As a result of some work I've been doing in my garden, I was reminded of an analogy that came to me some time ago.A few years ago, a friend of mine had travelled to India and returned home with a story about a flower called the Kurinji flower.
The Kurinji flower is a light purple/blue coloured flower, that blooms for two months, at high elevation. However, the amazing thing to me at the time was that it only bloomed only once every 12 years!
Initially, I thought what a long wait. With our contemporary lifestyle and high domestic mobility who has the time to wait for such a plant to flower? We all like instant gratification and we never seem to have enough time. Waiting delays gratification and seems like such a waste of time.
Upon investigation a few interesting elements emerged from my reflections.
For 11 years and 10 months, there would be no flowers. Just imagine it - you visit the Kodaikanal Hills and you just missed them. Many people would stop at this point of frustration. But imagine the enjoyment of being there whilst the plants were in flower - what a wonder. In fact, the wonder would be increased by the wait. This seems like a strange paradox.
From this paradox we can see that the waiting process is in fact integral to the finishing enjoyment (flowering) - which means that the flowering is in every way a culmination. Many aspects of life are best appreciated over the passage of time, and momentary snap shots in time miss the full benefit of the experience. The outcome is not divisible from the process without being diminished.
From this paradox we can see that the waiting process is in fact integral to the finishing enjoyment (flowering) - which means that the flowering is in every way a culmination. Many aspects of life are best appreciated over the passage of time, and momentary snap shots in time miss the full benefit of the experience. The outcome is not divisible from the process without being diminished.
Another interesting aspect of the story of the Kurinji flower concerns its propagation. Evolutionary biologists tell us about a survival mechanism called predator satiation. Because all the Kuinji plants in a given region delay and synchronise their flowering, it is believed that the mass propogation of flowers overwhelms the number of natural seed predators, and ensures successful propagation. This means that implicit in the delayed and synchronised flowering is a natural and intended redundancy paradigm. An interesting aspect of predator satiation is that plants which are out of sync with the mass die as a result of predation. Individual security is therefore attained in the group.
An interesting prerequisite for the mass flowering is an inbuilt calendar function that each plant has. Evidence shows that each plant records the number of days (including adjusting for day length) between flowering periods.
The Kuinji flower. Not only does it look beautiful, but it can tell us important things about life.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelakurunji
An interesting prerequisite for the mass flowering is an inbuilt calendar function that each plant has. Evidence shows that each plant records the number of days (including adjusting for day length) between flowering periods.
The Kuinji flower. Not only does it look beautiful, but it can tell us important things about life.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelakurunji