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  • From: <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Plant life ethics --for real
  • Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:44:16 -0500

Bev,

Sorry, I don't think I saw your initial post, I came in on Bob's and then read Ray's. I'll have to go back and look for yours to see what you said.

As for egos, the people I've studied with don't recognize an individual plant ego, but more of a collective consciousness within a genus/species. So, they would say that all roses have one conscious mind, thistles another. I think individual plants can have personality, but from a life purpose standpoint they are working together from a collective.

Stephen Harrod Buhner visited with many medicine men around the world in indigenous tribes and asked them how they new a certain plant was good for a certain ailment. They all said "the plants told me". Some of this goes back to the doctrine of signatures. For instance, most of the plants that treat cardiovascular problems are red-flowering, sedative plants are blue flowering, urinary tract yellow flowering, etc. By reading their form and noting where they grow you learn more about particular uses.

Some of his interesting studies included how keystone plants "call" other plants into an ecosystem. Ironwood is one of those plants that sets up first and changes the environment and then the other desert plants follow. In college we called them pioneer and successional plants but we never got into the mechanics of how it happens. He also talks about the intelligence of plants as the original "chemical factories" with the ability to produce one substance in the day to attract one kind of pollinator, and another by night to attract a different one. When you start looking at these processes you begin to see plants do make choices.

If you read Tompkins you will remember odd experiements where philodendrons were supposedly trained to open garage doors, etc. But Buhner's work is more accessible for the scientific mind and bridges the gap between it and what might be considered more esoteric. I do recommend the book.

--Sage





On Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:41:57 -0400
EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:


eureka AT hctc.net wrote:
Bob,

I do entirely agree with Ray, that plants have spirits, can experience satisfaction, and that they are happy in fulfilling their purpose.

Sage, just out of curiosity, what did I write that you did not agree with? I believe plants have spirits, too. I talk to mine all the time. I have been known to stroke them lovingly as well. However, I do not think they have an ego, do you?

Bev



--
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Ronald Reagan
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