(This model is intended as a minimum example of how to approach the universal truth assignment.)

Universal Truth Model

Emerson said that every natural fact was symbolic of a universal truth. In order to understand this concept, find a fact arising from your observation of nature and study it for its universal message. Here is a model from my own natural observation:

The top of the huge, old pine tree is no longer distinguishable. Because it was the last formed, and had the least mass, there is nothing left to it now. The closer to the still hard and visible old trunk, however, the easier it is to make out the form of the tree. It was huge once, maybe two feet in diameter. No remnants of limbs are now visible, and the old trunk has all but dissolved into the ground. Near the stump, the trunk is still visible, but crumbles to the touch. There are many small pine around the old trunk, able to get some sunlight now that the old tree has fallen. I see some of the young pine have grown faster than the others and begin to dominate, much as the old tree once did. But above and around the young trees is a tremendous space, almost a meadow where little grew when the old tree stood there.

What message does the old tree have for me? What universal truth does it encase? Perhaps the old tree is the life of a person who accomplished much. It dominated the forest as one who is successful in life can dominate a society. Yet even in the security of that domination, few others can grow; the sun of society can only shine on a few at a time. Once the person dies, light is available for others to succeed. Yet, like the trunk of the tree on the forest floor, the impression of the once-dominant person is seen in society; his or her actions are remembered and his or her words are still treasured. The person’s actions, like the tree’s limbs, soon are forgotten, but the person’s principles, what the person stood for, like the tree trunk, will be remembered for a long time. Often times a person’s greatness stifles those who are the closest in blood, for they struggle to match the person’s stature. Yet, when the person is dead, others can grow and become who they will.

I guess I see this old tree as my father. I remember his strength and being sheltered by his values. I don’t remember so much what he did as what he stood for, how I could count on his strength and his ability to do the right thing. He has been gone now for many years, and I am beginning to see how my brothers, my sister and I have grown to fill the empty space in our family. He was our rock and my mother’s world, yet we all seem to have gotten stronger by emulating his strength. Socrates said that the way to become virtuous is to practice at being virtuous; perhaps the best way to honor my father is to live by his principles, so they too will live on in us.