My favourite symbol is the Tree of Life. The human race is the trunk and branches of this tree and individual humans are the leaves, which appear for one season, flourish for a summer and then die. I am like a leaf of this tree, and one day I shall decay and fall, and become a pinch of compost about its roots. But meanwhile I am conscious of the tree’s flowing sap and steadfast strength. Deep down in my consciousness is the consciousness of a collective life, a life of which I am a part and to which I contribute a minute but unique extension. When I die and fall, the tree remains, nourished to some small degree by my brief manifestation of life. Millions of leaves have preceded me and millions will follow me; the tree itself grows and endures.
– Herbert Read The Contrary Experience (1963)
