What Do Trees Teach Us About the Dangers of Isolation?

Listen: “One Friend” by Keb Mo

Just ask the animals, and they will teach

you.

Ask the birds of the sky, and they will

tell you.

Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.

            (Job 12:8,9; NLT)

I’ve always felt at home in the woods. As a kid, I could play long hours exploring creeks, catching snakes, and finding bugs and animals to harass. In my teen years, I fell in love with backpacking and camping. Throughout my adult life, I have loved spending time in the forests of Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. I love hiking through Aspen forests in the fall when their leaves are turning yellow. It’s magical. I can still be found riding my mountain bike through the woods around Kansas City and occasional mountain biking trips to Arkansas, Arizona, and Colorado.

While I have always felt at home in the woods, I never understood how much we could learn from trees (although I have known for years how Aspen forests are interconnected). Last year I came across a book entitled The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, a German forester. (I discovered Wohlleben through an article written by James H. O’Keefe, MD in From the Heart, “Lessons from Kindhearted, Intelligent Trees.”) I found it fascinating. It turns out that all tree families live together as neighbors—communicating, supporting, and caring for each other.

Trees live together because they survive longer and healthier in community. Isolated trees are more vulnerable to life-threatening conditions and have much shorter life spans. This is true for people as well. Depression, addiction, and other adverse mental health issues accelerate and intensify in isolation. Trees accomplish their life together through proximity and communication.

Trees communicate with each other in two primary ways: (1) trees emit chemical gases from the leaves that warn against attacks from insects or herbivores which activate toxic tannins in their bark and leaves; and (2) trees use chemical signals sent through the fungal networks around their root tips. Trees in a forest are in constant communication with each other.

Fungi are a species between plants and animals. (Let’s hear it for mushrooms!) “Over centuries, a single fungus can cover many square miles and network an entire forest,” according to Wohlleben. Dr. Suzanne Simard calls it the “wood-wide-web.” There is a fungus in Oregon over 2,400 years old and 2,000 acres in size, making fungi the largest know living organism in the world.

Trees function altruistically. They help each other when times are tough. Wohlleben says, “The trees, it seems, are equalizing differences between the strong and the weak. This equalization is taking place underground through the roots. There’s obviously a lively exchange going on down there. Whoever has an abundance of sugar hands some over; whoever is running short gets help. The fungal networks are acting as gigantic redistribution mechanisms.” Trees also know how to ration their use of water, especially after they have suffered damage to their trunks. Trunks crack in drought times, and the root system puts out warning vibrations which signal a healing response in the tree. Trees know how to come to the aid of their sick, weak, and vulnerable members.

Dr. O’Keefe combines ancient wisdom and science. He reminds us that about 2,600 years ago Lao Tzu said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” At the same time, scientific studies of the brain reveal how connection, love, and kindness light up the brain in functional MRI images with a warm glow. Even small acts of kindness have a positive impact on a person’s overall health.

Forming loving and supportive community networks are vital for human health and wholeness. During this season of Covid, community is even more vital. We still need to build healthy networks of friends and family through communication. We’ve had to get creative in this season of social distancing and masks. Zoom meetings are better than nothing; and small groups are creating safe bubbles for proximity. Humans thrive in loving networks. This is why faith-based groups, recovery groups, therapy groups and social groups of all kinds (sports, books, crafts, etc.) are vital to health and wholeness.

Brene Brown has written an excellent book on the quest for true belonging entitled Braving the Wilderness. She points out how our desire for connection is spiritual in nature. We are hardwired for community, not isolation. If you read my blog entitled “Spiritual Adventures,” you will see that connection is at the heart of spirituality. Brene’s definition of spirituality is “recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion.” How are you doing with community and connection?

Shalom

©realfredherron 2020