Emergence: Part II – Potential

Scobby Knees

The aerial roots of a Bald Cypress are sometimes called “knees,” I suppose because they look scobby, like the gnarled appearance of loose skin and protruding bones.

Pausing in the shade of some Bald Cypress trees the other day at the creek near my house, I thought how odd they are. Their alien looking aerial roots pop up like submarine telescopes once root meets water. So I did some research.

The Bald Cypress is a deciduous conifer, which means it is a needle-leaf, cone-bearing tree, like the pine. But unlike the pine and other evergreens, it looses its leaves every year in the fall. They turn to a beautiful rust orange, fall from the tree and carpet the ground.

What does this have to do with Emergence? Well, getting back to those “knees,” according to the Wikipedia article entitled, “Aerial Root” these “knees” are adventitious. This word is significant in terms of the symbolism of the Bald Cypress. It comes from the root “advenir” meaning to happen or arrive. It is the same root from which we get the word advent, meaning coming. The undifferentiated cells in the “knees” of the Bald Cypress are emergent. They are not yet dedicated to any particular expression of tree. They are open to become something not yet known.

Besides its emergent oddity, the Bald Cypress is also very ancient. An article, titled “Scientists Discover a 2,000-Year-Old Bald Cypress Tree in North Carolina” on the website weather.com, tells us that the Bald Cypress is the oldest living wetland species in the world. A Bald Cypress 2,624 years old was discovered along the Black River in the Three Sisters Cove in North Carolina.

This paradox of emergence out of the ancient is a metaphor. There are a couple of hidden messages here for us to decipher. One is that many times we are blinded to the potentialities that are right in front of us because age encrusted realities eschew change. Potentialities must find new avenues. The other is that ancient foundations are many times strong enough to endure the challenges of change.

Nature tells us that Emergence is real. It’s part of how the Universe works. Unimaginable potential depends on those undifferentiated cells on the tip of a scobby knee. Potential and possibilities are the mandate of the future. For humans we can in some ways lean into a preferable future.

We are at a scobby knee place in our country right now. It’s difficult to face the loose skin and protruding bones of a culture saturated in racism. The murder of George Floyd has brought us face to face with the reality of it. We are also at a pivotal point in choosing a future, one that is not yet formed, one that is in the embryo stage, the potential to become. What does the preferable future look like that we should be leaning into right now. I’m certain it has to do with justice and compassion. And if we’re honest it has to do with owning the truth about the racism of our past and the way in which that past seems to keep us chained to a present that is not tenable.

The ancient foundation of love is the source for the potential of our future hope.

What is emerging from your foundations at this moment?

Writing Prompt for the Week: Scobby Knees