The first article in the first issue of Heron Dance was about Frederic Back and the film he received an Oscar for — The Man Who Planted Trees — based on thousands of his watercolor pencil sketches.

In the story written in 1953 by novelist Jean Giono, two men — one younger, one older — encounter each other in the mountains. The older man is a shepherd and tree planter; the younger man is in search of adventure or perhaps on a personal quest. Over several decades, as a result of occasional contact between the two, the Shepherd shapes the hiker’s perception of what is important in life. One of the aspects of the film that is thought-provoking is the way the Shepherd deals with adversity. He ignores it, focuses on the beauty around him and keeps planting trees. Wars rage around him; he concentrates on his simple work. Focusing on the positive, on the beauty and mystery of life, rather than on the problems, on the negative, is important to his happiness.

In the words of Albert Einstein:

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

The Shepherd builds his life around his own, individual definition of the miraculous, and out of that finds happiness. He focuses on one tiny area of life and work — planting trees in a remote treeless mountain range in Europe. The trees he plants and nourishes in turn nourish him. His focus, day after day, on a narrow scope of work is what gives him power — the power to create beauty. He lives simply. He thinks simply. 

When I interviewed Balbir Mathur, founder of Trees For Life, an organization that has helped villagers in remote areas of India and other developing countries plant millions of fruit trees, he talked about doing one’s work, however simple and seemingly insignificant.

I serve. I do the dance I must. I plant trees but I am not the doer of this work. I am the facilitator, the instrument. I am one part of the symphony. I know there is an overall scheme to this symphony that I cannot understand. In some way, we are each playing our own part. It is not for me to judge or criticize the life or work of another. All I know is that this is my dance. I would plant trees today even if I knew for a certainty that the world would end tomorrow.

Balbir described his work and spirituality as being undefinable except that it involved surrendering.

I call my boat Surrender — complete surrender to the will of the Greater Power. My two oars are instant forgiveness and gratitude — complete gratitude for the gift of life.

I asked him to what he surrendered.

The act of surrendering is so important that to what or to whom you surrender to becomes insignificant. It is the surrender itself that is important. At different times you surrender to different things. Whatever it is, we will enjoy the moment the way it is. Call it God, call it Spirit, call it the love energy, call it by whatever pigeonholes you want — but you surrender to life as it is, without demanding anything. If life is the master, I am dancer. However I can serve, I do serve.

. . .

This is an abridged version of my interview of Balbir. There is a more complete version along with excerpts from other interviews of Balbir here.

I created a poster inspired by our interview. You can see that here.

There are excerpts from my many interviews of Frédéric Back here.

A link to my book, The Man Who Planted Trees, of which there are occasionally used copies available on Amazon here.