How does a tree know it exists?

Question

Obviously, it can't "think," but is there anything else that makes it known to itself that it exists? Is it its "need" to go forward? What is it other than "I think therefore I am" that tells it "it exists"? If there's such an agency, would it be concentrated in the roots, in the trunk, the leaves, the fruit, or the seed? Could it be in the roots and in the new seeds?

The agency (if one exists), if in the root or in the seed of the fruit, it is concealed. If the agency is in the trunk or the leaves, it is not concealed.

Answer 1

Wow! I love your question. You remind me of a professor I had in Philosophy this Spring

Accepting that a tree exists without thinking it exists, it must not need to know it exists to exist. It simply does.

We know it exists because separate entities can agree to it's existence through touch,reasoning, and any other means.

Perhaps, it is not so much a "reasoning being" as man is but a process. If it were a process,it wouldn't need self recognition, by questioning it's own existence, as it doesn't have that faculty of the mind. But what it does do, is note it's own developmental process, step by step.

I recently heard a quote that attempted to explain the sufferings of man. It said something like, "One of the biggest causes as to why people suffer is that they can't sit still in their own room." If you take this to the realms of thought and understanding you could perhaps reason that the problem of existence too, is not the tree's problem, it's ours. In the words of my great Professor, "We are the only beings on this planet that make a problem for ourselves"

Answer 2

A tree doesn't know it "exists"; it is just in a state of being. Just as a rock "exist", it too is inanimate and effected by its environment-erosion, a young whelp picking it up and smashing it but just as a plant has no control over anything. We exist and know it because we at least have some effect on our effect and surrounding through conscious will. That would negate the latter part of the question but not to cop out, I believe there is an essence or intangible aura that makes up all living things but it is throughout all that live. Referring to the theory that energy can either be created or destroyed, this aura is our energy, the electrical impulses that move us and the spark of life that fires up initially. It all goes somewhere, even after death. Another dimension perhaps for those who believe in an afterlife as I do or as a spirit that inhabitants this world or is reincarnated(recycled) into another being.

Answer 3

For the same reason we know we exist. Every seven years we become a "new" person at a cellular level. We continually renew every seven years, so the person we used to be no longer exists, at least in a physical sense. But somehow memory is passed on. In trees, the rings in their trunks are proof of their past life, but the tree still retains knowledge that it is a tree. Trees just aren't as smart as we are.

Answer 4

A tree is not very concious, it is acctually very uncoucious, mostly in sleep state.When you sleep, you grow.The tree takes nutrients from he soil and grown and bears fruit in its sleep state, the same way you breath and grow when you are asleep.Exept the tree is continuesly in the sleep state.Sometimes, however, a tree sprite inhabits a tree; then the tree may seem awak, but it really is not, it is the sprite.

Answer 5

I've heard of anecdotal (sp) evidence to suggest that when people talk to plants that they grow 'better.' I presume there's an 'instinct' for survival in the tree's dna and its 'living organism.' It may not have a highly developed thought process, but it does have a primoridial instinct for survival.....is that what you're asking?

Answer 6

It doesn`t, to know anything a brain is needed, and plants do not have brains. So they know nothing. It simply grows because of the chemicals in it and the complex molecules, etc.

Answer 7

metaphysically speaking - every thing has a designated angel commanding it to grow.

the creator of the universe has to recreate creation every moment - which is done through His angel servant.

how do I know I exist?
I pay bills, therefore I am.

Answer 8

why is it obvious that a tree can't think?

maybe plant-life is superior to human life, vegitation has been around longer than us, vegitation has and is still evolving, and most trees have a much longer lie span than us

maybe they just know something we don't

Answer 9

It doesn't. Its a tree. It has no cognition, no sense of being. It doesn't have senses beyond... anything really. It doesn't conscientiously do anything but exist.

Answer 10

If it did know, i would become into a tree expert lol. TREES ARE INTELLIGENT, WELL A LITTLE YAY. But no, the soil feeds them ^_^