The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature

Reveals the use of direct perception in understanding Nature, medicinal plants, and the healing of human disease

- Explores the techniques used by indigenous and Western peoples to learn directly from the plants themselves, including those of Henry David Thoreau, Goethe, and Masanobu Fukuoka, author of The One Straw Revolution

- Contains leading-edge information on the heart as an organ of perception

All ancient and indigenous peoples insisted their knowledge of plant medicines came from the plants themselves and not through trial-and-error experimentation. Less well known is that many Western peoples made this same assertion. There are, in fact, two modes of cognition available to all human beings--the brain-based linear and the heart-based holistic. The heart-centered mode of perception can be exceptionally accurate and detailed in its information gathering capacities if, as indigenous and ancient peoples asserted, the heart's ability as an organ of perception is developed.
Author Stephen Harrod Buhner explores this second mode of perception in great detail through the work of numerous remarkable people, from Luther Burbank, who cultivated the majority of food plants we now take for granted, to the great German poet and scientist Goethe and his studies of the metamorphosis of plants. Buhner explores the commonalities among these individuals in their approach to learning from the plant world and outlines the specific steps involved. Readers will gain the tools necessary to gather information directly from the heart of Nature, to directly learn the medicinal uses of plants, to engage in diagnosis of disease, and to understand the soul-making process that such deep connection with the world engenders.

Author: Stephen Harrod Buhner
Publisher: Bear & Company
Published: 10/01/2004
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.98lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.08w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9781591430353


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/08/2004 pg. 44

About the Author
Stephen Harrod Buhner (1952-2022) was an Earth Poet and senior researcher for the Foundation for Gaian Studies. He lectured throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, and the intelligence of Nature. He is the author of nine works of nonfiction and one book of poetry, including the award-winning The Lost Language of Plants and Sacred Plant Medicine.