Lecture III

What does that which plays round the plant desire? It desires to absorb the soul of the sunbeam, and with the soul its purest part—its ego; and it is this purest part which passes through the plant to the centre of the earth. The activity of the plant's ego is expressed in the activity of the spiritual content of the sunbeam which passes through it to the centre of the earth. Thus earth, plant, and sun work together. The spiritual powers of the sun are in fact continually being led to the earth. And how? By means of the astral body playing round them; the blossoms, which long to absorb the soul of the sunlight, allow to sink through their bodies into the earth. That which is brought about outwardly in the physical world through the beams of the sun is but one side of its activity; the other works psychically in the plant, which longs for the soul of the light that streams to earth in the rays of the sun.