Thursday, January 17, 2008

Tom's tree. Feel it.


Tom's tree. Feel it., originally uploaded by Phoole.

Tom Fool's Tree. Thomas Skelton, Fool to the Penningtons at the beginning of the 17th century, was fiercely devoted to the family, and was cruel. He'd sit under this tree, and you'd traipse by and ask, "How do you get into the castle?" and if he liked you, he'd show you the way in. But if he didn't like you, he'd send you to your death in the swampy marshes below.

I've been to the Vatican, and the sheer gigantic monstrous hugeness of the interior of the building shocked me and chilled me and made me have all kinds of ecstatic feelings (even though I don't believe in imaginary friends per se).

Seeing this tree trumped that. I suddenly got, in a very visceral and personal sense, that it's been really awfully important to be a fool. And that fools have done important things: protect their families, fight in battles, tell the truth. I had learned all of this from books, of course, but to be In the Place, Seeing the Things, sitting where they sat...it makes a difference.

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