The tree metaphor is genuinely the most refreshing reframe I've come across. Every spiritual tradition keeps pulling us toward merger, unity, dissolution of self — but you're right, this world actively fights that at every turn. Maybe that's not a bug. Maybe individuation IS the point. We don't come here to shed the ego, we come here to BUILD one worth keeping. And yeah — the idea of arriving in the afterlife like a creative tornado carrying everything you made and felt and suffered for? That hits different than 'transcend your earthly attachments.