Life Force, Escaping the Box

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A couple weeks ago, I bought some amaryllis planting kits to give away as part of the winter festivities. I set them on a shelf to wait in the cool of the garage. Four days ago I went to fetch them in for wrapping.

I saw a strong green shoot and bud bursting up out of one box! I noticed that 2 other boxes were bulging strangely.

I opened them to check:

And now, after 3 days of sunlight:

The press of creativity, generativity, coming from the inside, wanting to expand.

How much Life wants to live!

How much I need to learn from these 3 plant beings!


“If you bring forth what is within you, 
what you bring forth will save you. 
If you do not bring forth what is within you, 
what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

                                                               ― Gospel of Thomas

6 thoughts on “Life Force, Escaping the Box”

  2. The quote from the gospel of Thomas lends itself to your previous post of how do we remember who we are, in the face of so much darkness. A hard question to answer yet we all face and by acknowledging what is before us in the moment, in the long term, and holding onto our beliefs, our rituals,and our traditions, we stand grounded even when buffeted by forces beyond our control.

    This was made so clear to me over the day of thanks and giving when some of my family, daughter, son-in-law and twin 15 yr old grand children came to be with us.. We had not seen our grands in five years due to the pandemic and my husband;s illness. We wondered hot it would be, this time together, but family held, plain and simple and that is how we remember who we are, where we came from, how the strength and love of our ancestors helped to shape us and how we pass it forward to the next generation. Many stories were told around the table from times spent together and the conclusion was that we hold together in love, in solidarity, questioning when needed, understanding and accepting when possible and always, offering a helping hand.

    As often happens with me, this morning an old quote from Barry Lopes surfaced that lends itself to my comments:

    “How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”

    Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

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    • Two of the amaryllis are now in full bloom — the shortest (who bloomed first) & the tallest (who had pushed out of the box and into the air). The third plant (whose confines had twisted it into something like a fantastic modern sculpture & with whom I somehow identify) has begun to unclench its strangely convoluted sepals to reveal 3 large buds and one very small one. Each plant iunique, progressing in its own way — and each having defied the artificial constraint of a box. They give me hope!

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