Q&A: Souls in Trees
Souls in Trees
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw a long article in Haaretz about common beliefs in the East regarding souls, or reincarnated souls, in trees.
Many people have encountered these souls in dreams, or personally know people who experienced a temporary possession by a soul that came from a tree.
I wanted to ask what you think about this as someone who is rational but not rationalistic.
Do you accept this evidence? If not, why do you trust mystical evidence such as the giving of the Torah?
Answer
What does the Sabbatical year have to do with an omelet? I tend to be skeptical of testimonies like these, certainly when they come from isolated individuals, even if there are many of them. As for the revelation at Mount Sinai, that was a mass event passed down through a broad tradition.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously, Western logic says to be skeptical of testimonies like these, but once a person is a dualist, then he knows that matter and soul both exist.
There is no clear connection between matter and soul (which is why the blessing says “Who acts wondrously”), and therefore one can think that the soul may appear in all sorts of entities that are not necessarily human—for example, animals, where it clearly seems that there is something beyond matter, and perhaps even in trees or inanimate objects.
If someone came to me and said that he experienced a revelation from a tree in a dream, or that someone on his deathbed, or a child, experienced a possession by that same soul,
why not accept it? One has to remember that a tree cannot speak, so obviously a revelation from a tree would come through some other medium.
Obviously if a single person told me this, it would sound a bit strange, but if people from an entire district say it, then that’s already much more than just one person….. If you look at the article, you’ll see that many students and lecturers also believe it.
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The way I presented it here is very reminiscent of your own approach to belief in the revelation at Mount Sinai. So if so, what is the difference between the two?
And of course, in the background there is also good evidence for the existence of God, so His revelation sounds plausible.