Ground Up

…Very little grows on jagged rock.  Be ground.  
Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.  
You’ve been stony for too many years.  
Try something different.  
Surrender.       Rumi

I have never admitted to being any more enlightened than a stone. Actually, I think stones may be more enlightened. They are the source of all soils that grow the life we need to survive. In the same way, when my rocky self feels crumbled by meditation and daily experience—something wonderful grows. Maybe that is why I love wildflowers so much. Many desert species appear to grow straight out of rocky surfaces. Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), for instance, can thrive on very inhospitable terrain. Sometimes its blossoms seem to rise up out of a bed of rocks.

Those rocks have been eroded just enough to make a bit of soil and the Bitterroot uses that sparse nutrition to make something quite beautiful. Bitterroot is called a geophyte, meaning “earth plant”, a perennial that stores its food underground. This allows it to survive in winter or extended dry periods. The species name rediviva translates to “brought back to life” in Latin. But the plant still depends on ground up rocks to make any of this happen.

I think any spiritual discipline that brings us ‘back to life’ must grind us up. When we are challenged by our practice to stay the course, to make a commitment through which we do not waver, our rough edges begin to erode. This creates the soil of awareness, a kind of fertile ground, from which compassion blooms. Maybe next time you feel “caught between a rock and a hard place” you will remember where soil comes from. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.