Ifblog

 
Many trees have lifespans longer than a human life span. 
 
With a lifespan of more than 1000 years, the yew is one of the longest lived trees.
 
After more than sixty years living on earth, I am starting to identify with the yew tree. Like the yew, I have had time to observe that the more things change, the more they stay the same and that experience can be a valuable teacher.
 
The yew symbolizes endurance and cycles with relatively long periods that correspond more closely to human civilizations than to individual human lifetimes. The yew is indigenous to the regions where I have lived. However, it has become rare due to overexploitation and perceived negative economic value. Having been born into, grown up in, and now trying to live a satisfying life in a civilization that continues to focus on the current situation and the short-term gain while convinced that it is eternal, I have become fascinated by the yew and have come to believe that focusing my attention on it positively influences my life. Developing a personal vision that extends to the lifespan of the yew leads to constructive actions and to serenity.
 
Que pensez-vous de l’énergie nucléaire ?
2020-04-08 Il est impossible d’éviter l’impact sur sa propre vie des mesures en train d’être prises pour combattre le changement climatique. Aujourd’hui consommer de l’énergie implique paiement de taxes pour couvrir les coûts des subventions et d’autres efforts censés permettre la survie de l’espèce humain.
What do you think about personal sovereignty?
2020-04-08 Personal sovereignty is the power to initiate and to regulate one’s actions. Just as a seed initiates growth into a self-regulating plant, a human baby strives to fully express the potential encoded in its DNA and stimulated by its environment.
No limits
2020-04-07 Is the unsustainable financial model the root cause of ecologically unsustainable existence?

 

All questions, comments and text for blog posts should be sent to yew@markmccormick.ch.

 

I believe that free speech and open discussion lead to optimal living conditions. Nevertheless, I will select posts based on my personal preferences for optimal living

 

By the way, «l’If» is «Yew» in French. Since I have been living in «Romandie» for twenty five years and since the Yew was a common tree in the region five hundred years ago, I decided to call this the «If-blog». Of course «If» and "Yew" make an interesting play on words between English and French. More information about the Yew can be found here https://www.waldwissen.net/fr/habitat-forestier/arbres-et-arbustes/resineux/lif-en-suisse.

 

Although rare, I have found some wild Yew trees and even groves like the one in the photo.

 

Citations

 

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey

 

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”  - Philip K. Dick

 

"When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer.

Superstition ain't the way." - Stevie Wonder