This is a nice change of pace and very appreciated.

I know that all but three of my soul's 17,046 incarnations have been as human. I have a strong suspicion that I was an elephant at least one of the other lives but I've never asked.

It's interesting that you brought up pet euthanasia. That's actually how I met Anne. The woman I was seeing at the time was having a terrible time deciding whether to put her beloved cat Henry to sleep, so Anne channeled one of her previous pet's souls, Betsy, who knew Henry, to consult.

I had a very close friend who had a rescue dog, Scampi she named her, who I spent a lot of time observing for a couple of years and I am sure that Scampi's soul had been human.

Now for plants and consciousness, I distinctly remember watching a 60 Minutes story when I was a kid about how a man had hooked up a lie detector machine to house plants and there were definite reactions when the owner spoke to the plants and even when the owner got close to home after being away for a bit.

I have had a fascinating new experience with an apricot tree. Recently I posted a poem about my observations of nature here in farm country where I live, https://medium.com/weeds-wildflowers/a-poets-walk-among-weeds-and-wildflowers-f25bfdb75e7c , the discussion thereof includes my relationship with an apricot tree: "I moved here in April 2022. Last year, the apricot tree yielded little or no fruit and whatever fruit there was, was green. My dear friend from college, who has owned the house for over 20 years, said the tree is too old to produce good fruit. In May, I started sitting in a hammock swing hung from the tree, reading Hermann Hesse, with my bare feet touching the grass, grounding me to the Earth’s energy. I noticed green fruit in the tree and falling to the ground. I tasted some as I like sour, but yeesh these were too acrid.

Recently, I noticed the apricots in the tree and having fallen to the ground were at very stages of ripened and started enjoying them.

A Medium friend of mine said ... that the apricot tree likes me and my energy and that the tree started producing fruit again because we have entered into a mutually rewarding friendship and the tree approves and enjoys watching over me as I read in the hammock swing. The fruit she now produces is her gift to me. I thank her and I hug her trunk."

I think you and your readers will enjoy the poem and other parts of my discussion, which includes my belief that the story of Adam and Eve, before mistranslations got in the way, is actually about how human is a specially designed species consisting of animal and soul. Man and woman are mistranslations.

Plus, relevant to your piece today, my 36-line poem closes with these lines:

"Stepped into the brush obtaining a better perception

Revealed previously hidden from view the floret has bumble bee’s attention

This gentle pollinating hunter-gatherer causes me no apprehension

Like Nemo, clowns around anemone fishing for nectar

Symbiotic relationships twixt flora and fauna upon God’s altar

Humans should get along so well"