#18. OAK/ROURE

So live as if you were living already for the second time / Actua com si visquéssis per segona vegada

I SAW IN LOUISIANA A LIVE-OAK GROWING

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss,
And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them),
Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana solitary in a wide flat space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,
I know very well I could not.

Walt Whitman in Leaves of grass

OAKS & LIVE-OAKS

Oaks and live oaks are symbols of strength and power, both in Western and Eastern cultures. They are sacred trees because they connect the sky with the earth, they attract lightning more than any other tree. Virgilio considered that an oak was the humanity’s origins. Dodona’s temple, in ancient Greece, had a big live oak with oracular powers in honor of Zeus. In Homer’s poetry, Odysseus asks about his destiny to the oracular leaves of the live oak honored to Zeus. Heracles baton was made of live oak wood. Live oaks are also the sacred tree of the Celtic traditions, representing the axis of the world and being an emblem of hospitality. For the alchemy, the Philosophical Tree was an oak that integrate both masculine and feminine forces. The oak is related to the Roman cults to Jupiter and it was venerated in the Germanic traditions for his strength and solidity. The Chinese ancient culture associates oaks and live oaks to the masculine power but also to the weakness of inflexible brutal forces that can’t resist stronger powers like storms.

So live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

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A LOUISIANA VAIG VEURE CRÉIXER UNA ALZINA

A Louisiana vaig veure créixer una alzina,
Allà estava, tota sola, ben alçada, i la molsa li penjava de les branques,
Allà creixia sense cap company, oferia fulles joioses d’un verd fosc,
I el seu aspecte rude, inflexible, vigorós, em va fer pensar en mi mateix,
Però em demanava com podia ser que pogués oferir aquelles fulles tan alegres estant tota sola sense cap amic a prop, perquè jo sabia que no podria imitar-la,
I vaig arrabassar-li un ram amb unes quantes fulles, i vaig entrelleçar-hi un poc de molsa,
I m’ho vaig emportar, i ho he col·locat a un lloc ben visible de la meva habitació,
No ho necessito perquè em faci pensar en els meus amics estimats
(Perquè de veres crec que darrerament no he pensat en cap altra cosa que no siguin ells),
Però per a mi és un símbol curiós, em fa pensar en l’amor viril;
Perquè, encara que l’alzina brilli per Louisiana tota sola en una gran planícia oberta,
I que ofereixi fulles alegres tota la seva vida sense cap amic o cap amant al seu costat,
Jo sé molt bé que no podria imitar-la.

Walt Whitman a Fulles d’herba (traducció de Jaume C. Pons Alorda)

ROURES i ALZINES

El roure i l’alzina són sinònim de força i poder, tant a Occident com a Orient. Es tracta d’arbres sagrats perquè connecten el cel i la terra, atrauen els llamps més que qualsevol altre arbre. Virgili considerava que el roure era l’origen dels éssers humans. Al temple de Dodona, a l’antiga Grècia, hi havia una gran alzina en honor a Zeus que s’associava als poders oraculars. A l’Odissea, Ulisses consulta sobre el seu destí al fullatge diví de l’alzina de Zeus. La maça d’Hèrcules estava feta amb fusta d’alzina. L’alzina també és l’arbre sagrat de les tradicions celtes, representa l’eix del món i és l’emblema de l’hospitalitat. Per l’alquímia, l'Arbre Filosòfic era un roure que integrava les forces masculines i femenines. El roure està relacionat amb els cultes romans a Júpiter i era venerat en les tradicions germàniques per la seva potencia i solidesa. La cultura ancestral xinesa associa roures i alzines a la força masculina, però també a la debilitat de tota força rígida, mancada de ductilitat per resistir una tempesta.

“Actua com si visquéssis per segona vegada i a la primera ho haguéssis fet tan desgraciadament com estàs a punt de fer-ho!”

L’home a la recerca de sentit de Viktor Frankl