Do Trees have Souls?
By Christoph56
@Christoph56 (1504)
Canada
August 2, 2012 11:40am CST
It may seem like an obvious answer at first, since trees are almost like rocks, we don't see them doing much, besides things like loosing their leafs in the winter, changing color in the autumn, etc etc...
But they also work together in males and females to create new baby trees... they stay together in tough environments to last. They try and outgrow the competition, wanting to be better. They help out virtually every other form of life on the planet, from making air to breathe, places where many animals have their children, provide homes... they are a big part of life.
So, I guess it really comes down to what do you consider a soul? Personally, I'm a man of science, so if you're thinking of a "soul" as energy that a living creature uses for life, then yes, I would say that trees and plants absolutely have souls.
What do you think?
2 people like this
15 responses
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
I'm with you, it all depends on what concept we have of "soul."
I believe that the Hebrew word "nefesh" which is translated as "soul" in the Bible, literally means "that which breathes" and therefore would apply only to humans, animals, birds and fish.
I would say that trees have life but not the soul that is mentioned in the Bible.
Genesis 2:7 King James Version (KJV) 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
A very interesting question!
All the best! 
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
4 Aug 12
Like I said, it is an interesting question! So let's say, for the sake of the discussion, that trees have a soul similar to man and animals, what would you make of that? And how does it change the world and our view of it?
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
If the meaning of soul is "that which breathes", then it would mean that Trees do also have souls. A tree is continuously absorbing things like Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, and Sulfur Dioxide, break those apart, and release what it doesn't need, the oxygen! A mature tree actually breathes out about 10 times the oxygen per season, as a person would breathe in for a year.
So, if your going by what the Hebrew bible calls a soul, and considering how a tree lives, then yes, a tree would also be considered to have a soul.
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
But there's a variation between what we guess and what we know. For example, we may look at animals at having no essence to it, but when we get to know a specific animal, we see that it has it's own traits and differences, its constantly learning and adapting, and makes it's own decisions. On that, wouldn't it mean that everything that lives as it's own "essence"? Making each one different then the others of the same kind?
@iuliuxd (4453)
• Romania
4 Aug 12
Well the fathers of the church from the first millenium call this "natural ability".On short, an animal can learn as much as he is programmed to learn in order to survive.They are also programmed to do some things, when you see a beta male fish building a nest or a female rabbit pulling the fur from her belly to make a nest for her babies you`ll understand that is not something they learn, that is something they are born with.I know the evolutionists are explaining this behavior through a lot of stories, my favorite is the altruist behavior, when a female sacrifices herself to defend her kids. I don`t want to argue about that, one of the reasons for why i believe we have been created is because i believe the church explanation is way better than the evolutionists stories.
You can read here how the human soul was described in the 8th century :
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209.iii.iv.ii.xii.html
@maidangela7349 (1191)
•
4 Aug 12
Of course not nore does anyone or anything else. That is something thought up by early relgious leaders to satisfy their followers and to retain power and influence over them byt telling them that their "souls" were in danger if they did not do as the priest wanted
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
4 Aug 12
I agree with you that the original concept of a "soul" was pushed by the religious leaders to try and capture the people more, but over time, the concept has changed. Nowadays, science comes before religion, ever since they found out things like how the sun does not revolve around the earth, etc.
Thats the direction I'm taking on "soul". It isn't something granted by any kind of god, I'm just defining our systems that transfer matter to energy to keep us going, with the term, "soul". By that, anything that transfers that energy, could be considered as using their "soul".
@ankit_620 (496)
• India
3 Aug 12
I am afraid to this but i don't think that tress have souls. Soul is in itself a very wide concept to discuss. Well i find it hard to believe that if there are any soul in human so it is very far for tress for me.
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
I guess that just comes down to what you see as a "soul". I'm not a religious man, so I'm just seeing it as working energy inside an organism.
What would you define as a soul?
@samar54 (2454)
• Egypt
3 Aug 12
I mean it have a life any way but not have soul like human , it have a life but may be different
God is Capable of everything, Creates what He Wants , how He Wants
@Kashidanga1971 (1354)
• Bangladesh
3 Aug 12
Trees have life as they express the signs of life. Trees are to move according to what programme God has set into its genetic sequences. And these programmes dont allow any organic device through which a hurt tree expresses its signs of pains.
If so happened then We would treat them as animals. And if animals could have expressed their feelings perfectly as like how an human shows, then we would treat those animals as human and we wont have misbehave to them. The we would start to think them as our neighbours or companions.
Actualy we human react to expressions. As we can sense an animal suffers from pain a lot while its be slaughtered, we our religions have raised a voice not to inflict an pain on an animal and its quite sin and we have to pay for it or compensate for it.
Hinduism says a spirit exists in any living or non living matter.
And I would say that this existing spirit will deserve human better treatment as per how much perfectly it expresses itself and comes to our senses.
I think everything depends on anything's being able to express or expose themselves.
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
4 Aug 12
Hi Christoph56, Yes, I would have to agree with you. All living things have souls including the earth itself. I would have thought it a strange question thirty years ago, when the soul meant something completely different to me. For me today, there is an order to the universe that suggests that we are all connected. Blessings.
@velentina (891)
• Mauritius
3 Aug 12
My teacher always told me that everything that grow has a life. And I do believe that a tree has a life as it eats, grows and communicate with other trees. I don't know if trees have soul but trees do have life of their own. About rocks, I have seen rocks also growing by time. If you observe a rock for a longer time you will notice it,specially rocks found in the sea. Well, science man thanks for making us realize that trees have a life and that we must not hurt a tree by cutting it.
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
The rock is another interesting point. If a rock goes through transitions, and slowly breaks down from nuclear forces, does that mean that it has a life as well? Perhaps it's a life that is just so much slower then ours, that we can't even grasp it. The life of a rock can be as long as billions of years, where ours is only around 100, so maybe 100 to us means the same as a billion to them?
@natnickeep (2336)
• United States
2 Aug 12
I also see things like this from a sort of scientific point of view. When I think of a soul or the word soul I think of anything living, with energy, trying to survive. It may not be the same definition some would use for soul. But the way I see it yes trees do have souls.
@Christoph56 (1504)
• Canada
3 Aug 12
I feel the same way. I think of a soul as the energy that works towards life. On that, however, what about something like the sun? The sun has constant variations, ups and downs, and it works with energy more then everything on our planet, combined. So, if energy = soul, does that mean that the sun has more of a soul then anything else?
@Fulltank (2882)
• Philippines
7 Aug 12
I don't think they have souls, same as all other living things. I think only humans have souls. God instructed us to eat what ever we want (except for the forbidden fruit). If all other creatures have souls, would God let them die in our hands for food? God would instructed us to eat non-living things if he knew that living ones have souls?
@ReViewMeMedia (3785)
• United States
3 Aug 12
Trees don't have souls, they are created but do not have a soul.
@Timeout (419)
•
29 Aug 12
I have two theories about that question you ask.
The first one is not mine. It's just something I read once and I found interesting. It says that the whole world population of trees and other plants is a single massive soul united.
The other theory is made by me after reading a book called Kybalion, based on something that an Egyptian man said long ago. It is a bit pointless explaining it without reading the book, but let's say a soul follows a path to develop itself and a plant soul, would be a soul that is not as developed as an human soul, let's say a soul that is now a plant can be a human soul one day but after passing through different reality planes.
If you notice, Budism talks a bit about the developments of the soul and reach a more perfected state, but he was talking about humans, maybe there's something else above humans, a state of soul where you can exist without the need of a physical body, but we need to follow our path to learn it.
@subhojit10 (7375)
• India
2 Aug 12
Hey i really liked your post and would second your thought that trees do have souls. We have always misunderstood the nature and its selfless service towards mankind. We have instead disrespected her every time by ruthlessly cutting down the trees just to fulfill our desires. But we often forget that plants and trees also have feelings and emotions in themselves which we can never see but we should feel us. They grow like us, they help others, they die when they are old. So why such step motherly attitude towards the trees!
What say?
@paulli3 (312)
• China
4 Aug 12
i think trees have souls and i believe everything has its own soul, soul is a fuzzy concept, i just think we should be nice to everything around us, you will be a nice man. trees have lives, so i never hurt them. and i agree they are a big part with life.
good luck!
