Old soul friends, those winning human connection(s)
July 21, 2024•259 words
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Salawat
I was talking internally, to try to describe the feeling of meeting people that feel like old soul friends. Those winning human connection(s) and then their absence. At first, I was reaching for the concept of missing a limb but it's not right; better, I think is the concept of grafting a healthy, compatible, but different tree branch onto a tree; or! The weaving together two trees, like how the hill folk do to make the living bridges. In any case; branch or tree, the metaphor stands.
When the graft is first made, the tree and the branch are distinct; and their realms of possibilities are also distinct. The fruits they bear are also distinct. Bond takes, now new-tree is a expanded set of possibilities. The tree has the potential for these fruits that were previously impossible. This feels wonderful--if both things are good. Their possibilities are fresh and present. If/when the branch is removed, the possibilities condense back, and the branch that was earlier a small miracle is now a little lonely.
Every mixing is a little bit like this. Both the people we like and the ones we don't--one of the reasons (I think) good company is so strongly emphasized. Good company is like soul salt, it makes our ordinary flavors sparkle. Bad company spoils us. Bad company helps us on the path of becoming the bad people we can be.
Our friends shape us by their presence, and either as branch or tree, when we connect with people, it changes both parties.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/living-root-bridges-india