A Zen "koan" is a riddle posed by a master to a student. Koans famously make no sense, but the idea is that they kick the student out of his conventional way of thinking to experience reality in a new way. To "solve" the koan, the student must get past  "mere words". Words that often prevent him from seeing the world as it really is. The most famous koan is "What is the sound of one hand clapping? "The "answer" to a koan comes as a flash of enlightenment, often with a laugh. How simple! How could I not have seen that! In this spirit, I offer my own koan: What is the point of a tree? This question occurred to me while I was relaxing in my back yard and regarding the huge poplar, which had soldiered through many hardships over the decades but still maintained a slightly ragged majesty.  It crossed my mind to ask, "But what is the point?" This turned out to be a very good question. It has sent me tumbling off the "beaten pat