II. The Aspen Grove

Joseph Campbell said, “The two, the hero and his ultimate god, the seeker and the found—are thus understood as the outside and inside of a single self-mirrored mystery, which is identical with the mystery of the manifest world. The great deed of the supreme hero is to come to the knowledge of this unity in multiplicity and then to make it known.”

What a fiery quest to come to the knowledge of this unity in multiplicity and then to make it known. A self-mirrored mystery confronts us and confounds us and informs us with its outside and its inside—a mystery identical with the mystery of the manifest world. 

Consider the aspen grove, dense with its distinctive shimmer of leaves and its stark-white patches of bark, and its long, elegant shafts branching out into breezy headdresses of teardrop leaves. Each tree unique in its stance, each tree distinguished from all others in size and shape, each tree glorious in and of itself. And yet, if the truth be known, hidden beneath this individualized array of beauty is the fact that they are but one tree connected by one immense root system, fed by and unified in one network of tubers and nodes.  While the world's biggest single-stemmed tree is the General Sherman Sequoia found in California, the actual largest organism in the world is an aspen grove found in Utah that spans over 100 acres.  Based on its tree rings, the average age of a single aspen stem in the Utah grove is around 130 years old; yet, its roots are estimated to be some 80,000 years old. Such beauty and life in what we can see in these trees remarkable for their autumnal color—their leaves ablaze with sunlit golds, oranges and reds and yet hidden beneath their individual glory—the roots that connect them as one, their roots that carry in a sustained source of life some thousands of years old.