Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?
~Mary Oliver
Notes on talking to plants
by ANA
There is a dimension of human experience, a way of experiencing the world, where plants can talk to humans and vice versa.
It’s a dimension that has been utilized by humans for most of our existence on this planet.
But we now live in times in which that way of life has been mostly dismissed, forgotten, abused, and even ridiculed
Those who still exist in the reality of communion with plants are often thought of as superstitious and/ or primitive
The knowledge that human beings found in exploring that dimension of life, in communicating with plants, predates science. In that dimension of existence, people often sought close contact with the sacred, and to bring into the world the knowledge and visions given them.
Knowledge gained in this manner worked well, as many scientific studies have concurred. Looking over it from this science-heavy world we currently live in, many are amazed that any of the knowledge gained in that other world worked at all.
We no longer understand that kind of information gathering. In so many ways, we are the poorer for it.
Still, in the backwaters of the world, people live as they have for thousands of years, and thankfully, still carry some of the knowledge and tradition from the pre-science era.
In Korea, it’s said that in 850 AD, the ginko tree was in danger of becoming extinct. This tree is interwoven with the existence of many Asians, but only recently, around 1800, having been introduced to the people of the West.
The ginko, like many plants, is used for food, medicine and is considered for its spiritual attributes as well.
During the time in which the ginko was nearly extinct, the Buddhist monks are credited for saving her saplings by taking them in to their gardens. One of the largest ginko’s in Asia grows on the grounds of Yongmun-san temple in Korea. She stands 180 ft tall, 15 ft in diameter and is said to have been planted in the 9th century.
Our capacity to recognize and seek out the sacred is one of the basic drives that make up the fabric of human being, thus shaping our ancestry
The sacred, as defined in the dictionary, is having ‘divine nature or origin’. The sacred has a dynamic aspect in that it has the tendency to manifest itself on its own accord. It tends to make itself known for a purpose. When the sacred allows itself to be known, something in the human allows it to be recognized. A part of the human, most often the subconscious, experiences the sacred and does it’s best to convince the conscious that it’s REAL.
Very often, the conscious tries to talk itself out of this ‘REALITY’.
This sacred reality is what I often refer to as magic, and when I can tap into this sacred magical reality, life seems to have more depth, more meaning— there’s excitement in the mysterious. It makes me feel my inner child energy again. The times in which all of life was magical and mysterious. When I used explore the creek behind my apartment building, like Huck Finn, and create an entire world with my imagination— or was it REAL?
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