看到美丽的花朵，能唤醒人们，哪怕倏忽即逝，也足以发现美；美，是心灵最深邃的生命力，是生命的真正本质。第一次认识美，是人类觉识进化中最重大的事件。我们能感受到喜悦与爱，本质上是与美的认知息息相关。我们尚未完全明白这一点，而花儿却以最高妙、最神圣、究竟无形的方式，展现了我们内在的精神世界。比起进化出它的母株，花儿更短暂、更空灵、更精致，宛如来自另一个世界的信使，又如同跨接有形世界与无形世界的桥梁。花儿不仅有精致悦人的气息，而且还带来了灵性世界的芬芳。如果我们能在比传统内涵更宽的意义上使用“觉悟（enlightenment）”一词，那么我们可以把花朵看作植物的觉悟。
任何领域里的任何生命形式，无论是矿物、植物、动物或者人类，据说都能经历“觉悟”。但觉悟又是极其稀有的，因为觉悟大大跨越了演化进程：觉悟还意味着生长的中断，意味着向全新生命的飞跃，最重要的是，觉悟意味着世俗物欲的冲和淡泊。
在所有自然形态中，最密实的是岩石，还有什么能比岩石更沉重、更坚不可摧呢？但，有些岩石经过分子结构的改变后，成了水晶，变得晶莹剔透。在极端高温和高压下，有的碳元素变成了金刚石，有的重矿物变成其他宝石。
在所有生物中，爬行动物是与大地最亲密的物种，多数爬行类动物经过几百万年后仍然没有变化，但有些进化出羽毛和翅膀，变成了鸟类，战胜了长久以来束缚它们的重力。鸟类没有进化得更善于爬或行，却彻底超越了爬行。
自远古以来，在人类的精神世界中，花儿、水晶、宝石、飞鸟承载了特殊的意义。当然，与所有生命形态一样，它们都是深层一体生命、一体觉识的短暂显现。之所以具有特殊意义，人类之所以感受到它们的魅力和亲合力，皆归因于它们的空灵品性。
【译按】enlightenment，在思想史意义上译作“启蒙”，在宗教意义上指“开悟”。为了回避宗教概念的干扰，这里译作略为中性的“觉悟”。
Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit. Using the word “enlightenment” in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants.
Any life-form in any realm — mineral, vegetable, animal, or human — can be said to undergo “enlightenment.” It is, however, an extremely rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: It also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely different level of Being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.
What could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest of all forms? And yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to the light. Some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones.
Most crawling reptilians, the most earthbound of all creatures, have remained unchanged for millions of years. Some, however, grew feathers and wings and turned into birds, thus defying the force of gravity that had held them for so long. They didn’t become better at crawling or walking, but transcended crawling and walking entirely.
Since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds have held special significance for the human spirit. Like all life-forms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the underlying one Life, one Consciousness. Their special significance and the reason why humans feel such fascination for and affinity with them can be attributed to their ethereal quality.
