The Pet Plant

Many of us are used to having pets. They could be pups, kittens, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, lambs, calfs, or sometimes chameleons like in the movie ‘Tangled’. But, people seldom have plants as their pets. When someone does have a pet plant, people look at them like they are crazy, talking to the leaves and branches and nodding to them whenever they shake off in the wind.

There is an aversion to the plant community in terms of considering them life forms, right? Most people look at plants and trees as only outgrowth from the earth. While some just describe them as wood or even timber! There is a mindset among most people that only the stuff that moves and makes sounds can be considered ‘living”. They want the life forms to interact with them the same way they interact with others. This leads to a very narrow view of ‘life’ in many among us.

But, life, is not such a narrow concept, is it? Every life form has a different purposes in this reality and by living through our lives we realise those purposes every second of our lives. Just because we can’t understand the purrpose of other life forms, we can demean them.

A plant or a tree many not boast like ourselves as having an intellect. They may not be able to move around like us, humans, and explore the reality. They may not even realise they exist! But the fact remains that they are here and we are alongside them and also dependent upon them.

Spiritual philosophy considers plant and trees to possess the first important sense of living beings, the sense of touch. For, it is with this sense these organisms live and grow. They sense the nutrients in the soil with their roots touching them, they sense the air around them with their leaves reaching out and of course, touching them! Without this sense of touch growing up in multicellular life forms, further evolution of life forms might not have been possible.

I have written about the six senses and also about the possible “seventh” sense in my book, The Concept of ‘God’. Do explore those ideas and share your views about them. Further, I am writing about the complexity of the senses in my next book too!

As for now, we need a shift in our views about plants and trees. The earlier notions of viewing them as lower life forms must be changed. we must remember that if the ability to survive on own is the only criteria to define life, the trees and plants that can make their own food, are the only living beings in this planet!

If our views about the trees and plants are changed, we can set an example for the coming generations. they will get to understand the importance of these life forms. They will understand that without these organisms, we cannot exist. Also, they will protect them and also help them to grow up. Our first step towards this is to take up a plant or a sapling and grow it. We need to give them the same care and love as we would give our pets. our children who watch all this will get to see the magic of life growing in front of them. Think about the positive mindset that grows in our children as they see us nurture a plant to grow up.

At the end of the day it’s our responsibility to raise our children properly and to take care of our society. No matter what stage of life we might be in right now, we can start afresh. We can take that little step by growing a pet plant!

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