Rhythms of Growth

“One has the feeling that at heart they do not know exactly what they are doing. They build with stones and they do not perceive that each of their gestures in placing the stone in the mortar is accompanied by a shadow gesture that places a shadow stone into shadow mortar. And it is the shadow building that counts.”

- Jean Giono, The Joy of Man’s Desiring

When starting seeds in the spring, there can be an urge to keep them well-watered at all times. But the optimal conditions for growth, here and elsewhere, call for more nuance. A period of dryness between waterings encourages the plant’s roots to sink deeper into the soil as they seek water. Here we see that at least two directions of movement and growth are important for the plant’s development. For every leaping towards light, there is an equal and opposite rooting into dark. This intricate imbrication of opposites embodies the polyrhythm of the plant’s resilience and growth. And without those moments of dryness, those moments of lack and wanting, the roots and, in turn, the plant itself, may never develop towards their full capacity.

And so it is with us. We need the struggle, the moments of feeling forsaken, those dry cracked days without the soft reassurance of rain, in order to sink our roots deeper into the soil of our lives and call up that deeper water to feed our leaping spirits. And, through this process of sifting nourishment from below, we develop the vital taproot that will carry us through future droughts and call us to our fullest flowering.