Not seeing the trees for the wood...
Thursday July 5, 2007

I can’t claim this insight for myself. Last weekend I was down once again at Gaia House, on a weekend metta retreat, which was much needed. I did a lot of sleeping and a lot of meditation, not all of it at the same time. Anyway, as we hurtling back up the M5 motorway to Birmingham, we were talking about various matters – philosophy, meditation, the virtues of the chocolate muffins we had just been eating in the service station – and Elee (who was at the wheel of the hire car), turning the well-worn phrase on its head, said something about “not seeing the trees for the wood.”
It is a striking idea, and it seemed to fit in with my mood after the retreat. How much time do I spend not seeing the trees for the wood? It is so easy to get lost in large, grand-sounding abstractions, and in doing so, to miss the close, intimate business of living. Which is, I think, why I find meditation retreats useful. They give a chance to spend some time returning one’s attention to the trees, whilst letting the wood look after itself.
#2 · Alexia
4 January 2011
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and one of the main reasons I moved to Asia. I found that, in England, it was all about how grand the wood; here in Korea, even the branches are interesting, and I find myself noticing the leaves.
-
Today's Most Popular
Knowledge, Freedom and Limitation: Monday March 3, 2008
The pleasures of not knowing.
Speaking With Inanimate Things: Friday August 15, 2008
The curious tale of a bronze bull and its many secret worshippers.
Zen and Philosophy: Book Review: Friday July 29, 2005
A review of Michiko Yusa’s impressive book on the life of Nishida Kitaro.
Hurrah for Materialism! (Part II): Saturday August 6, 2005
What is materialism? And why is it considered such a terrible thing?
John Ruskin and the Penguin: Sunday August 10, 2008
Penguins – a cure for the wrathful.
-
Related Articles
Strokes of Insight?: Friday April 25, 2008
Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroplasticity and turning off those anger circuits.
Fluidity and Thought: Tuesday January 6, 2009
The snagging of thoughts
Slip Slidin' Away: Thursday March 19, 2009
Thoughts on experience
Settling: Monday August 3, 2009
The books are sorted, the cat is asleep on his beanbag, and I’m back to my meditation cushions.
Questions we cannot go through: Tuesday October 6, 2009
Heidegger, meditation and questioning.
-
Featured Articles
Zen, Brains and Making Friends With Your Own Head: 10 Nov, 2008
It’s a complicated business having a brain.
Lies in Which not Everything is False: 10 Sep, 2008
Stories – they are nothing but a pack of lies.
The Sutras of Abu Ghraib: 30 Oct, 2007
Aidan Delgado on Buddhism, ethics and the war in Iraq.
Baboon: 06 Jun, 2006
Feeling like a grumpy old baboon?
Meditation as Unphenomenology: 07 Feb, 2008
Meditation, cartography and the territory of the mind.
#1 · PeterAtLarge
6 July 2007
A nice observation! I also get lost in my grand theories and plans, and forget that it’s not about those great unknowables, but about what’s immediate and real. Thanks for the thought. Cheers, PaL