Plants, Trees, and Humans, Editorial by Drunvalo

For much of the world, nature — in all of her pristine beauty and glory — is a receding memory. With the speed of computers, autos, planes, and the high-tech world, our connection to our origins and the simple plants and trees that for millions of years provided us with protection, food, medicine, and materials is becoming like a dream of the distant past. Our modern experience is slowly occluding anything and everything except glass, plastic, and steel. And yet, even so, without the trees we cannot survive, for we could not breathe. And plants provide not only all of our food, but also most of the life-giving substances that we use for healing our bodies. But perhaps even more than for their physical gifts, we need the forests for their beauty and mystery that nourish our souls. Who would we be without the presence of the pure spirits of the woods? Who could contemplate living all of life in an office building? So in this issue of the Spirit of Ma'at, we are reminding ourselves of the sacredness of all life and the absolute interconnectedness that exists between everything that lives. Once we see this interconnectedness and know it's reality, everything changes in our experience. We will listen to men and women, like Druid Graeme K. Talboys (see The Trees Speak), who do care, and who, with their books, lectures, music, and simple words, live to remind us that we cannot afford to lose our sacred connection with the trees and plants of our Earth. A keynote for the subject of this issue is a book written in the early 'seventies by two courageous men — Christopher Bird and Peter Thompkins — who stepped forth to enlighten us all about the sensitivity of all plants and trees. Their book relates scores of scientific experiments clearly demonstrating that plants feel, perceive, and communicate, with us and with each other. Please see The Secret Life of Plants. Bird and Tompkins also wrote a book called The Secret Life of the Soil, showing how the soil — filled with life to about sixty feet below the surface — also reacts to the pains and joys of the life that walks or crawls upon its surface. Using the results of a huge body of scientific research, the authors make it incredibly clear that, truly, not only is all life connected, but the communication among all parts of the whole is an intimate one. All creation is connected in the same way that the parts of our own body are connected. Yet, as we speak, scientists are researching and implementing their findings to create GE (generic engineered) foods that could destroy this intimate connection, putting the entire world's natural food supply in danger of corruption or even extinction. No one in the world knows where genetic engineering is going to lead us. And yet, not knowing this, the United States proceeds blindly ahead. Europe, with great wisdom, has made GE foods and seeds illegal. But much of the world is oblivious to this silent danger (see Heirloom Seeds: Getting Off the GMO Bandwagon). And the forests continue to succumb at a rate that is jeopardizing the human race and all life that breathes. The oxygen content of the air keeps on dropping, approaching "life and death" levels. Does anyone care? Or are we numb? (See The Last Frontier Forests.) We humans can be so silly. We believe we are the greatest life form that has ever lived on Earth, and yet we are discrediting our own personal sensitivity in favor of depending on technological sensing and computerized knowing. We are losing our natural ability to be part of the whole. We need to turn back and listen to our green brothers and sisters. For the trees and plants belong not only to nature but to our own earthly souls. Our hearts must not forget them as our minds reach beyond the earth toward the heavens and the stars. In love and service, Drunvalo