It is a story that I heard from Ducane Cundioğlu… An old mentor and a young student approach a village during a long walk. The mentor says; “My son, I am a bit tired, I will rest under that fig tree over there. You take this jug, go to the village and bring us water.”
The young student goes to the village fountain. He sees a beautiful girl at the fountain, and falls in love. He follows the girl to her house, then asks her father for her hand. The father loves the good-looking young man and gives him his daughter. The student starts a family, he becomes a father, and has children. Over the years, one by one, he loses his wife and children, they all die. The student gets finally alone. And at the moment when he feels the most alone, he remembers the mentor he left under the fig tree. After years, he takes the jug that was left on the side, fills it in the fountain, and runs outside the village. He arrives under the tree, the old mentor is still there. He turns to his student and says: “Where have you been, my son? I was about to leave.”
Ducane Cundioğlu interprets the young student in this story as “ourselves” (our consciousness). The old mentor is probably our mind that is searching for the truth. He adds: “Starting on the path is also getting off the path.”
The sincerity of the metaphor in this story deeply touches us. Maybe it’s pointless to look for deeper wisdom in this story. But imagining that this story has been enriched and distilled by the unconscious of the person who created it and the people who passed it on from mouth to mouth, made me think about some details:
The exhaustion of the mentor
The fig tree
The fountain
The beautiful girl
Let’s start from the end … The beautiful girl is everyone’s known, worldly pleasures and distractions. That is the normalized way of life that society has taught us. This subject alone deserves an article, or even a series of articles: Our learned fears (our own and imposed by society) and our desires that we have forgotten are the obstacles that prevent us from reaching the truth.
What is the fountain? This mentor sent us to get water. Since there is a risk of not returning, why did he send us? Was it that necessary to get water? I believe that the fountain here can be explained as language, communication, or social life. If you pay attention, there is a direct connection between the mentor’s exhaustion and the need for water to drink. Our minds enter a tiring adventure in thinking about the meanings and concepts. But our loneliness is deprived of the experiences that are related to these meanings and concepts (that is, the experiences that are found in social life). A mind that does not know the experiences is incomplete. We can also think of it this way; we cannot fully understand the things that we think of, even in their most abstract form, without feeling them in our souls (without experiencing them).
In the elements of the mind, anger, and desire that Aristotle defined as the three components of the soul, experiencing the life is necessary for an ideal balance. Our weaknesses, such as falling in love with the beautiful girl at the fountain, feed various passions and fears through the channels of anger and desire. Of course, for the thing that I call ideal balance, not forgetting the mind under the fig tree is also necessary.
Let’s come to the fig tree, which is central enough to give its name to the title… Why is there a fig tree and not another tree or just a tree in the story?
As you know, the fig tree is mentioned in the Quran and the Bible in different forms. Especially in the Quran, we see the emphasis on the holiness of the fig and that Allah swore by it. The Bible speaks of the healing properties of fig.
In religious and mythological sources, it has become a symbol of abundance. “It is particularly found in Asian countries. In some Asian tribes and subcultures, the fig tree has been seen as a symbol of power and has been accepted as a place of worship. The fig tree known as Ficus religiosa has been in the worship of Buddhists and Hindus for over two thousand years. In India’s Indus Valley civilizations, this plant has been included in legends and stories, as well as in their paintings for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, Sumer, Rome, ancient Greece, and the Ottoman Empire, traces of figs can be seen. For example, in ancient Egypt, figs were placed among other things in the tomb of the pharaohs. Ancient Greeks and Romans saw figs as fruit sent from heaven. Many cultures and beliefs on earth have forbidden cutting down the fig tree.”
“The fig tree has also overshadowed and preserved the civilizations that have been destroyed. Just like it preserved the Indus Valley civilizations that collapsed due to drought in India. It also preserved the Maya pyramids in Guatemala and the Khmer temples in Cambodia. The fig tree, because it loves water, its roots also spread widely. Therefore, the roots of the fig tree cover and embrace abandoned or ruined places. It is said that the roots of a fig tree planted near houses can cause damage to the foundations of the houses.
In our story, I associated the fact that the fig tree is not in the village or very far with the basic need and holiness that is felt for it, as well as its ability to recklessly destroy civilizations and melt them into nature.
The fig tree is much older than human history (according to some sources 80 million years). Some experts claim that if the fig tree were to disappear, all life would also disappear.
It is said that the first tree that people planted was the fig tree. It is unique in that it can grow in places where other plants cannot and leads the way for other plants to grow. “Even in volcanic regions where it is thought that ecological life has ended, the fig tree grows and allows other plants to grow. It also plays an important role in the development of forests.” It sustains 1200 different species of living things on earth.
The fig tree is believed to have more than 750 species. It is special in that it has numerous seeds in one fruit. “Many flowering plants display their flowers, but the fig tree, known scientifically as Ficus, keeps its flowers hidden inside empty fruits. Also, while most plants’ roots grow underground, some fig tree species’ roots grow above ground. Each fig tree species has a unique wasp that pollinates it, and the tree produces fruit to feed the wasps, which in turn allow for their reproduction.”
It bears fruit in all four seasons, making it a critical source of life for hundreds of animals. “Throughout history, not only the fruit but also the bark, leaves, roots, and resin of this tree have been used as medicine.”
The most striking scientific claim about the fig tree, which has so many remarkable features, is that it is thought to exist until the end of the world.
In this story, the fig tree will also be there until the end of our life. While we bury ourselves in our desires and anger and linger in that village, the fig tree, which bears fruit all year round, and provides shade and healing, is like a door of mercy that we have left behind.
We are all in the middle of this story. Most of us will die and be buried in that village, just like many others. And perhaps, we will be buried under that fig tree that we long ago left behind. Even if we forget, we will return. Perhaps they will pour a jug of water from that fountain on our graves. That’s all they need.
We may not be as lucky as the young student and may not lose everything. Instead of waiting to be satisfied by an unexamined life, we must attempt to leave it behind to find ourselves.
The exhaustion of the mentor is the exhaustion of our minds… The search for meaning is an endless journey and tiring, wearing. Sometimes we will think we are lost, and sometimes we will complain about not being able to reach a certain place. It seems to me that getting lost is like the first step of existence. The first reaction of a person who has realized their existence… The state of awakening from a deep sleep.
It’s also difficult to rely on the unsettling ambiguity of not being able to belong anywhere and not reaching a final destination that can be called the end. We will lean on the trunk of the fig tree occasionally.
