CC wrote; The question being something like "have you ever made an attachment to an >inanimate object?"... Wow, I've wanted to tell someone about this for a >long time, but couldn't bear the thought of a dumbfounded stare/rolling eye >response. hi CC, what a beautiful and sad story you've shared, thank you.(weeping) as a multigenerational woodworker i have an 'ingrained' fondness for trees and have studied, among others, japanese techniques and theory of construction and joinery. it is said that they were several centuries ahead in sophistication of their craft. inevitably every book on the subject begins with the trees soul or spirit. the value system symbolized by Shinto beliefs stressed love and respect for wood as a living organism. a tree is believed to possess a spirit and a carpenter, when he cuts down a tree , incurs a moral debt. one of the themes that runs throughout japanese culture is the belief that nature expects from man a price for coexistence. a carpenter must put a tree to uses that assures its continued existence, preferably as a thing of beauty to be treasured for centuries. there is a prayer that was recited before laying a saw to a standing tree that goes in part "i vow to commit no act that will extinguish the spirit of this tree' and only by keeping this pledge does the carpenter repay his debt to nature. the temples and shrines in japan are not only admired for their tribute to their religion but also for the perepetuation of the spirit of the materials of which they were made and the fullfillment of the obligation incurred to nature for the use of the earths resources. also the carpenters tools were thought to have a spirit of their own since parts of which were made out of wood. they celebrated their tools every new years day by displaying them in a place of honor and close by on a sheet of rice paper, a tangerine and two rice cakes, this traditional gesture was a way of thanking the tools for their work and for the crucial part they play in the woodworkers (shokunin's) life....... so much for that, don't we all have a favorite plant or tree or stand of trees. surely without them we would cease to exist. i know what my favorite plant is, although i still hold my orchids a close second. CC, i'll put a green pin on the jmdl map if you like, for your tree, and one in NZ for hell's tree..... now where did i put that roach??????
