graphic © eminentlyquotable.com | photo – Pixabay (PD)
What is the difference between
I like you
I love you.
Beautifully answered by Buddha:
“When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.”
One who understand this, understands life…
Osho made a similar statement: “If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up, it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.”
In the book “Zen: The Art of Meditation,” conventional thinking is turned upside-down… plucking a beautiful flower for someone is likened to giving death as a gift! I would call this an “extreme viewpoint” but it is nevertheless interesting. Plucking a flower is seen as a manifestation of ego, which is always to kill and destroy in order to control something. Why should we care though when plants are inanimate objects and therefore unable to feel pain?
Apparently, they do! Scientists in Bonn, Germany are saying that plants feel pain and plucking flowers could have them writhing in agony. Through super-sensitive microphones, researchers were able to pick up the plants’ piercing screeches when they were under threat. Of course, plants do not actually scream but they give off ethylene to warn others of an “attack.” This seems to suggest that plants and trees have a way of communicating with each other, according to Dr. Frank Kühnemann.
Whether or not humanity should put a stop on plucking flowers is still up for debate, but both George Bernard Shaw and Osho expressed disdain for picking flowers. Shaw said, “I like flowers, I also like children, but I do not chop their heads off and keep them in bowls of water around the house.”
