How are trees like stars?

[Taosaur]

I'm very fond of both, and particularly in the case of our sun and certain great oaks I've known, that fondness spills into reverence. The two are very similar in the way they operate in the universe, in their stolid generosity, plain beauty, and the crucial simplicity that enables the cacophony around them. In Buddhist folklore, trees are the homes of devas--angels or deities--and of course the sun is the source of every arch-deity from Ra to Yahweh. Anyone feel the same way? Disagree? Have elaborations? Poetry? Criticism?

[juroara]

another tree like thread? maybe all of us tree huggers should make a pilgrimage to the oldest tree on earth? trees have always had a relationship with spirituality. spiritual people have always felt that trees are giving unconditionally. how many living things offer a piece of themselves to eat? fruits are the only thing on your menu that 'want' to be eaten. we know however that trees ARE living things. many people already value them as living things. the largest, and as far as I know ONLY american rain forest reserve is in puerto rico. el yunque is not visited for it's wild animals. puerto rico doesn't have large animals, you are mostly going to see spiders, and a lizard or two if you are lucky. el yunque has been called a tree paradise. this tree paradise is recognized for what it is, and it is protected. it really sucks in my opinion actually, to go as a tourist because your are not allowed to walk freely in the rain forest. you are limited to tiny routes. stars on the other hand, are NOT considered living things. we have observed a life time in stars. stars are born, they age, they die. this scientists stress, are just terms to understand them. that these are just metaphorical terms. but, is it? stars are physically born are they not? stars physically age, do they not? stars physically die, do they not? we base whether or not something is alive based on how life developed on earth, and this is a very tiny point of view. ignorant in the grand scheme of things. ignorant of how tiny earth is in the universe. I don't think mere humans have the right to decide what is living and what isn't living anymore, especially if we are ignorant to base it solely on our tiny little grain of sand called earth.

[apachama]

Maybe there should be a sub-forum specially for discussing trees. A tree gives energy unconditionally and unconditionally spills life into the sky in its growing towards the sun. A star also gives unconditionally, and both are a powerful outpouring of energy. Both sustain life. Both provide inspiration. Both are often found in large groups. Forests, or galaxies.

[Original Poster]

I agree, trees are like the guardians of the earth. They maintain earth's atmosphere in a precise level so that the planet can continue to sustain life. It's like you said, stolid generosity.

[ray]

you said poetry so here goes,this is just off the top of my head so don't blame me if it is really bad. Stars through the leaves: sleeping among giant leaves and feeling the summer breeze i drift asleep and then i weep as i wake and see the new day break. i had a wish and a such a wish a star once gave to me one day i am to be a star amongst the leaves. anywho, i have always had a great reverence for trees. my favorite is possibly the beech or willow for their majesty.

[Abra]

I'm more of a hydrothermal vent community fan, myself. Those creatures need no light to live, and feed off of the heat of the earth and the sulfur it spews. Chemosynthesizers. A new food chain, broken from the sun. Proof that alien life can exist farther from the sun than photosynthetic life... That sounds dark, doesn't it? It's quite far from what's ingrained into the collective subconscious. Perhaps that's why I'm inexplicably drawn to it. I want to reincarnate as a nautaloid~

[MrDoom]

I like looking at trees just for the pretty nondeterministic fractal patterns in their branches.

[Taosaur]

I like looking at trees just for the pretty nondeterministic fractal patterns in their branches. Would you say a similar phenomenon evidences itself in stars?

[MrDoom]

Would you say a similar phenomenon evidences itself in stars? Not that I know of, personally; though I wouldn't be surprised if the operations of stars had a fractal pattern somewhere. They're common enough in the natural world.

[dragonoverlord]

In my mind Trees and Stars mean something completely different from eachother, Symbolically that is.

[Taosaur]

In my mind Trees and Stars mean something completely different from eachother, Symbolically that is. Such as?

[memeticverb]

I'm more of a hydrothermal vent community fan, myself. Those creatures need no light to live, and feed off of the heat of the earth and the sulfur it spews. Chemosynthesizers. A new food chain, broken from the sun. Proof that alien life can exist farther from the sun than photosynthetic life... That sounds dark, doesn't it? It's quite far from what's ingrained into the collective subconscious. Perhaps that's why I'm inexplicably drawn to it. I want to reincarnate as a nautaloid~ Well they really aren't cut off from the sun since the heat they derive is just a piece of the sun that is still in the process of cooling. So the sun is the ultimate necessary condition for those types of life to evolve just the way they did, (not to mention that they are highly dependent on the gravitational and electromagnetic fields, which are also dependent on the sun). Not to jump off the deep end here, but there are some scientists who have speculated that the sun is a kind of highly complex organism of which all life is an offshoot. In this idea the sun has a sort of consciousness, or sensitivity, to its constituents. For example, Rupert Sheldrake, (PhD Biology, and PhD Philosophy) has developed the hyposthesis that all life is linked by morphogenetic fields, including the sun. These fields are what link all species, explain telepathic abilities by providing a virtual memory storage that each invidual has access to. He also argues that the distinction between laws as absolute principles of nature, and life as a radical divergence from this trend of law-like entropy (contradiction?) is probably mistaken, and that the whole universe is involved in evolution, not predetermined by laws that have always existed. http://www.sheldrake.org/B&R/audiostream/

[tkdyo]

^this is very interesting, if I ever meet someone who is truely psychic it would make sense. I myself am more fond of the moon. While it is true the moon derives its light from the sun, it feels so much more calming, so much more beautiful and clean. It is almost like a filter for the intense and sometimes damaging light of the sun.