Thread by @hlgriffin

Three of the arugula seeds that I attempted to grow have sprouted & produced a few leaves.

As a treat, I picked one of the leaves & rejoiced in the harvested bounty.

It tasted amazing.

Then I started thinking...

Thinking about how the Stoics & Peripatetics thought plants had souls, but not at the same level of intensity as humans & animals.

Psyche was basically a life force powered by pneuma , & there were different levels. The higher the level of intensity, the more stuff a creature could do. Plants could grow and reproduce, animals could do that, but also had sense perception & goal oriented movement.

Humans had all the life force powers of plants & animals, but were also capable of reason & speech, which was why we get to run the show.

And his is what I do with my high pneumatic intensity soul that makes me capable of reason & speech. I eat my harvest of one fresh arugula leaf & wonder if it tastes so good because it still has that vibrant, tasty plant soul inside of it because it didn't get a chance to escape.

And then I think "Mmm- tasty plant soul," and then I use my reason and speech capable higher rational soul to tweet about it.

This is also why a lot of Greco-Roman texts lay it on thick with the "Decline of Civilization" trope, which usually happens when people w/rational souls use them to do dumb things.