In an ideal marriage, you live with someone who is in certain respects your polar opposite
The reason, of course, is that the palm tree doesn’t have branches. Its trunk shoots straight up, and long fronds rest on top like a crown. If you’re looking for shade, you need a tree with branches all the way up its trunk, and the more, the merrier.
This observation reveals much more than how to stay cool outdoors. The Alter of Kelm taught that botanical growth is an allegory for spiritual growth. We can learn about growth from every blade of grass, but we have the most to learn from trees — nature’s preeminent flora. If we aim for greatness in our personal development, we should emulate the way trees grow.
In a previous column, we discussed how the qualities of a tree trunk demonstrate how to maintain a high spiritual level. Growing taller, improving ourselves, realizing our potential — that’s all integral to personal development. But standing under that palm tree, I realized there’s more to growth than vertical extension. I would like to explore how a tree’s branches teach us a new paradigm of growth: branching out.
A tree’s branches provide shade by reaching out in different directions. That creates a spacious zone of shadow for anyone standing under the tree. We, too, need to provide spiritual and emotional “shade” for others. Of all the people in our lives, our children need our shade more than anyone else. They need us to connect to them within their world, to be havens of support, stability, and guidance.
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