“For every individual is a uniquemanifestation of the Whole, as every branch is a particular outreachingof the tree. To manifest individuality, every branch must have asensitive connection with the tree, just as our independently moving anddifferentiated fingers must have a sensitive connection with the wholebody. The point, which can hardly be repeated too often, is thatdifferentiation is not separation.”

“Every plant is an individual.Wrong again. We are not individuals at all, we are all connected. We are individuals the way each blossom on an apple tree is an individual.”

“A tree is alive, and thus it is always more than you can see. Roots to leaves, yes-those you can, in part, see. But it is more-it is the lichens and moss and ferns that grow on its bark, the life too small to see that lives among its roots, a community we know of, but do not think on. It is every fly and bee and beetle that uses it for shelter or food, every bird that nests in its branches. Every one an individual, and yet every one part of the tree, and the tree part of every one.”

“He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.”

“Life is not so simple. There are many futures. The life of a single person is like a great tree: every branch, every twig, every leaf is a possible future.”

“You fell off the tree of fucked-up-weird and slammed every branch on the way down.”