Why to learn cultivating and using plants
- This page is part of an ERW course Gardening courses, topic Spiritual aspects of gardening.
- By John Eagles.
.JPG)
For many people gardening and learning about plants is a hobby. But it can be much more than that.
First, when we have a garden, we need to take well care of it. When you sow seeds in pots in a greenhouse, preparing these to plant out later, you'll have to take regular care of them. When the sun is hot and temperatures are high, you may have to check on these seedlings twice or three times a day to see if they got enough water. When you plant them out, you must choose the best location and have the soil prepared. When they grow up, you must take out weeds around them. You may have to find solutions against pests and diseases that could bother your crops.
Thus, gardening become lessons of life in taking care. It's the love and care that matters. When plants are nurtured well, they will show this by being healthy and shiny, and when you eat them, they'll be tasty and give you vibrating energy.
.JPG)
Cultivating plants can teach us the discipline to daily spend time of care for each plant. It is a preparation of learning how to love people.
From the viewpoint that the human body is a microcosm of the larger cosmos, we can imagine that each plant is in some way present in our own bodies. When we are taking care of plants, we are actually nurturing a part of ourselves.
When we give love to the plants that we eat or which beauty we enjoy, we are also filling these plants with spiritual elements that feed our spirit selves. How do you feel when you are surrounded by beautiful flowers? You feel uplifted and vibrant. This shows that there are elements in the flowers that your eyes perceive as beauty, but which actually pass on to you aspects of God's love. When you consume plants, it makes a big difference when these plants were cultivated by someone who took well care of them and who loved these plants. By nurturing the vegetables that we eat, we fill these plants with energy that can be received by those who consume them.
Each species of plants has its own distinct character. You need to get to know a plant, very much like you get to know a human being. You become familiar with its characteristics, its benefits and uses. After some time, you'll feel that you receive some kind of ownership over a plant, in the same way that you may feel about a good friend, not in the sense of possessing that person, but in a way of feeling very close and familiar. To fully enjoy the company of plants, we need to develop a personal relationship to a particular species of plant, by spending time for it, studying and using it. You'll feel grateful when a vegetable or fruit tastes well, or when it helped you to be healed from a disease.
It's not just the love of the plant that you are receiving in that way. It's an expression of God's love that comes to you in this particular way. God created that plant and put into each species of plants an essence that we could describe as the soul of that plant species. God put love into that plant, hoping that one day that particular plant will pass on God's love to one of God's children. So when you learn to appreciate the beauty and benefits of a plant, you are directly receiving God's love for you.
In the same way, when you are a parent with children, it gives great joy when you can feed them with the love that you put in the crops that you grew yourself. While you are working in your garden, setting up a compost heap, preparing and feeding the soil, watering and weeding, you can think of how you grow these plants for your children, and you want to give them the best of the best of your love. It is sometimes not so easy to express your love to your relatives, children or friends. Growing plants in your own garden is a great way to do it.
All plants without exception have a good use. Many plants have many uses. It's a great path of discovery to explore plants and to find out how they can be used .
Test:Why to learn cultivating and using plants
- Main article: Test:Why to learn cultivating and using plants
