Is a tree spiritual?

I was asked to submit an article on the theme of trees and spirituality.

As a species, we tend to anthropomorphise everything. Kids’ books are full of stories of animals and plants wearing clothes, living in houses etc. But what if trees had stories? Just for a second, consider what could be if trees made them all tree related? Could you picture yourself as a tree? A being without a central nervous system yet able to coordinate actions with thousands of other factors such as bacteria, fungi, microorganisms, other trees, insects, birds, animals, gravity, sunlight, wind, water? What choices would you make? How would you make them?

Over the years, trees have developed different strategies for living. In the same way that people decide to live differently, or in the same way businesses fill different markets and niches, trees employ different survival or living strategies. Some have evolved to live the hard and fast way where they grow fast, get wind pollinated, disperse their seeds (also by wind), and then die young because they have no defences against pathogens. Others go the middle route by dealing with some pathogens, simply growing faster than them, or by reproducing vegetatively (such as by cuttings) when a branch breaks. And yet others live slow and steady by growing slowly, making treaties with insects or birds and mammals for pollination and seed dispersal, and die only after centuries or millennia of dealing with an accumulation of adverse factors upon their systems. Within all the strategies employed, there is a symbiotic relationship with other beings to the benefit of all.

Scientific studies have shown that trees feel, learn, and react to sound. Plants count, some lianas change their leaf forms to mimic the trees that they are climbing on. They reward, or sometimes trick, animals, birds, and insects to help them. Essentially, they have a consciousness that we are now able to perceive, though we don’t necessarily know how it is established.

In some cases, trees in advantageous positions may support trees that are not so lucky with resources and information. They employ the time strategies mentioned above but they also employ the space strategy of staying in one place and optimizing their situation. Trees work with surrounding vegetation, fungi, bacteria, and microorganisms. Sometimes they support their own species but also sometimes prevent them from growing too close to their “mother” (to ensure genetic diversity).

We tend to look at trees as background vegetation, but they are rather a bit more than that. They deal with the conditions that they are in, yet they influence, create, and support their surrounding environment. Their capacities are not yet fully discovered – it is still not entirely understood how trees manage to get water up to, sometimes, a hundred meters high (yes, the theory is there but it is not proven). You can even overlap two cuts through the stem in a tree, and it will still be able to bring water up to the leaves despite having to send the water laterally through the gap between the cuts. Trees are not just full of straws that suck water up by vacuum. They are to date also more effective at storm-water management than anything that could be engineered by a human.

Why am I even interested in trees? My initial interest was basic – I needed to learn how to prune trees correctly to support the establishment and then management of a forest on a newly purchased plot of land in Auroville. This interest evolved first into apprenticing as a tree surgeon, and eventually led to academic studies to deepen my knowledge. My current interest lies in the use of trees in urban settings as green infrastructure. There is a growing body of research that links higher urban tree density with improved academic outcomes, lower stress levels, lower rates of depression, faster recovery times in hospitals, increased birth weights, reduced air pollution and safer traffic, to name a few.

Finally, going back to our anthropomorphised view: why are trees doing what they are doing? Are they spiritually driven? Clearly, we still have a lot to learn about them, but we do know that they don’t tend to amass material wealth or take advantage of their neighbours. Instead, they are in communication and trade with a multitude of beings around them that support life on many levels.

So why don’t we have more trees around us? They have much to teach us on altruism and they help us to be more functional humans. In our current social and political environment, assuming that people had their basic needs provided for, they could help show us the way to live more spiritual, integral and connected lives.