“The lily has intelligence enough to start itself out of the seed when put in the ground and called upon by the to do so, as a man or a woman has the same intelligence (or should have) to go out in the sun on a pleasant day, and absorb the life and power sent in by the sun. Those who do not, who remain five-sixths of the time indoors, are, as a result, weak and bleached like potato-vines growing in a cellar. The lily has also sense enough to grow in the sun. It you put it in a room, it will grow toward that part of the room where the light enters. That is simply because it wants the light: it knows it needs it, and goes after what it needs, because it knows, or rather feels, that the light is good for it. …
“Where the lily gets ahead of us with its limited life and intelligence is that it does not concern itself or worry about the morrow. It toils not. It takes on water, air, sunshine, and whatever of the elements are in these, just what it needs for the minute, the hour, or the day, just so much and no more. …
“If the lily, with its limited intelligence, worried and fretted for fear the sun might not shine tomorrow, or that there might be no water, or money in the house, or potatoes in the cellar, it would surely become a cast-down, forlorn looking flower.” ~Prentice Mulford
Lily in the Ground
By an interesting coincidence (syncronicity?), I came across the above quote a day after planting some tulips and lilies in my yard. When you plant these bulbs, the instructions always tell you to plant then root down and bud up. This is always best, of course. But have you wondered what would happen if you ignore it and planted then upside down, or if one just flipped over while you were covering it with soil? The answer is that it would probably grow just fine. The roots would go down, not up. The stem would curve and grow up toward the sun. You may not think of that as intelligence, but it is. Lily intelligence may be severely limited intelligence, but it is intelligence nevertheless.
Lily Intelligence for Growing
Most lilies are summer-blooming. They do not grow in the winter, not if you live anywhere that gets below freezing in the winter. Yet we don’t plant them in the spring. Though several centuries of observing results, experts have learned, and therefore advise us, to plant these bulbs in the fall rather than waiting until spring. You can plant them in the spring, but they do better when planted in the fall. But here is the evidence of their limited intelligence. If you plant them in the spring, they will come up in a week or two. If you plant them in the fall, they won’t come up until spring. The temperature is not the main factor in this. It is the short days, the shortage of sunlight, that prevents them from growing in the winter. Yet something does happen in the winter as they do grow best when planted in autumn. I tried doing some online research to find out why summer bulbs like lilies should be planted in the fall, I can find nothing specific. If you know the answer, feel free to comment. Continue reading “Lily Intelligence: a Startling Lesson for Man”
