Yesterday evening I spent some time in the greenhouse while a friend watered the plants. As I walked up and down the isles of the greenhouse visiting different beds of plants I felt at peace. The silence of the greenhouse reminded me of our demonstration of the traditional Quaker meeting we conducted in class. Obviously the plants weren’t ever going to break the silence and discuss an epiphany about God, but the presence of the plants kept me from feeling alone in the greenhouse. More than anything the presence of the plants that surrounded me made me feel a connection with nature and with life. As silly as it sounds I felt like I was having a religious experience just by taking a moment to be at peace with the plants. The lively existence of the plants reminded me of a higher power that has brought life into existence on this planet. I think that the Quaker meetings serve a religious purpose in two ways, to bring living things together for a shared moment, and to feel the presence of God or a higher divine being. I shared a moment with the plants in the greenhouse and felt a connection to life. The importance of the connection I felt towards life serves as a reminder that as human beings here on earth we have the ability to feel greater than life and all powerful when we create new inventions and materialistic luxuries but also less than life when we feel unimportant, unaccomplished, and depressed. What is most important though is that we remember that we are living creatures. Life is a gift that we should not take advantage of or neglect. The silence also generates a feeling of the presence of something bigger than our selves because in our daily lives we are always trying to work on something, accomplish something. To sit in silence is not a typical way of accomplishing anything so I think that our brains justify and feel that as we are sitting in silence something greater is coming upon us and in that way we imagine that we feel the presence of God.