want to go far, you can’t.
-Why?
-Because the earth is round! You can’t draw a straight line on a ball. It would seems straight in two dimension, but it would not be in the third dimension. And this is without talking about intergalactic travels, where you would need another geometry altogether.
-Why on earth are we talking about intergalactic travels?
-To demonstrate the need for abstraction when explaining complex concepts, like Life and Death.
-What is so complex about Life and Death? When you are alive, you are not dead, and when you are dead you are not alive. Simple. Full stop.
-Well, some believes things are not so simple.
-How so?
-To start with, we seems to have a disagreement about when life stops being worth living.
-But you have a broken trunk for God’s sake!
-Ah! You see, God is another point of contention. That’s already two.
-Oooh! You are really messing with my sanity. Life is simple. I just take water from the earth, light from the sun, and when I’ll be dead, I won’t be alive. Simple.
-Maybe the problem is consciousness.
-Consciousness? Since when trees are supposed to have consciousness. We are renowned for our unconsciousness.
-Yes, but things could be different.
-You are impossible.
-The strange thing is, I am conscious neither of us is right or wrong. Things are both very simple, and extremely complex at the same time.
-Wow, here you loose me completely. I think is more a case for the mental hospital.
-Maybe that’s what happens when we approach death. We fall gradually in a different dimension, in the same way time is bend when one approaches a black hole.
-You are just in pure delirium. The park ranger should have pity and not let you in this state.
-My body might be broken, but my mind is as sharp as ever.
-Completely delusional. In Japan they would do a Bonsai out of you.
-I wish I could fly.
-Yes, that’s what I thought, delusional.
-What’s the connection between being delusional and being a Bonsai?
-None! Except that you try to be something you are not. A tree is a tree, not a work of art. Tree grows straight. Like in Germany, you know, the Autobahn, straight, simple, efficient.
-Efficiency is trivial, only effectiveness matters.
-Are you never going to stop?
-To stop what?
-To stop believing you are anything else than a tree, with roots and a broken trunk. No matter how much abstraction you put at it, how many curvy line you draw on your balloons, you are not going to fly, you are just agonising, a slow painful death, and the park ranger should just have pity and stop this right now.
-You’re so cruel.
-It’s for your own good.
-Ha! That’s what they all say!
-Who?
-Manipulative psychopaths. You say it’s for my own good, when all you care about is to be around trees that are just like you, straight, like the Autobahn. You can’t fathom the idea that some trees might be here with other purposes than to serve your interests. Maybe, some trees might have other agendas than to please you. Yes sorry I’m bent. See, I have a broken trunk. So sorry to spoil your view of the Palace!
-Now, now, don’t get so emotional! I’m just saying… It must be painful!
-But of course it is painful, can’t you see? I have a broken trunk. What can be more painful for a tree than a broken trunk?
-So what? Do you like pain?
-Nobody likes pain, otherwise we would call it pleasure. It’s just that it’s part of the whole package.
-The whole package?
-Yes, life. Maybe you are the delusional one, if you think life is like an Autobahn.
-I like when bees comes into my flowers.
-What?
-I like when bees come into my flowers.
-Yes, so we all do. What does it has to do with anything?
-My pain is that not enough bees come into my flowers.
-Ah?
-Yes
-Yes, bees… I know.
-I know you know! I can’t understand why so many bees goes to you when you have a broken trunk, and I’m standing here all straight like an autobahn, and hardly any bees come to me.
-I can’t tell you. It’s something you have or you don’t have.
-What do you mean?
-Aaah, bees. Their only existence makes life worth living. Broken trunk or not. We could not live without bees. There is this one in particular that comes in the morning. That’s enough for me to survive another day. When the sun rises, I know she’s going to come, bzzzzzzz. That’s all I need, to hear her bzzzzzzzz. It’s not a bzzzzzz like to others. No, it’s different.
-Can’t wait you die!
-Thanks! Maybe you should try to change your smell?
-Do you mean I smell bad?
-Well, there is no good or bad. But in this case, maybe we can say that your smell is not efficient at attracting bees.
-Thanks, that’s nice! Now I smell bad!
-You’re most welcome.
-Now if you don’t mind, I am going to prepare myself a cup of tea. I assume you don’t need one, all busy that you are with your all your bees in your wonderfully scenting flowers?
-I hope I did not hurt your feelings?
-Not at all, not at all. I’m going to die all straight like a lonely autobahn, and you will survive full of bees. That’s perfectly logical.
-Don’t be acrimonious.
-Acrimonious, acrimonious? Who? me? Acrimonious? I don’t even know what it mean! How can I be something I don’t know?
-Maybe that’s what consciousness is.
-Oh, here we are again! Are we in some sort of circular discussion? Is it supposed to be efficient, hu? Circular discussions? Oh, no, no,wait! You are going to say in this case, efficiency is trivial. Right?
-Yes, effectiveness over efficiency.
-Right. Then I am going to effectively prepare a cup of tea.
-Sounds like a good idea.
-Good.”