"They say an oak tree is brought into creation by two forces at the same time. Obviously, there is the acorn from which it all begins, the seed which holds all the promise and potential, which grows into the tree. Everybody can see that. But only a few can recognize that there is another force operating here as well- the future tree itself, which wants so badly to exist that it pulls the acorn into being, drawing the seedling forth with longing out of the void, guiding the evolution from nothingness to maturity. In this respect, say the Zens, it is the oak tree that creates the very acorn from which it was born.
I think of the woman I will become and have become lately, about the life that I am now living, and about how much I always wanted to be this person and live this life, liberated from the farce of pretending to be anyone other than myself. I think of everything I endured before getting here and wonder if it was me- I mean this happy and balanced me who pulled the other younger, more confused and more struggling me forward during all those hard years. The younger me was the acorn full of potential, but it was the older me, the already existent oak, who was saying the whole time: "YES- grow! Change! Evolve! Come and meet me here, where I already exist in wholeness and maturity! I need you to grow into me!"
Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
