I took this photo in Coole Park, County Galway, Ireland
In his Second Treatise of Government, John Locke states, "People are born in a state of perfect equality, where naturally there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one over another." If one were to gaze upon the photograph I have posted above, a sense of this equality exists within the natural balance of the trees' trunks, for they vividly reflect the underground root system, the source of their immensely visual structures.
This illustrates the existence of iconic realism in the natural world in that it is unusual to see a tree's trunk and branches specifically revealing the source of its power. Usually, one would have to dig beneath the surface to see this, but as I walked beneath the branches of these enormous Irish evergreens, I could almost feel the life force surging from the unseen root systems below my feet.
What does this reveal in a cultural sense? Those leaders that become the most powerful, whether in government, business, education or the arts, acknowledge the source of their power exists within the individuals who contribute to the root of their successful endeavors, originating from that which flourishes from below the surface. "We, the people..."
