What we have here is latent energy, vitality and capacity, with much of it withheld or suspended momentarily. The tree is dissociated in one manner. In some ways, its living forces and consciousness are kept to a minimum. It is in a state of drowsiness on the one hand; and on the other, it forces the usable portion of its energy into being a tree.

The state of consciousness involved here is dull as compared to the highly differentiated human ability in many ways. However, in other ways, the experiences of the tree are extremely deep, dealing with the inner senses which are also properties of treedom.

The inner senses of the tree have strong affinity with the properties of the earth itself. They feel their growing. They listen to their growing as you might listen to your own heartbeat. They experience the oneness with their own growth, and they also feel pain. The pain, while definite, unpleasant and sometimes agonizing, is not of an emotional nature in the same way that we experience pain. In some ways, it is even a deeper thing. The analogy may not be perfect, far from it, but it is as if your breath were to be suddenly cut off – in a manner, this somewhat approximates pain for a tree.

The tree makes adjustments just as we do. It listens to its growth up from the earth and to the manner of the growth of its roots beneath. It adjusts each root ending according to what impediments might lie in its way. Without the conscious mind of man/woman it nevertheless retains this inner consciousness of all its parts, above and below the ground, and manipulates them constantly.

The tree is also ware of its environment to an astonishing degree. It maintains constant awareness and the ability to adjust itself in two completely different worlds, so to speak – one in which it meets little resistance in growing upward and one composed of much heavier elements into which it must grow downward. Man/woman needs artificial methods to operate effectively on land or in water, but the so-called unconscious tree manages nicely in two worlds as diverse, certainly, as land and water, and makes itself a part of each.

And as far as motion is concerned, the tree moves upward and downward. It is quite unfair to say that it caannot transport itslef, since it does so to an amazing degree; the roots and limbs moving in all directions. The inner senses of all plant life are well attuned, alert and very vital. All of these fragments have consciousness to a rather high degree, considering that man/woman holds them is such low repute.

If you remember what you know of the trance state – in a light trance, you are able to maintain awareness of self, your environment and your place in it. You simply behave somewhat differently, not bestirring yourself in any direction unless the suggestion to do so has been given. The awareness of plant life lies along these lines

Now, in a deep trance the subject, though fully aware of what is happening in the trance, may remember nothing of it afterward. The awareness of plant life is also somewhat like that of the subject in deep trance. Except for the suggestion and stimulus received by regualr natural forces on our plane, the plant life does not bestir itself in other directions. But like tha trance subject, our plant is aware. Its other abilities lie unused for the time, and latent, but they are present.

The awareness is focused along certain lines. The tree lives through its inner senses, experiencing many sensations and earth tremors,, even the motion of small abts about its lower trunk – these are recognized and experienced. Such invisibilities as humidity, radioactivity and all electrical values are felt as quite real things to our tree.

A tree knows a human being also, by the weight of a boy upon its branches, by the vibrations in the air as adults pass, which hit the tree’s trunk at varying distances, and even by voices. You must remember what I said earlier about mental enzymes and my remark that color can sometimes be heard. The tree recognizes a human being, though it does not see the human being in our terms. It does not build up the image of a man/woman, but it builds up a composite sensation which represents, say, a given individual. And the tree will recognize the same man/woman who passes it by each day.

As your own body senses temperature changes, it also senses the psychic charge, not only of other individuals, but of plant and vegetative matter. Our tree builds up a composite of sensations of this sort, sensing not the physical dimensions of a material object, whatever it is, but the vital psychic formation within and about it.

Size is sensed by a tree, however, perhaps because of its inherent concern with height. The table around which I walk senses me, even as I sense it.

Man’s/woman’s causes him/her to interpret everything else inlight of himself/herself. He/she loses much in this manner. The ego can be compared to the bark of a tree. The bark is flexible, vibrant, and grows with the growth beneath. It is a tre’s contact with the outer world, the tree’s interpreter and, to some degree, the tree’s companion. So should man’s/woman’s ego be.

When man’s/woman’s ego turns instead into a shell – when instead of interpreting outside conditions, it reacts to violently against them, then it hardens and becomes an imprisoning form that begins to snuff out important data and to keep enlarging information from the inner self. The ego’s purpose is protective. The ego is also a device to enable the inner self to inhabit the physical plane.

If, for example, our tree bark grew fearful of stormy weather and began to harden itself against the elements, in a well-meaning but distorted protective spirit, then the tree would die. This is what the ego does when it reacts too violently to purely physical data. As a result, it stiffens, and then you have, my well-meaning Blog friend, the cold detachment with which you at one time faced the world.

The tree’s bark is quite necessary and cannot be dispensed with.

The idea od dissociation could be liekened to the slight distance between the bark and the inside of the tree. Here we do not have a rigid bark, as you should not have a rigid ego. We have instead a flexiablle bark, cahnging with the elements, protecting the inner (or inner self), but flexible, opening or closing in rhythmic motion.

The inner tree can continue to grow because the bark is resilent. It bends with the wind. It does not bend when there is no wind, nor does it stiffent, stopping the flow of sap to the treetop for fear that the dumb tree, not knowing what it was up to, would bump its head against the sky.

Neither should the egoreact so violently that it remembers and reacts to past storms in the midst of clear and sunny weather. You can understaand the anaolgy. You know that such a tree bark would be death to the tree. What you must understand is that the same apllies to any individual and the ego. It applies to us all. And we must learn that it is equally ridiculous to act as if it is a summer day in the middle of wintertime. the tree has enough sense not to show blossoms in a blizzard.

At times, we have not trusted our ego’s ability to protect us. We have forced it into anxiety so that it over-compensated, trying to protect us, and ended up half choking us to death.

Our scientists are correct in supposing that the universe is composed of the same elements that can be found in our plane. However, the elements that they know are, of course, camouflage patterns, that may show themselves in a completely different from somewhere else.

The elements – those that you now know and those you will create – are camouflages of the basic stuff or vitality which you cannot discover with your outer senses. Our scientists will find their tools are no longer adequate. Because man/woman have such a senses of curiosity, scientists will be forced finally to use the inner senses. Otherwise they will be dealing with camouflage only and find themselves in a blind alley – not because their eyes are closed, but because they are not using the right set of eyes.

The camouflage is necessary at this stage of development – intricate, complicated, various and beyond the understanding of the outer senses, which are the preceptor of the camouflage itself, peculiarly adapted to see under particular circumstances. It is only the inner senses that will give us any evidence at all of the basic nature of life.

Since very often the vitality or stuff of the universe seems as innocuous as air, then look for what we do not see. Explore places that seem empty, for they are full. Look between events. What we see clearly with the outer senses is camouflage. I am not suggesting that you take all this on faith. I am saying that what seems vacant lacks camouflage, and, therefore, if this is explored, it will yield evidence.

Effects would seem to be evidence. In concrete terms, if a tree branch moves, then we take it for granted that something blows it. We know wind by its effects. No one has seen wind, but since its effects are so observable, it would be idiocy to say that it did not exist. Therefore, we will come up against the basic stuff of the universe and feel its effects, though our physical senses will not necessarily perceive it.

Granted, camouflage is, in itself, an effect. If we look at the observable world we can learn something about the inner one, but only if we take into consideration the existence of camouflage distortion. There is so much to be said here, and we have so much to learn, that sometimes I have to admit the I’m Appalled.

My own experience with creativity should help here. When I paint a picture, my dear Blog Reader, I am dealing with a transformation of energy and transformation of camouflage pattern. There is a brief but vital moment when I am dealing with the underlying vitality of which I have spoken.

I am forced to transform this creative energy into another camouflage pattern because of our earthly situation. There is nothing else we can do. But for this moment, I pluck this vitality from the inner senses. Then I transform it into a somewhat different, more evocative, new camouflage pattern that is, nevertheless, more fluent, more fluid than the usual pattern, and gives greater freedom and mobility to the vitality itself.I approach a transmigration of plane.

A certain distortion must be expected. The painting, however, achieves a certain freedom from camouflage, although it cannot escape it, and actually hovers between realities in a way that no thoroughly camouflaged object could do. Music and poetry also can achieve this state.