I once learned a lesson in spiritual freedom that has since proved valuable to me. Directly in front of our home there is a tall pin oak tree. To the top of its majestic height it is naturally straight and beautifully shaped, with full branches at the lower level and gradually tapering branches to the top.
For some years we permitted stout ivy vines to creep their way to the top, where they clustered in a huge ball. Suddenly we noticed the tree's branches were not growing to their full beauty and the top seemed to be deteriorating. Its growth was being limited generally. Although we highly prized the ornamental, beautiful vine, we were permitting it to stop the tree from reaching out to the light at the top. It was slowly strangling the tree and its branches. Soon a nurseryman awakened us to the tragedy being enacted right before our eyes. We cut the offending vines at their roots. The tree resumed its natural, healthy growth and regained its beauty.
The experience made me realize that entangling errors of thought take on many forms and often develop within our consciousness without our being aware of them. We embrace a personal sense of identity; we cling to the belief that time heals all things—just wait awhile and the problem will go away! We are often reluctant to accept changed circumstances. Or we believe that some form of discord is material in cause and effect, and external to consciousness. Just as the ivy vine clung tenaciously to the tree, these mortal beliefs sometimes cling to our thought unless it is awakened to the tragic consequences of allowing apathy, stupidity, ignorance, or self-will to strangle spiritual growth.
