The Flowering Tree

The Flowering Tree
The Going Within

The Circle of Life is the Universe. It is Birth, Life, Learning, Change and Death. This great Circle is the Lodge of our Bodies, our Minds, our Hearts and our Spirit. It is the Cycle of all things that exist. The Circle is our Way of Touching, and of Experiencing Harmony with every other thing around us. And for those who Seek Understanding. This Circle is the Flowering Tree.

Symbolically THE You and THE TREE reflect each other. Both have Roots, Grow and Flower. The Flowering is as you accomplish things in your Life, you Truly Bloom.

When we experience the Flowering Tree, we see the Lightning Flash within our Darkness. Then we Hear the Thunder within the illumination. One speaks quietly to us, and the other Sings to us of our Learning from within. Together they become one Song. This song they Sing is the Song of Life, the gentle going within Learning.
As Life Sings, this Song is Echoed by many other lives. These within Songs, the Grandfathers tell us, are the Songs of the many Reflections that Live within all of us.

You are, and all Creatures, are LIFE SONGS. Each time you make someone Happy or Feel Joy, they have Touched, YOUR LIFE SONG.

Within every Man and Woman there is also the Reflection of the Old Man and an Old Woman, THE WISDOM, a Little Boy and a Little Girl, THE INNOCENCE.
THE VOICES WITHIN
It seems there are times in each of our Lives when we are not in Balance with our Brothers and Sisters. We are unable to Communicate with Ourselves or with the World we Live in. And yet each one of us Knows of the Powerful Person who Lives within us, and who can settle any Problem, no matter what it is.

This Powerful Person within is your Spirit.

But we never really want to admit to anyone, or even to ourselves, that we actually have a Problem. So everyone of us Sneaks down many times to the River inside ourselves.

This River inside us is the Spirit of the Power of the Universe.

But when we go there to Hear the Powerful Person inside, we usually are afraid to Speak about it.
That is, until one day the Little Boy or Little Girl, THE INNOCENCE, within each of us Speaks to us about it. This Little Boy or Little Girl, our Innocence, begin to make themselves Known in our Minds.
"It is a very Strange Thing," the Child Speaks inside our own Hearts and Minds.
"What is it that is so very Strange?" We ask the Little Voice, not wanting to admit to anyone else, or even to the Child inside ourselves, that we Know what they are talking about.
But the Child within us Speaks again, asking us, "Have you never seen what is in the River?"
And we reply to ourselves, "No."
And even though we Know, we ask the Little Voice within, "What was it that you saw?"

We do this because we do not want ourselves or anyone else to Know we have often sneaked down to the River.

Now the Child within becomes frightened. But this Teaches us something. It Teaches us that we, at times, cannot Trust Ourselves, because the Adult that is within us is not able to communicate with the Child, or Innocence, that is also within us. They are Strangers to each other.

This is due to MIND SET. The Teachings as a Child are endelibly imprinted and the Adult Mind must sort out that which is Your Medicine. This is the ACT OF CHOICE.

And we move on, putting those things out of our Minds. We leave the Child within us there on the Meadow.

The Meadow Symbolizes Everyday Life.

Within our Time of Night.

Which here Symoblizes, Introspection, Fear and Blindness.

We Know the Child within us is Crying, and he is alone and frightened. During one of these Nights, OUR TIME IN THE DARKNESS, while we are feeling lonely and afraid and wondering why everything seemd so terrible, we Hear another Voice Speaking inside us.

This Darkness or Night is the times in your Life when there is Turmoil and Fear, REAL OR IMAGINED.

The Voice tells us to Calm ourselves. We Hear the Voice say to the Child within us, "Calm yourself, my Child." And we, like the Child, look to see who it is that has Spoken.
"Who are you?" we Hear the Child within ask.
"It is me, Old Man Grandfather," we Hear the Voice answer the Child.
And it is me, Old Woman Grandmother," we Hear a softer Voice inside say.

This is the Voice of the Gentler Side of Wisdom from within.

Then we Feel her turn an Arrow in us, a Teaching Arrow within the Bow that is our Tension, to make the Fire. Soon inside us there is a Bright Fire.

This Fire respresents the Living Spirit, either of a Person or of a Whole Peoples.

It is warm within us, and the Fire Illuminates the Darkness that is in the Lodges of our Minds. Sitting within our illumination, this warm and Living Spirit of the People, are the Old Man and the Old Woman, And these Ancient Ways Speak to us, offering some Food of the Spirit to the Child inside us.
Every Man and every Woman is a Life Circle and the Living Circle of the Flowering Tree. The Grandparents within are the POWER of the North, the GROWING of the South, the CHANGING of the West, the REBIRTH of the East, the Law of the Universe and the Law of the Earth. The Grandmother is the Marriage of these Teaching Ways.

The Grandmother and the Grandfather, the Wisdom, they are the Powerful Person in the River inside you.

Then we Hear the Child within say, "But I saw only myself reflected when I visited the River which flows inside me."
"That is True," the Grandparents answer together.
"I do not understand this, how very strange," replies the Little Child inside us.
And we Hear the Old Man say, "All People come to the River, and they too Perceive only themselves, as you do."

The Truths found, as you look within yourself are and always will be your own Reflection. Only you can change what is Reflected back, THE POWER OF CHOICE.

As we Learn we always change, and so does our perceiving. This Changed Perception then becomes a new Teacher inside each of us.
Often our first Teacher is our own Heart. This Teaching Voice is Spoken by the Child within us. Within the Stories, this Teacher may be Symbolized by the Old Man, the Old Woman, the Little Boy, the Little Girl, the Contrary, the Spirit, or the Knowledgeable Fool within us. These Seven Symbols, or Teachings, are a tiny portion of Life. When you have Learned to place these Seven Pieces of Life together within yourself, you will discover there are seven more. Their reflections will go on and on for ever.
The Voices within, the Child, INNOCENCE, the Old Man, WISDOM, are our helpers to obtain a Peaceful Heart and a Quiet Mind. Listen to your Voices within, YOUR SPIRIT.

YOU ARE, THE FLOWERING TREE!

White Crow January 1951