This little story applies to all of us – you and me..
Regardless of the stage of our evolvement or spiritual development there is always something more.
The transformation of ACORN to OAK TREE, as a metaphor, speaks of the need to change, and it never stops.
We grow and mature, and then move to the next stage of enlightenment.
Like all good stories, you have to use your imagination and put yourself into it.
ONCE UPON A TIME,
In A Not-So-Faraway Land,
There was a kingdom of acorns – a myriad of acorns nestled at the foot of a grand old oak tree.
Since the citizens of this kingdom were modern, and fully Westernized acorns, they went about their business with purposeful energy; and since they were midlife, baby boomer acorns, they engaged in a lot of self-help courses.
There were seminars called “Getting All You Can out of Your Shell.”
There were woundedness and recovery groups for acorns who had been bruised in their original fall from the tree.
There were retreats and spas for oiling and polishing those shells and various acornopathic therapies to enhance longevity and well-being.
One day in the midst of this kingdom there suddenly appeared a knotty little stranger, who was apparently dropped “out of the blue” by a passing bird.
He was odd: capless and dirty, making an immediate negative impression on his fellow acorns.
And crouched beneath the oak tree, he stammered out a strange and wild tale.
Pointing upward at the tree, he spoke to all that would listen to him, and said, “We…are…that!”
Delusional thinking, obviously, the other acorns concluded.
But, one or two of them continued to engage him in conversation: “So tell us, how would we become that tree?”
“Well,” said he, pointing downward, “it has something to do with going into the ground…and cracking open the shell.”
“Insane,” they responded.
“Totally morbid! Why, then we wouldn’t be acorns anymore!”
So, do you want to be an acorn all of your life?
Or do you want to grow into a great oak?
This little story apparently originated with Maurice Nicoll in the 1950s.
Jacob Needleman popularised this metaphor in Lost Christianity and named it “acornology”.
It was retold by Cynthia Bourgeault in her book, The Wisdom Way of Knowing.
I read it in a little booklet called Courage to Imagine.
Keep manifesting 🙂
Tony
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