13 April 2021

To be rooted is to forego possession and to lose oneself.

1 comment

taiji heartwork said...

Andrew J Mitchell, after Heidegger

The tree that is rooted in the earth, the life that is rooted in the earth, is not fused with that earth or “grounded” upon it in any foundational sense. To be rooted is to be interwoven and interlaced with the earth. What is rooted is in an embrace of the earth. The earth supports the tree by bearing it, by touching it and holding it. The roots do not “possess” the earth, they do not assimilate it in the drive to their own self-increase: “The ground and soil is the element in which the root of the tree essences, but the growth of the tree is never able to absorb this root-soil in such a way that it disappears in the tree as part of the tree. Instead, the roots, down to the subtlest tendrils, lose themselves in the soil." To be rooted is to forego possession and to lose oneself.