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Guest Columnists
The Power of the Seed



Except for a farmer, gardener, and those who keep to a holistic diet, seeds seem to have very little importance in our lives. We try to genetically engineer oranges that won't have them, we spit them out when we eat watermelons (if they still have them), and we avoid them like the plague if we have diviticulitis.

But they are probably the most fascinating part of our world, even more than the unexplored brain.

In fact, if anyone asks me about where you see the infinite in the world, I talk to them about a seed.

You see the infiniteThink about it. This little tiny seed is basically a treasure chest of DNA, prepared to (in the right circumstances) give birth to any of a variety of beings.

Look around you. Probably the chair you are sitting in came from a seed, the clothes you are wearing, the walls or paneling of the house you live in, almost all the food you eat, and last but not least – YOU and another 6 billion people, all came from a seed (including all of their brains).

But what does this have to do with infinite?

Well, let's start by looking at a computer chip. Considering that it has so much information, it stands on its own as quite an accomplishment.

It can be as small as the tip of a needle, but contains within it the programming data for controlling a very technical and complicated function. It took how many years of science, and how many patents, to eventually design it to function properly, and it can perform many tasks simultaneously with fulfilling its purpose of carrying the information needed for the proper functioning of your computer.

Now let's take an orange seed. It contains within it all the DNA info necessary for growing an orange tree, with all the complicated steps involved: photosynthesis, establishing roots, transferring water and minerals to its body parts, sprouting in season, etc. while creating oranges, and seeds, that will propagate future generations of oranges. Even though the orange seed is much larger than a computer chip, it has one incredible quality that a computer chip does not have.

It is programmed to transform itself into the very object it contains information about.

This would be comparable to creating a computer chip that is programmed to convert itself into a Pentium, or a golf ball, or a seed. Modern computer technology is just beginning to talk about the possibility of having chips that can become something besides the chip itself.

It is programmed to transform itselfAdd to this the fact that an animal or human seed is much more complicated than an orange seed, and a fraction of the size of the smallest computer chip. In addition it has the ability to impregnate an egg, and merge its data immediately to be able to create a completely new type of living being (with unique features unlike any other). Put together all of this, and so much more information that we know about seeds, and we begin to realize that we are dealing with a biological creation that is truly beyond amazing in its scope, and complicated far beyond what would be expected of something so small in size.

The seed is one part of our universe that gives us a small glimpse into the infinite intelligence behind the creation and functioning of our world.

So next time you spit out a watermelon seed, do it with respect for what that seed is.

After all, you came from one.


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By Tuvia Teldon   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rabbi Tuvia Teldon is the chief Chabad-Lubavitch representative in Long Island, NY, and Director of the Jewish Academy of Suffolk County. He lives in Commack with his wife Chaya and together they have five children and a growing family.

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