The Amazing Pear Tree
Snakes have never been my favorite thing. My first urge would be to kill any snake I might encounter, or preferably have someone else kill it while I run for shelter. But that day I was safely indoors and the snake was out there in the tree out of anyone's reach anyway. Besides it wasn't a poisonous variety. So, that day the snake triggered my thinking about the symbolism of trees and snakes. The snake can be symbolic of the kundalini energy which rises through the charkas. It is also an ancient healing symbol, as is seen on the caduceus, the modern day symbol of the medical profession. My own healing was in progress; my kundalini was rising. The cosmic serpent, symbolic of soul and libido, giver of life and inspiration was reflected for me in the pear tree that day.
Another morning, after some overnight thunderstorms, leaves of the pear tree, still wet with beads of rain, caught the beam of early sunlight through the branches. The light hit one particular drop on one particular leaf in such a way as to create a point of shimmering light which changed colors as a gentle breeze moved the foliage ever so slightly. I shifted in my seat and discovered I could move my head just a bit and see all the colors of the spectrum. There was a miniature rainbow in the pear tree! While I was marveling at seeing such a sight, it dawned upon me that symbolically it was most fitting. I had been meditating upon an issue very difficult for me. The rainbow had been a significant symbol of hope for me earlier in analysis. Here, as I pondered again something which seemed insurmountable, I saw a rainbow.
I imagine a pragmatist might say that all I saw in these various instances was a pear tree, a snake, or a wet leaf. I prefer to hold these moments as much more. Maybe they were my projections of what was happening within my psyche. And if they were, how much more wonderful that I was able to see them, and ponder them. As Tennyson said through his title character in the poem, "Ulysses," "I am a part of all that I have met..." Similarly, it is a part of me, and my life is fuller and richer for having met those parts which came to me via the pear tree, and for having
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