Trees

Walking along a path through the forest, the father and his young daughter were admiring the majestic sequoia trees, when the 8 year old girl glanced up at her father asking, “Where did all these trees come from”? Her father explained that each tree started as a tiny seed, then blossomed into a small growth, and over a long time eventually grew into the giants they are today. After digesting her father’s explanation, the thoughtful girl asked, “Ok, but where did the seeds come from”? The father commented that the seeds came from existing trees. She inquired further, “Well, where did the existing trees with the seeds come from?” More answers were followed by more questions, which the father patiently answered. The daughter finally asked, “Where did all this begin? Where was the first seed of the first tree”? Her father answered without hesitation, “Well, the origin of all the trees and of everything in the universe is God. He is the beginning, the creator. God has existed for all eternity and is the cause of all things.” The young girl trusted her father and accepted his explanation though she did not fully understand it, yet she instinctively knew that there must be a cause from which all things began.

The young girl’s curiosity about the existence of trees and of all things, including her own existence is common to all people in every age. Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? When and where did existence begin? Is there an endless chain of causes and effects? The questions seem to be never ending and the answers are often unsatisfying.

The most basic issue behind all questions regarding existence is the question of the origin of all things, including humans. What caused existence in the first place? A few will claim that existence just happened….by chance. They profess that in an extremely complicated, but orderly universe, chance is the answer to the most fundamental question facing humanity about existence. However, for most people in all ages, the theory of chance as the answer to issue of existence is unsatisfying and, upon investigation, has been rejected as untenable.

Thus we return to the issue of the source of existence. In the book of Genesis, when Moses asks God for His name, God’s reply is “I Am Who AM.” God is defining Himself as pure existence, the essence of existence, from which all existence flows. Nothing can exist without God’s approval. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. St. Thomas Aquinas noted, “There is something that is the cause of existing in all things in that this thing is existence only. Otherwise, we would have to go to infinity in causes, for everything that is not existence alone has a cause of its existence ….and have existence from the first being, which is existence alone, and this is the first cause, which is God.” (St. Thomas Aquinas: 
On Being and Essence (Kindle Location 251).

The little girl’s father was correct when he advised that the ultimate source of the trees’ existence is God, the essence of existence.  The One to whom we all are accountable.

Suggested Reading:

“Fundamentals of the Faith” by Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press, Chapter 3

“Thomas Aquinas”, by G.K. Chesterton, Originally published by Sheed and Ward, Dover Publications

“Summa Theologica”, Thomas Aquinas  Treatise on God, Question 2, Articles 1,2,3