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The Acorn: A Symbolic Seed of Human Potential

From One Human, Great Things Can Grow

By Chris Dunmire, CurrentLiving.com

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with the quote, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

That’s quite a feat, when you really think about what it means.

That means that from one tiny acorn that falls from an oak tree, a thousand more forests can grow. One acorn. Hundreds of trees. A thousand forests.

Sometimes when I read a profound quote I’ll think at that moment, Wow, that’s profound. And then I’ll move on. Yes, the quote is given a cozy bed in my subconscious mind, but then it’s off to dreaming land until some alarm clock in my life goes off to awaken it again.

But not this quote.

In my late 20s, something about Emerson’s acorn quote planted a seed in me about human potential that today has still only grown into a small sapling of understanding. I knew that the quote contained important truth and great implications for my life, and now in my mid-30s, I’m beginning to realize that even a lifelong journey will only reveal a tiny fragment of this grand truth to my human comprehension.

It’s still a humbling gift that I’m grateful for.

Last fall I was hiking through a forest on a rolling Pennsylvania hill. The rustle of crispy oak leaves under my feet instilled the hope of finding an acorn souvenir to take back home to Illinois. A few broken nut pieces and tops scattered here and there by squirrels diminished my eagerness until I finally came across one intact acorn with its top still on. Picking it up, I cherished it like a gold nugget and gently slid it into my pocket.

For almost three months that acorn has been sitting in an untouched corner on my office desk. Every so often I’ll take a break from my work and look over at the acorn to remember human potential. My potential. Your potential. His potential. Her potential. Manifesting potential is what motivated me to begin my day today, and it is what will invite me out of bed tomorrow.

This morning, in an inspired mood to write, I looked over at the acorn again. This time I picked it up and held it firmly in my fingers, feeling its texture while admiring its wonderous detail. From one human, great forests of ideas, transitions, changes can grow.

I thought again about the seed of potential in all of us no matter where we are in our lives. We can be 15 or 50 or 90 and still manifest more of our potential. Potential doesn't have a limit — it is a dynamic state of our evolution. We manifest some of our potential and then we gain clarity on how to manifest more. It's growth. Progress. Meaning-making for life.

Seeing the world through this lens of potential excites me about all of the trees that can be planted today from new insights and understandings, and how tomorrow they can begin to grow. •

© 2007 Chris Dunmire, CurrentLiving.com. All rights reserved. (02/16/07) Please do not duplicate this article elsewhere without my permission.

About the Author
Chris Dunmire is creatively engaged in life as an artist, writer, humorist, and publisher of the popular Creativity Portal Web site. She's trained as a creativity coach with Eric Maisel, Ph.D., and develops projects and playbooks to encourage creative thinking, artistic expression, and play in people of all ages. Learn more about Chris's books at CreativeSlush.com.