The Giving Tree and Mother

There is no question about it — Taoism is a pro-feminine philosophy. Lao Tze refers to the Tao as the “doorway of the Mysterious Female.” The Tao can be compared to the Mother, the Source of all things. He also said that “superior good is like water.” Water seeks the low place. It does not dominate.

Many children books have deep spiritual meaning. When I was teaching at my local elementary school, I encountered the children book, The Giving Tree. I found the story very sad, but also very touching and educational. It is about the dangers of greed. If we become too greedy in taking the resources from nature and don’t give back, we will find depletion one day.

This story has wide applications in religion(teaching the danger of greed and unbridled desires), in human relationships (teaching the importance of reciprocity), and in economics and in environmental concerns. When I first read the story, I immediately compare the Giving Tree to Mother Nature. In modernity, the relationship between humans and nature is that of domination and exploitation. Man is always trying to dominate and conquer nature for his own gains. He keeps taking and nature keeps giving. But this process is unsustainable. There is a limit as to how much nature can continue to give.

Such relationship of dominance is played out in many other arenas — in gender relationships in the…