The Gentle Green Souls

Do plants have souls? Can you really talk to our little green friends? How do we know that they understand and answer?
 
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches (Likutei Moharan II: 11) that when a person prays in the field, all the neighboring plants, grasses, and trees help him, and add power and a wonderfully enhanced dimension to his prayer.
 
Where did Rebbe Nachman learn that from?
 
Throughout the Psalms, King David writes about the ability of the trees and grasses to speak. The Gemara also tells us that Rebbe Yochanan ben Zakai, as well as the wise men who preceded him, understood the language of plants and animals.
 
Any tree farmer with a soul knows that his trees have souls. A sensitive farmer can sense the needs of a tree.
 
The Ariza'l teaches that when we make a blessing over a fruit or vegetable, we elevate the soul that was in the fruit or vegetable.
 
Do you find that difficult to believe that plants have souls? Try this simple experiment:
 
Go to your local plant nursery. Ask the nurseryman for two identical potted plants, such as African Violets, that were grown from cuttings from the same parent plant. Take them home, put them together in the same window, and give them identical amounts of water and nutrients. Yet, speak to one of the plants lovingly and speak to the other plant harshly. Within three weeks, the plant you treat nicely will flower beautifully and the other plant will wither.
 
Its hard for me to do the above experiment because I don't have the heart to speak harshly to a gentle green soul.
 
And guess what – plants speak back too.
 
In the book, "The Secret Life of Plants," authors Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird describe how plants "talk to" people and what plants "talk" about. Staying alive and safe tops the list.
 
Plants feel endangered and plants feel secure. A fruit tree that's adjacent to a main road with a lot of noise won't yield near as pretty fruit as the identical tree planted in the middle of a quiet orchard.
 
In one study, a scientist wanted to determine if cacti grow needles primarily for the purpose of keeping themselves from harm. Safely housed in a greenhouse, the scientist talked to numerous cacti assuring them that they were protected and that he cared about them. He encouraged the plants to feel even more secure by playing soothing music in the greenhouse. Within several months the cacti dropped all their spikes. The offspring of these bare cacti were born without needles. Defenseless within this nurturing environment, the mature and new-born cacti prospered. After a period of a year of being without their protective quills, the cacti suddenly began re-growing their bristles and new baby sprouts were born with needles again. After some investigation, it was discovered that a house cat had found its way into the greenhouse. Suspecting that the cat may be the source of the perceived threat to the cacti causing the reemergence of their means of protection, the scientist blocked the cat's way of entry. Once the cacti sensed they were once again safe, all of the cacti dropped their prickly means of defense.
 
Some people complain that they don't succeed with house plants yet others seem to have green thumbs. Why? Plants can readily distinguish between people who are kindly towards them and people who are not, and our gentle green soul-friends cooperate with people they like.
 
A new Professor of Botany joined the staff of a major university. The test plants in one of the university's experimental greenhouses, which previously had been very responsive, were completely non-responsive during the new professor's tests. The lab assistants discovered that the new professor was incinerating his plants in his own personal research once his tests were completed. His career at the university was short-lived, for after one semester, he went elsewhere. As soon as he left, the plants again began registering activity and cooperating.
 
Emotions come from the soul, and plants display emotions. Scientific studies show that once plants attune themselves to a particular person, they are able to maintain a link with that person, no matter how far away. These plants register "knowing" not only when a person is returning to the plants, but when the person makes the decision to return. Other reports show that plants respond to people talking to them in a caring, loving manner, such as asking a tree to radically change its growth direction so that it won't have to be cut, or asking weeds not to grow excessively in a vegetable garden.
 
Tompkins and Bird conclude, "Evidence now supports the vision that plants are living, breathing, communicating creatures, endowed with personality and the attributes of soul."
 
Oh, and in case you think that Perek Shira is a hoax, Heaven forbid, and that plants can't sing, Richard Lowenberg writes: "Over the course of four days in June 1976, while open to the public, six large plants in the center of the glass Plant Conservatory in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (modeled on Kew Gardens, in London), produced an audible, live musical score, based on simple bio-electric sensing of their responses to light, temperature, movement and other physio-environmental factors (gold needle electrodes at the base of the stem/root). This was John Lifton's new variation of his "Green Music" composition."
 
If we see how our gentle green friends have such sensitive souls, imagine the responsibility we have in caring for the feelings of our spouses, children, and fellow humans. The world is much more beautiful when we make each other flower rather than wither. With a little more love, our Holy Temple in Jerusalem will surely be rebuilt soon, amen.