Fractals and philosophy of a tree.

Growing Trees and fractals

Trees.

I like to look at trees. More often than not I become fascinated by them. Big or small. They teach about life many things more than animals do. The problem with animals is that they run. And when you run things get too complicated and you won't have time to observe anything. As things move so fast. But trees are different. They stay at one place and you can observe what is life over the years by looking at the slow change. There is no running involved, like humans or animals. Let's learn about how remarkable they are yet again with fractals.

Fractal Patterns

Fractals

Fractals are mathematical concepts where repeated patterns occur in different scales. Good examples include snowflakes, a natural river, when seen from space with all its branching brooks, a tree with multiple branches. Consider a branch of a tree, it looks like a small tree by itself, except it doesn't have roots. A branch of a branch looks the same. In fact if you are about to draw a tree you might use the same pattern to draw it. Even a lightning in the sky looks the same before it hits the ground. I consider this a good way to search for potential. Let's look at philosophy of a tree.

Philosophy of a tree

Imagine the point of view of a tree. It has the need to grow. It needs to explore its options. What does it do? The natural way is to branch out. Explore some more space, looking for more sunlight. Keeping the connections with the trunk! And this is essential for any growth. It doesn't matter if you are a high-school student or a professor in a university. If you think about growth, you need to factor out your resources. Some may not work. You may find the sunlight is blocked from a nearby building and you need to lean right to avoid it. Think about what you are going to do in future and you can think of a hundred more ways to branch yourself into this. But just don't look at what happens above the ground. I have seen a fundamental mistake done by many individuals who seek growth. We don't have to look anywhere else. Consider the roots of the tree.

A river from Space

Consider a coconut tree. A slender trunk, raising higher and higher each year, branching out. But the secret to its growth is underground. If you pull out a coconut tree, it has a gigantic ball of roots, just as big as its crown. You may have seen one by the beach. The bigger the tree, the bigger its roots and deeper and farther they reach on the ground. Again factoring out, keeping the connection with the trunk. And it's these roots that make it possible for the tree to branch out and reach new growth. Really speaking it's a parallel process. Just like branching out, as the tree grows it roots deep. 

Philosophy of life

Now let's consider a person as a tree. With time often we see people grow out, with their careers, friendships and relationships. They branch out like trees, a complicated factored out pattern. Sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes shading thousands of tiny creatures. But it is only possible if they equally invest resources in themselves. Like a ball of roots for a tree. It may be inner peace, telos of life, mindfulness or a feeling of ethical happiness that you are seeking. Unless you start investigating self in parallel to the outward growth, it won't be sustainable. 

But like any tree, which was there on earth, even after a thousand years, there comes a time that time takes over. It may not matter to the world, a fallen giant. But it matters to the tree which has fallen. Let's be mindful about these facts. Which are yet to explore, by future us.