Bridging the Divide, the Sycamore Gap

I feel compelled to talk about the felling of the famous Sycamore tree in the heart of Northumberland. It’s clear from the out pouring of emotion that this tree meant so much to so many people. I’ve read about the many memories that are tied to this place, the couples who got engaged under the branches, ashes of loved ones that were scattered at the roots, parents who took their children who are now fully grown. The tree held a place of many special memories for all that had visited in it’s long, rich history.

I too have my own experiences and memories of my visits and now I’m also experiencing grief for the loss. Psychiatrist Kubler-Ross states there are 5 stages of grief ; denial, anger, bargaining, sadness and acceptance and in my quiet contemplation I find myself experiencing them all.

‘It’s just a tree’ I’ve heard the argument raised, but it’s not and never was  ‘just a tree.’  This argument sums up to me all that is missing from our culture. The tree was and still is nature. My sadness is akin to the sad state we as a human race find ourselves in in this modern age.

The Sycamore gap for me represented a bridge between this divide - human kind with nature kind. Those that stopped to visit this place experienced ‘oneness’ for a brief moment. That magical experience that people who come on our retreats have, igniting a long forgotten ‘remembering’, we are nature and all who live on the earth are kin. A moment of connection and reciprocity for the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and other than human. The fact that the tree was cruelly severed in such an inconceivably mindless act of vandalism is symbolic of our separation - we are reduced to being ‘human’ without the ‘kind.’

I’ve been searching for an answer of ‘why?’ Perhaps the people responsible were answering a dare, filming it for prosperity, a moment of madness for social media likes maybe. Where the need to stoke the ‘ego’ centric overrides the ‘ecological’ self.

Interestingly our ancestors didn’t have a word for ‘Nature’ - they didn’t need a word, there was no divide, no separation, no ‘I’, only ‘us.’ They remembered this long forgotten concept, the message we seek to repair at Nature Escapes - ‘we are nature.’ Our ancestors not only knew this, but honoured and respected it. They knew that all living things are a part of a delicate web of life, the balance of which we ALL depend on for our mutual existence. We are out of balance, the felling of that beautiful iconic tree is a consequence of this, my heart breaks.

I’ve got my own personal relationship with the Sycamore tree. Our weekend retreats in Northumberland include a trip to Hadrians wall along where it stood proud. A highlight for me as a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide has always been to invite our participants to place their hands on the tree’s trunk; to connect with their heart sense and to listen to the tree’s wisdom and offer gratitude in return. I was always overjoyed and amazed at the things the tree offered us all. I wonder how many people have placed their hands on the trunk. How many hugs it’s offered those that came to meet and greet it.

This tree stood unscathed for hundreds of years, weathered by all manner of storms. Tragically, the night it was felled was during a wild storm. How ironic that the roots were too deeply planted to knock it from its position by the wind but it succumbed to the sliver blade of a man made machine.

My feelings for those that undertook this act have moved from anger to sadness. Robin Wall Kimmer, in her book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ describes how powerful our use of the English language can be in connecting or disconnecting us from nature, as opposed to more native tongues.

‘Our toddlers speak of plants and animals as if they were people, extending to them self and intention and compassion - until we teach them not to.  We quickly retrain them until they forget.  When we tell them that a tree is not a ‘who’ but an ‘it’ we make that Maple tree an object; we put a barrier between us , absolving ourselves of moral responsibility and opening the door to exploitation.  If a maple is an ‘it’ we can take up the chainsaw, if it is a ‘her’ we think twice.’

Pete and I have contemplated our return trip to Sycamore Gap this coming November.  It will be strange to drive down that straight Roman road to Hexham, look left and not see the familiar tree in the distance. When we arrive at this world heritage site along Hadrians wall with our 10 participants and see the empty space where once stood a majestic tree, ‘what will we do?’ I asked Pete.  His reply?  ‘We will have a group hug around it..’

Experts have spoken of the possibility that the tree may regrow, it’s roots are still very much alive.  I sincerely hope this to be true, that one day it can thrive again. As Baba Decorum said ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and understand only what we are taught.’ It would seem our mission at Nature Escapes has never been so needed.