> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gilespcroft.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Just tree - URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/just-tree/ - Published: 2026-02-13T07:00:53.000Z - Updated: 2026-02-13T07:00:52.000Z - Description: A simple Zen story that helps us manage life's difficulties 🎋 - Author: Giles P Croft - Tags: Consciousness, Acceptance, Attention, Expectations, Focus, Gratitude, Habit change, IMPLICATIONS, Meditation, Metaphor, Nature & Outdoors, Neuroscience, Presence, Principles, Thought realisation A week ago, in a Daily Reminder that looked at how the mind will sometimes try and turn the Innate Health understanding into a [set of rules](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-red-flag-of-should/) it can operate by, I casually dropped in this statement: > *We get this experience of Now – pure presence, or flow, or pure, uncontaminated Thought-perception (‘*Just tree*’ as the Buddhists call it).* …and the story of *‘Just tree’* is so good, and has helped me so much, that I wanted to share it with you. I came across it in Michael A. Singer’s brilliant book (his best, IMHO), [*Living Untethered*](https://amzn.to/3M6IRpH?ref=gilespcroft.com). In the run up to *‘Just tree’,* he’s talking in very straightforward terms about the inside-out understanding, and how we don’t experience the world directly, even though it looks like we do. He brings up the example of the old Rorschach, or ink-blot test, where psychologists show you a random ink-blot on a sheet of paper and ask you what you see – something we’ve all heard of, and probably all seen, but like so many things, we gloss over its significance. Everybody perceives, thinks, and *feels* something different, when they look at an ink-blot… so it can’t be coming from the ink-blot!! 🔑 ****Key Message**: We live in the feeling of a Thought-created perceptual reality. Having pointed out the fact that the entirety of life is basically one big Rorschach test, he then relates the tale: 🌳 A young Buddhist monk in a monastery has daily sessions with the Zen master, and one day shows up differently. **“What happened to you?”* the Zen master asks, **“You look so alive and filled with light!”* After initial puzzlement has subsided, the monk replies, **“I was walking across the courtyard and saw the big oak tree. I stopped and looked at it. I had seen it many times before, but this time I saw* ***just tree** *. I just saw the tree. Somehow it took me to such a deep place, I felt an awakening. It took me beyond myself.”* **“That tree has been there for hundreds of years,”* the master tells him. **“You have walked by that tree every single day since you’ve been here.”* **“Yes,”* the student says, **“but when I previously walked by the tree, it often reminded me of the tree Buddha sat under when he reached enlightenment. Other times, the tree reminded me of the one I fell out of when I was little. The tree always stimulated thought patterns from my past. This time I saw* ***just tree** *.”* The master smiles. These tales of Zen can sound a bit esoteric and mystical, but they’re very straightforward really (a product of the fact that there’s only ever really [one thing](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-red-flag-of-one-solution/) going on, and everybody’s [pointing to it](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-3ps-arent-a-thing/), in their own [special way](https://www.gilespcroft.com/isnt-this-just-another-religion/)). Our senses—which you can think of as Thought-perception (the Principle of Thought, in [3Ps](https://3pgc.org/faq/?ref=gilespcroft.com) terminology)—deliver an experience to us. And before the mind jumps in and starts analysing it all, and asking its eternal question, *But what does this mean for *me*?!* it is pure. Uncontaminated. It's *‘just tree’*. It's the closest you're going to get to reality. (Which is wondrous, and awe-inspring.) And then of course, because you're human, you've got this Thought System 📦 (or ego) that's [full of past experience](https://www.gilespcroft.com/going-fishing/). And it uses all of that cruft—that's yours, and yours alone; it ain't true!—to judge and analyse and compare, and *remove* you from the experience of life that's happening, right under your nose. It creates distance. It separates us and disconnects us from life. (Which is wondrous, and awe-inspiring.) All of a sudden, *‘just tree’* (i.e.life itself) is gone, and we're experiencing our past and our prejudices and the mind's [expectations](https://www.gilespcroft.com/tag/expectations/) instead. 😢 ## Why is this important? For me, tales like this are all part and parcel of [getting your own evidence](https://www.gilespcroft.com/get-your-own-evidence/). Of waking up to the dream; of seeing the all-encompassing nature of the principles by which you're having this experience of life. Because when you've clocked *‘just tree’* a few times (which let's face is, isn't hard), before you know it, you'll be experiencing *‘just email’*… *‘just partner’*… *‘just thought’*. So why not try it out, today? Catch yourself, let your mind relax out of analysis-mode just for a moment or two—give it a well-earned break!—and allow yourself to experience *‘just…’* 💝 Giles ### Related [Practice vs. perfectWhat’s the difference between the 3Ps and mindfulness? 🧘🏻![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-388.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1526916027372-0c0852cef5d3.jpeg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/practice-vs-perfect/)