THE HIGHER LIFE OF PLANTS 
If plants have every property of the human 
soul, why have men been so slow to admit their 
kinship with the trees and the flowers? Life, 
law and love are divine and bind man to all 
creation. He is spiritually as well as physically 
related to the plants. In the past, he has en- 
deavoured to set himself apart from Nature and 
look down upon her as upon another world. 
Because he has a brain, he has imagined that 
anything which has none cannot possibly pos- 
sess an intelligence and an inner life. To uphold 
this theory he has shut his eyes to a thousand 
denying facts. 
All plants and animals of whatever kind 
begin life on exactly the same level. The way- 
side Daisy and the Human Being both start their 
earthly careers as single cells. In both cases, 
there is no visible machinery of life and con- 
sciousness, yet we can say “Here is a potential 
Daisy. Here is a potential Man.” The wonder- 
ful, all-pervading spirit of life belongs to both. 
The language of the Bible classifies man with 
all life under the Hebrew term Nephesh chay- 
tah, that is, living soul or creature. The Old 
Testament favours a rigorous protection of 
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