The Seed and The Tree

Potentiality and Actuality is a concept that has always resonated with me. We are witnesses to this theme daily. The bulb has the potential to be the hyacinth. The newborn has the potential to be an adult. The adult is the actualized potential of the child. A seed only has the potentiality to become whatever tree it is. It will not grow into a cactus and it certainly doesn’t have the potentiality to grow into an adult human being. We each have potentiality and our life’s job is to actualize it.

As humans we can alter this potentiality/actuality theme. We may be born to be actualized as an adult, but our personal potential functions on a different plane. Because we are a creative species one creation spurs the creation of many more, therefore, we are exponential. Language and art are perfect examples of this. As individuals we each have a personal sphere and with that we have the ability to personally expand or contract. With the expansion of self or growth, potentiality expands. And with limitless potential, fully actualizing oneself seems impossible. To me, this is a very hopeful existence. To get to the bottom of oneself sounds a bit like death. It would mean that somewhere along the way I gave up and I have ceased to grow.

An artist doesn’t stop once they complete a masterpiece, they continue to create until they die. They never reach the maximum potential of their creativity, it’s impossible, because with creativity they expand all paths before them. Our embodied existence is predicated on fulfilling our potential growth, but because of our profound creativity, are unable to. We have a limitless existence and are only limited by ourselves and our mortality.