By Betsy Gonwa, 
“Trees fall with spectacular crashes, but planting is silent and growth is invisible.” These words were spoken by Doug, one of the characters in Richard Powers’ The Overstory. The Overstory is a novel about people and trees and connectedness. It is about how we and all of creation are inextricably connected, to each other, and to the understory, Powers’ term for life underground. With trees, the understory is the spreading roots which lie under the ground we walk on.
For me, listening to the audiobook was like being in a forest and seeing it from the inside. Walking in the woods is something I did in my girlhood. I lived in the country then, and forests, fields and pastures were all around me. Then, as a teenager, with my family, I migrated across country to live in a strawberry field become apartment complex.
I don’t often get so close to trees now as I did then, climbing them, getting pitch on my hands and in my hair, feeling the bark beneath my hands, and inhaling the deep pine scent. Yet, as I listened to Powers’ story, I felt closer to trees than ever, and I came to identify with trees as spiritual beings. For, loud crashes and silent growth are part of being human, too.
The Examen of Consciousness of St. Ignatius of Loyola is a practice that attempts to bring to light the silent movements of the Spirit within us. It is meant to be a daily practice, and to help keep us aware of our movement toward the Light and away from the Light. It is a practice to help us see, for spiritual growth can be as invisible to us as a seed sprouting underground.
Sometimes directees seek me out when their lives have fallen apart, or when they are in a time of transition, or sometimes when they feel stuck. All of these circumstances are part of our spiritual journey. We want to know that this time won’t last forever. We want to know that there is a way out. We want hope.
Yet, any signs of growth are typically invisible, and impossible for us to see. Some of these signs of growth are identified by Dyckman et al. in The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed. They are: “Interior freedom and trust of God, self and others; greater flexibility and less judgmentalism; lessening of various kinds of fear; a mellowing-out or gentleness; absence of defensiveness; peace and Joy.”
Like a tree guide can help us identify trees, this paragraph has helped me and those I listen to know what to look for. Why is it important to know what to look for? Because signs of movement and life give us hope. Falling apart can begin with a crash or not, but the evidence of falling apart can be pretty impossible not to see.
The growth that follows the falling apart can be hard for us to notice, for it happens as silently as the mushrooms and plants that slowly take root in a fallen tree in the forest. It takes practice and perhaps a guide to be able to see. In The Overstory, Powers’ characters Ray and Dorothy explored, using The Little Golden Book of Trees as their guide. They walked in the woods. They touched the bark. They studied the leaves. They saw. So too, with awareness and skillfulness and practice, can we connect with our understories, look for growth and see.
Listen. Do you hear a seed growing?
