In this post, we’re going to be covering a very simple but important concept — a principle that really can apply to anything in life.
Cause and effect is a basic law of the universe. Energies constantly transform from one form to another in constant flux as they interact with and affect other energies around them.
That means every effect has a root cause and stems from something. It’s interesting because, in the West, society is programmed to ignore looking at the causes of things and become distracted by focusing on the effects…
Think about how the medical world operates by trying to suppress or get rid of symptoms while ignoring the core problems that caused them; how the media manipulates the mind into fear by exaggerating stories while hiding the actual truths below the surface; how we fear death but forget where we came from.
To best explain this concept of how the “roots yield the fruits”, think about a fruit tree — let’s say an apple tree. The fruits are the “effect” or the visible result of whatever has happened before in the process that we don’t necessarily see right away.
We bite into an apple and find it too sour to continue eating. Ughhh — “I don’t want that!” we think. OK, but what if we realized that the problem is not the apple, but the cause that created the apple in the first place. Maybe the soil wasn’t ideal, or the fruit tree didn’t get the right nutrients or sunlight to create an apple that tastes sweet and delicious.
What I’m getting at here is that we have to change the roots to change the fruits. If we focus on the fruits and cut them down because they don’t match our expectations, thinking (& hoping) next season they’ll be better, we’ll be disillusioned with the same fruits again.
It’s not until we realize that we need to either plant new roots or heal the existing roots of that tree by addressing the causes, that we’ll be able to experience better fruits — ones that are actually delightful to taste.
This is how most people deal with their lives. They think they can change their lives (the fruits) by simply “doing” something different, not realising that behaviours and patterns stem from emotions and thoughts first created in the mind (the roots).
I remember when I was around 16 years old and just started at public high school. I was still a very shy person, and quickly became stuck in a comfort zone of a small group of friends, never breaking out to expand and grow. Deep inside I wanted to change my life and be seen as a different kind of person rather than this shy, awkward guy, but my fears kept me in a mental prison of limitations. Things kind of started going down hill from there and I started to slack on grades and hang out with not the best influences.
My parents noticed quickly and decided to put me into private school instead. This was not only a huge investment for them, but something they believed would help me get back on track in the right direction.
Within weeks I found myself in a brand new environment, where nobody knew me and where I hoped that I could become a new person (or at least be perceived differently than I was before).
I was quickly disillusioned when only after a few weeks, I found myself in the same patterns and situations as before, just a different scenario.
The point is that “the fruits” stayed the same, because I never addressed the core issues inside of myself (“the roots”) that were creating my life before my eyes. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties when I realised this and became aware that actually — in order to change my life I really need to change myself first. I need to reinvent the roots to produce new fruits.
So ask yourself this — in any area(s) of your life, where are your “fruits” (situations, people, patterns, results) showing up the same, over and over again?
Then ask yourself, what is the core cause(s) of this? Why do you think it is showing up for you the way it is? What do you need to change within YOURSELF first, before the results can change in your life?
These are difficult questions, but necessary ones — that if we avoid, we’ll keep creating the same results over and over and over again — UNTIL… we change/heal/fix the root cause.
So whenever you feel stuck in life — remember the analogy of the fruit tree and how the roots always yield the fruits.