--- product_id: 1256128 title: "Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth" price: "€ 51.07" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.be/products/1256128-plant-intelligence-and-the-imaginal-realm-beyond-the-doors-perception store_origin: BE region: Belgium --- # Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth **Price:** € 51.07 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth - **How much does it cost?** € 51.07 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.be](https://www.desertcart.be/products/1256128-plant-intelligence-and-the-imaginal-realm-beyond-the-doors-perception) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description A manual for opening the doors of perception and directly engaging the intelligence of the Natural World • Provides exercises to directly perceive and interact with the complex, living, self-organizing being that is Gaia • Reveals that every life form on Earth is highly intelligent and communicative • Examines the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and the human species In Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm , Stephen Harrod Buhner reveals that all life forms on Earth possess intelligence, language, a sense of I and not I, and the capacity to dream. He shows that by consciously opening the doors of perception, we can reconnect with the living intelligences in Nature as kindred beings, become again wild scientists, nondomesticated explorers of a Gaian world just as Goethe, Barbara McClintock, James Lovelock, and others have done. For as Einstein commented, “We cannot solve the problems facing us by using the same kind of thinking that created them.” Buhner explains how to use analogical thinking and imaginal perception to directly experience the inherent meanings that flow through the world, that are expressed from each living form that surrounds us, and to directly initiate communication in return. He delves deeply into the ecological function of invasive plants, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, psychotropic plants and fungi, and, most importantly, the human species itself. He shows that human beings are not a plague on the planet, they have a specific ecological function as important to Gaia as that of plants and bacteria. Buhner shows that the capacity for depth connection and meaning-filled communication with the living world is inherent in every human being. It is as natural as breathing, as the beating of our own hearts, as our own desire for intimacy and love. We can change how we think and in so doing begin to address the difficulties of our times. Review: Mind-bending and important - So brilliantly insightful and mind-changing that despite some problems, I have to give Plant Intelligence the top rating. It's in my short list of books that have jolted my thinking off its comfortable rails into whole new paradigms. First of all, Plant Intelligence is only sort of about plants. It's also sort of about psychedelic drugs. It's not quite a polemic against human technological progress (though it heads in that direction), and also not quite a theory of living systems. It's poetic, recursive, loosely-structured and passionate, and as a reader I found it challenging and highly rewarding. Buhner lays out in great and scientific detail some little-known characteristics of plant ecosystems and the microbiome of the earth. This forms the basis for the rest of the book, which is a long reverie on the connectedness of all self-organizing systems, among which humanity is absolutely not "supreme" or even in any way special. Plant systems have "brains," and interact with their changing environment by exactly the same means as "intelligent" animal species; the earth itself is a living being responding intelligently to its environment (Buhner cites James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis throughout the book); and the hubris that has driven humanity to its destructive practices will be no match for Gaia when Gaia shrugs its shoulders and brushes us off. Plant Intelligence was a slow read for me, because the scientific language demanded careful attention, and because I had to keep stopping to quote long, mind-blowing sections to friends and family. First there were vivid images of plant root systems all communicating via the same neurotransmitters our brains use. Then came the unsettling concept that humans aren't the free agents we think we are; we're really just working for the planet. (Bees, Buhner says by way of analogy, think they're collecting honey, and have no idea that they're pollinators). Next came awe as Buhner discussed how human creativity is only a response to the larger system eliciting something it needs from us. While this view says that free will is largely a fantasy, it also says that our creative works--our very lives--do have meaning and power whether or not other humans consciously know it. It abolishes in a single chapter the idea that only fame and fortune can validate our lives. Finally--and in what I felt was the weakest part of the book--Buhner lets loose his "barbarian" diatribe in favor of hallucinogenic drugs and against civilization. After spending some 400 pages building a beautifully spiraling idea structure, he seemed to lose sight of his own core idea, that humanity is just one (disposable) part of nature like all other parts. Instead, he regresses to the conventional notion that humanity and its technologies (particularly cities) are separate and uniquely bad, and that a libertarian, individualistic, back-to-the-land way of human life is somehow inherently "better" than urban life. Throughout the book, I was hoping he'd arrive at the logical conclusion, that cities are organic, natural structures arising in response to Gaia's promptings just as beehives and anthills and biofilms arose; and that the shamanic approach that he favors would apply equally to urban and "natural" environments. I had to sleep on his conclusions before realizing that my view (let's call it urban shamanism) is as likely to be valid as his, even though I haven't written a beautiful, challenging, poetic tome on the subject. Yet. On a final and more mundane note, Buhner's style poses some difficult editorial problems, and it's easy to imagine an editor just leaving most of it alone, but there are dozens of missing words, repeated phrases, and misspellings throughout the (Kindle edition) text that really should have been caught by a competent line-editor. This important book deserves better editing than it got. Review: Brilliantly Insightful -- Life Changing - I know it's a big thing to say a book is "life-changing." It took me months to get through the first 15-20 pages, and when I finally did, I couldn't put it down. I found revelations on almost every page. Stephen Buhner's words changed my relationship to the rest of the living world - plant and animal - on a spiritual level, and shifted my understanding of life and of consciousness. ## Features - Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #197,314 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #40 in Gaia-based Religions #101 in Dreams (Books) #213 in Ecology (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 523 Reviews | ## Images ![Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81yJYcmsWYL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mind-bending and important *by A***Y on March 27, 2015* So brilliantly insightful and mind-changing that despite some problems, I have to give Plant Intelligence the top rating. It's in my short list of books that have jolted my thinking off its comfortable rails into whole new paradigms. First of all, Plant Intelligence is only sort of about plants. It's also sort of about psychedelic drugs. It's not quite a polemic against human technological progress (though it heads in that direction), and also not quite a theory of living systems. It's poetic, recursive, loosely-structured and passionate, and as a reader I found it challenging and highly rewarding. Buhner lays out in great and scientific detail some little-known characteristics of plant ecosystems and the microbiome of the earth. This forms the basis for the rest of the book, which is a long reverie on the connectedness of all self-organizing systems, among which humanity is absolutely not "supreme" or even in any way special. Plant systems have "brains," and interact with their changing environment by exactly the same means as "intelligent" animal species; the earth itself is a living being responding intelligently to its environment (Buhner cites James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis throughout the book); and the hubris that has driven humanity to its destructive practices will be no match for Gaia when Gaia shrugs its shoulders and brushes us off. Plant Intelligence was a slow read for me, because the scientific language demanded careful attention, and because I had to keep stopping to quote long, mind-blowing sections to friends and family. First there were vivid images of plant root systems all communicating via the same neurotransmitters our brains use. Then came the unsettling concept that humans aren't the free agents we think we are; we're really just working for the planet. (Bees, Buhner says by way of analogy, think they're collecting honey, and have no idea that they're pollinators). Next came awe as Buhner discussed how human creativity is only a response to the larger system eliciting something it needs from us. While this view says that free will is largely a fantasy, it also says that our creative works--our very lives--do have meaning and power whether or not other humans consciously know it. It abolishes in a single chapter the idea that only fame and fortune can validate our lives. Finally--and in what I felt was the weakest part of the book--Buhner lets loose his "barbarian" diatribe in favor of hallucinogenic drugs and against civilization. After spending some 400 pages building a beautifully spiraling idea structure, he seemed to lose sight of his own core idea, that humanity is just one (disposable) part of nature like all other parts. Instead, he regresses to the conventional notion that humanity and its technologies (particularly cities) are separate and uniquely bad, and that a libertarian, individualistic, back-to-the-land way of human life is somehow inherently "better" than urban life. Throughout the book, I was hoping he'd arrive at the logical conclusion, that cities are organic, natural structures arising in response to Gaia's promptings just as beehives and anthills and biofilms arose; and that the shamanic approach that he favors would apply equally to urban and "natural" environments. I had to sleep on his conclusions before realizing that my view (let's call it urban shamanism) is as likely to be valid as his, even though I haven't written a beautiful, challenging, poetic tome on the subject. Yet. On a final and more mundane note, Buhner's style poses some difficult editorial problems, and it's easy to imagine an editor just leaving most of it alone, but there are dozens of missing words, repeated phrases, and misspellings throughout the (Kindle edition) text that really should have been caught by a competent line-editor. This important book deserves better editing than it got. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Brilliantly Insightful -- Life Changing *by P***G on January 26, 2026* I know it's a big thing to say a book is "life-changing." It took me months to get through the first 15-20 pages, and when I finally did, I couldn't put it down. I found revelations on almost every page. Stephen Buhner's words changed my relationship to the rest of the living world - plant and animal - on a spiritual level, and shifted my understanding of life and of consciousness. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book is changing my life. *by K***R on May 10, 2015* Many times in the course of reading Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm I wanted to stop and post my reaction to the book here on Amazon. I resisted the temptation setting myself the goal of responding only when I was finished. And now I have done that. In this book Stephen Buhner proposed to me, in a most personal way, that I undertake my re-education. His single piece of advice was this: Whenever you encounter something ask yourself: How does it feel? So I will say how this book feels. This book feels heavy, not the heaviness of its actual weight, though it is not a short book, but the heaviness the old hippies referred to when they said, “That’s heavy, man.” Importance has its own kind of weight, and the weight of this book settles onto my body, not in any oppressive way but as if it were a fluid of warmth that conformed to every lineament of my physical self. But it was not my physical self that was embraced, it was rather my natural mind; it was, in the end, my heart. For this is a book of love if ever there was one and kindles love in response. It is as if someone nudged me awake from my sleep, gently but insistently. I knew at any moment I could say, “Leave me alone,” and the book would depart. Or I could let it rouse me. The book feels full of arousal, awake for the one who would awaken. So the book feels bright, not dazzling and brilliant in its brightness, not a brightness that causes squinting, but a brightness like the moon, never caustic, but when it is full adequate for many discoveries. The book is as stocked with joy as a spring river with trout. It abounds with an energy of the sort the old prophets felt when stirred by the touch of vision. It is lithe like a big cat moving in the forest; it is a repetitious as the old bardic chants composed of formulae worked and reworked in changing skeins. It has the generosity of the potlatch. It has the humor of clowns backstage taking off their facepaint. It calls as sweetly as the morning doves in my garden, seductive, soft, and hinting of intimacy. Feeling? Mine now on reading it: gratitude. The sense of dedication that breathes through this book touched me, held me as spell-bound as one is held by a great recitation. I love the man who wrote this book though I am not likely ever to meet him. Why? Because this book affirms something in me that needs affirming, seeks to feel affirmed. I feel I am in the presence of a true friend. Listen, I am 73 year old. I have a PhD in literature from Harvard. I taught in the academic world Buhner describes. AND I have had those experiences in my life which opened the doors of perception. But I have never quite found a guide to the heart of the earth. If I could only hand down to my children one book from all the books I have read, it would be this book. It is like a map---though not the territory---a golden thread through the labyrinth. Feel? it’s the feeling of having listened to a great song sung by a someone who has come back from a long journey with the wish to inspire me to travel there on my own. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.be/products/1256128-plant-intelligence-and-the-imaginal-realm-beyond-the-doors-perception](https://www.desertcart.be/products/1256128-plant-intelligence-and-the-imaginal-realm-beyond-the-doors-perception) --- *Product available on Desertcart Belgium* *Store origin: BE* *Last updated: 2026-06-13*