In Chapter 1, paragraph 1, Tolle talks about the first flower appearing 114 million years ago. He said that it probably didn't survive long "since conditions were most likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowering to occur." "One day, however a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly thre would have been an explosion of color and scent all the planet--if a perceiving consciousness had been there to witness it."

I think this is a metaphor for the consciousness threshold we are now experiencing. The conditions have to be right in order to perceive our true selves.

The gist of the second paragraph is contemplating the flower and learning from it how to live. Zen orginated from the "silent sermon" of Buddha as he held up a single flower.

So what does the flower teach us?

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