Plants and Us

[rabana]

burp i mean bump

[MamaElla]

Yes, bump indeed!
Does anyone know any useful plant documentaries??

[magonia]

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-s...ife-of-plants/

http://www.numenfilm.com/film.php
Numen: The Nature of Plants (documentary) is a 95-minute documentary film focusing on the healing power of plants and the natural world.

[leila]

How many times have I heard people attempt to degrade vegetarianism by saying ‘How is eating a plant any more ethical than eating an animal?’

Wow, I've heard this a billion times. Seems to be the number one come back.
Thanks for the post, I enjoyed it alot - my interest in plants has been growing Alot these days.

this i agree with, it really is the same- whatever you are eating.
though it really depends on where and how you get the meat or veggies, how they were farmed, or if you caught them yourself. and how far away they were grown or raised.

but to me its not to denigrate vegetarianism, its more about seeing all these life forms as having a somewhat equal value. the plant life forms are not seen to be as valuable and as respected as they should be.

eating a diet with 80- 90 % vegetables makes sense in multiple ways, land use, and many other reasons, but in a sense its the same.
but throw in FACTORY FARMING, shipping with ga$oline and its a different thing that we are talking about with ethics.....that applies both to veggies and to meat.

then again with all that said, its weird...the plants...i think they get it and are totally into being a food source. its really bizarre to me...but this is how it feels. they enjoy being cultivated, and being useful and connected to the animals that eat them. they live by giving, thats what they know....

[rabana]

i should probably edit that- i was only referring to the ethics of killing a plant vs. killing an animal.

[leila]

yeah i get it, i suppose i used to think about it more like that. it seems kinda obvious, but this is what clicked for me, and when i decided to eat meat after many years of vegetarianism.


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and it is so if we were talking about locally grown organic veggies vs. factory farmed meat...there is a huge difference there.

but there would also be a huge difference between food hunted or caught from the river, from your neighbors farm vs factory farmed veggies with pesticides grown by underpaid people.

[rabana]

the ff veggies themselves would be suffering. but still willing to give you their life force.

[leila]

yeah..in a way maybe its something i shouldnt even talk about.

or at least in certain contexts....like the other side is so well represented, and people eat WAY TOO MUCH factory farmed meat....so its like...i get it. it is different.

but this is something that clicked for me, and made me switch to being an omnivore. though ...its still a bit odd, i do not eat much very often.

and also it really is true, imo, the plants actually like their whole job in the world.

[rabana]

the plants actually like their whole job in the world.

that was my point, tho its not meant to be an argument against eating meat.

people think they are asking a brilliant question about whether plants suffer, when its been asked a zillion times. my answer is too esoteric for those people anyway.

[leila]

yes that does comes across, its very good writing. and it does speak to the point i was making too...about plants being much more advanced than is commonly thought by their funny human cousins.

but you have to look at it in a different way....have a different idea about what "advanced" would mean. if it means thinking of a bazillion things you can do (regardless of whether you SHOULD do them) and running around everywhere doing stupid stuff thats not important and much of it destructive...i suppose humans would take the cake!

but if it means...something more like this quote...it could be argued that plants few actions are by far the greater, if you are looking at it in this way. they do only what is important, eating light, and transforming it in their bodies, then offering themselves up.... and from that the other life forms around them are nourished. this is very advanced, from a certain perspective.

i have joked that maybe people have this backwards...in an assumed version of importance of these different life forms you have humans - supposedly at the top- then animals, then plants and then things like rocks....but i ve joked perhaps it should be flipped around.

rocks being the most intelligent- they do not go anywhere or do anything other than be themselves- very taoist! and totally within the "beginners mind".

so the whole universe goes by, just lands in their lap.....and keeps on, without any interference.....without any unneccessary actions, and especially without any destructive action....

and then in the ranking of real intelligence it would be plants next...then animals...and at the very bottom of the list of ranking intelligence in life forms you would have us humans !

well it is just joking, in a way...perhaps in many other ways it is true.

but i have come around to thinking humans are ok sometimes, that we do actually have the potential to be much greater which we arent really living up to.....
least not the loud ones, and the ones causing the most destruction with their actions. i would rather hang out with a plant anyday than with someone like this....

but there are other humans who are also similarly undervalued, and i shouldnt discount them either...who maybe dont seem to be doing all that much...but by this not doing, and their better choices...actually do live up to the potential of a human. and imo it is not difficult to do this...to live up to our potential. mostly its a not doing.

a human who is aligned as such is a different thing entirely...


I see plants as closer to divinity because they aren’t confused and bothered by all those useless thoughts and sensations. I mean we are all trying to learn to meditate and calm down, right? Plants exude calmness and acceptance. Their cosmic awareness of purpose cannot be defiled. Go sit under a tree and think about it. Or let the tree teach you not to think– another way to benefit from plants.
/quote

[Psychic Child]

WoW
Leila
great post.
One added point about plants.
They have a purpose within a purpose.
They are constructed, evolved to
present to the world their offspring.

By offering themselves as a nourishment to other beings,
they are also spreading their "seed" that is deposited with
a richness to promote growth, spreading their species.

With this Win-Win method of balanced intention,
Earth was transformed from a Furn-plant-type reptilian environment
to a mammalian, grasses-trees, environment in only 15,000 years . . . . .

Be in harmony,
be in beauty.
roger

note:
Trees are good teachers and learners too.
The youngest telepathic son taught the "Older"
back-yard tree to read as he was learning to read.
All the trees within the reach of his minds energy
were very quiet, when the teaching was in session.

I was so proud of him, as he patiently answered their
questions. Then, with the explanation in place, He
would picture read the word sentence again, pause
for more questions, then go on. As long as we lived
there, every Sunday late-afternoon, he would sit with
the tree [on its branches] and verbally and telepathically
read a story.
beauty
pc

[leila]

^^^^
very good point, true.

thats one of the reason they look up to us, its weird that they like us as much as they do...and its also oddly true to me that they do actually like humans...they see that we can do things for them so they like to be connected to humans who can take care of them...

not only this, but partly because we can help that along...by moving their seeds around, while we are getting nourished. thats truly genuis of them.... they are WAY smarter than many people think....getting us to do their bidding...while we think we are just eating

[rabana]

getting us to do their bidding...while we think we are just eating

lol....................

[leila]

i know , eh?
very clever to trick us this way!

they are very smart to play all the animals like this...perhaps pretending to be so docile is just their game!

well ha.....not really, not so much a trick...it really is a win win, this is really the way the universe plays.

kinda reminds me of how people are with their pets...its like they think- heres this animal that *theirs* and how they think of themselves as being so in control of the situation, they "own" the animal say....and in control of their "pets"...but really it seems somewhat switched up to me....seems like many of them (those blessed with a nice "owner" of course) are really getting the best end of the bargain. they pretend like they dont know who s calling the shots....and yet quietly going about getting to laze about at their food givers, err ...i mean humans....expense...ha who is really the *PET* here

[rabana]

when people ask me if our little mutt was rescued i say 'he rescued us-- from doglessness.'

[leila]

yes its true, it is another win win.

maybe i say that cause i really would like to be someones pet. this is truly what i want to be when i grow up... someones pet!
ha well no.not as ahuman that would be weird maybe, i probably wouldnt be very good at it .... i have really thought about it...how nice would that be. dont have to like "get a job" or whatever other nonsense...just allowed to laze around whenever, have someone else grow the food and chop the wood, and snuggles!

hard to say one is getting more out of it than the other though...just that humans get all this pressure to do all this stuff...perhaps thats why its so much harder to be human.
we think for some reason that we have to always work so hard, always bargaining with the universe, and thats normal. but i say its cause it was stolen, the things that should belong to all of us...if things were free as they were given to all of us, and taken care of, we wouldnt have to work so much at what doesnt need to be...to get what we need.

and things as they are right now are not the abundant forest and food everywhere that used to be....

...but really it is always like this.
everyone wins just for playing!
everyone and everything is the universe's pet =)
and the universe loves to give of itself, to itself.
no matter what else people imagine is going on, in the man made world, and the silly ideas people get and impose on themselves and others.

[rabana]

this is the last installment of this article--

Plants and Us part 4

What am I trying to tell you here then?

Reclaim your human heritage– welcome plants into your life. You can’t be well without some knowledge of herbalism. Working with plants is a healing process in itself, on all levels.

Familiarize yourself with common medicinal herbs and try them. Learn the ones that grow around you and use them in any way that interests you. Try new plant foods and spices, and grow sprouts. Grow as much garden as you can in the earth or in containers, indoors and out. Make compost or save materials for someone who does. Talk to your plants and listen.

Herbs are our most important healers. Honoring plants as herbs pulls you deep into nature and the life force. Befriend plants and they will always help you.

[rabana]

bump-- because there are some related threads up on the board at this time.

[rabana]

burp i mean bump-- because someone has a thread asking if plants like being eaten.

[JeorneQyu]

Plants, for Them the important thing is reason cz They also have roles, so its okay to eat Them as long as The reason is appropriate, when there isn't then this is rude and hurt Them big time.

I have one plant in My place, I offer water but just refuse because still feel pain (sort of cranky) about Leaf just being cut off badly by Other, again, when I offer to turn on Radio the respond: "better to listen sound of water than listen to People talk or/and Sing", They are nice.