The Parable of the Strong Wind Strengthening the Tree

There is a parable about a strong wind blowing at a tree, bending and almost breaking it. The tree told the wind: “You’re going to break me.” The wind answered: “No, I will make you stronger, your roots will grow stronger, and you will become even more powerful after the storm.”

We need to realize that this is how life plays out: that we become broken in order to strengthen our roots. As the Creator is a force of absolute love, bestowal, and goodness, which does only good, then we have no choice but to understand that all the actions of this force are good that bring only good. This is what it means to strengthen our roots.

We have lived through several upheavals and changes throughout history, and we thus need to trust that special and good days lie ahead, which we must accept lovingly. Everything that has happened to us has indeed strengthened our roots. Even if we still feel broken and we are on our knees, so to speak, we need to think about who and what we are, what we live for, who controls us, and what we need to do. We will then see how everything we endure prepares us for a real correction, i.e., to rise above our egoistic nature, where we live for self-benefit alone, and that the Creator, the quality of love and bestowal, awaits us above our egoism.

As the parable mentions a tree’s roots growing stronger thanks to the wind’s and the storm’s influence, in our lives, what are our “human roots” that grow stronger through the suffering we encounter? Our “human roots” are our connection with like-minded people. If such roots are correctly connected, where relations of support, encouragement, kindness, and care dwell in our connections, then we end up with a very strong “tree.” In other words, in our roots, we were in a unified state. We exited that state and entered one of separation, and in our separation, we have endured much suffering — “winds and storms” — in order to eventually return to our unified state with a much stronger unification than our original one. If we would not have undergone that separation and experienced such suffering, we would be unable to find out our essence or the Creator, and direct ourselves at Him.

Our roots are our connection, and our ultimate purpose is to direct ourselves at the Creator, the unifying force that bonds us together. It is hard to say what we can do practically in order to strengthen our roots from our current state, but we should think about our life’s essence: What we were given our lives for, what is exciting and special about it, and who can we bring salvation and correction to. We would be wise grow more and more aware of such points about our lives and our existence. The more we think about such existential inquiries and seek their answers, the more aware we can become of our roots. Such scrutinies should eventually lead us to developing positive connections in which we discover meaningful, harmonious, and peaceful lives. I would advise that every person perform such contemplations every day, and we will then see how we strengthen our lives at their very roots.