A Bean's Reflections

Leif Rasmussen, Professor emer.

April 2015

It is well known that when you die you obtain instant insight in your past life and in the world you have left. Nothing is hidden anymore — everything is clear as the day. You may see that from the following account I received from a bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, a report which I do not hesitate to pass on.

"How early do you begin to remember? I have not been very old at the time for my first recollection. My mother must have looked well after me with reserves for my beginning. Then followed a period with inactivity — I remember I was resting in a paper bag. The first changes began when kind people put me to soak in water. I discovered I was very thirsty and swelled up. This I believe is my first coherent memory. Soon after, many events took place. (I have heard tell that others in the same condition as me under long periods of transportation were exposed too water and swelled up with such a force that the vessel of transport cracked and sank with men and mice.)

I was put in dark, humid soil. I felt an inner unrest. I stretched myself both up and down. The strangest thing is that my programmed reactions were fitting extremely well to my new abode. My lower part growing downwards found water etc. replacing parts of the materials I had used to grow. My part growing upwards had to push its way through particles of earth. In the beginning I had to bend my head and expect a better existence up there. All plans — problems and solutions — were of so large dimensions that you could easily become religious.

My sections for production of new compounds were very busy and worked around the clock. It was difficult for me to have an eye on all the processes, but apparently all plans were ready. First, I needed new building stones for the organs, root and stem. But I also needed new chemical compounds for these building stones. The Planner must have known exactly what was needed. Many new chemicals had to be produced in a certain order and in certain amounts — to avoid a waste. I must have made more than 10,000 different compounds — some were the needed compounds, others were molecules needed to produce the wanted compounds. I understood later that I took part in a veritable race: in the beginning I relied on my dwindling reserves, but my further existence depended on me producing new chemicals faster than I used the stores up. It was important that I won this — for me unknown — race.

It wasn't just nutrients which were in the soil. There were also bacteria. Some of them attacked my roots. At first, I got weak from the attack, but soon I found out — or was I programmed (?) — to encapsulate these bacteria in my roots and make use of their systems of production. These microbes are unique in their ability to produce nitrate compounds out of the nitrogen in the air, and these nitrate compounds I used to produce amino acids and proteins. The first man to succeed in this was rewarded a Nobel Prize. The process required lots of energy. (The information on how to make this reaction work was spread by a so called 'learning process', which is spread in a population far faster than the usual genetic 'trial and error' method that easily requires millions of years.)

One afternoon I entered into a new phase of my life. My top, protected by two leaves, broke through the surface of the soil and detected a bright light. Now I understood a new peculiarity. Under the surface the centres of production had formed some complicated white structures. They turned green in the light in the course of a short time. In this condition they utilized light to produce new compounds to replace those being used up. It looked like a miracle: some building stones I could fetch from the air, others came from the soil and the necessary tools were strangely enough present from the beginning. Light provided the necessary energy. It was especially the red and the blue colours of light that were useful and I returned the rest with thanks for the loan. (This useless green light could make other beings ecstatic every spring — I still do not know why.) From now on, I ceased using my reserves and I started to increase in weight. I understood I had won the first hurdle in a race and that a new phase of my life had begun. I still did not understand what my task in life was — my assignment was still unknown for me.

Many days passed with the same activities. I grew in size and the more leaves I formed the faster I grew. I began thinking that this was my job: to grow as long as there was light and nutrients; I had to grow until I was the largest plant in the world. However, at a certain time I started making leaves of a new type. Some were small and white and formed flowers and others formed spores, even of two kinds. I was confused: these leaves could not take part in the production of new dry-matter for my growth. What could be their purpose? Later, I discovered that they could be used to make new seeds.

Everything was very complicated. I felt that I had lost control and I just had to wait and see what would happen. In the evening the smelling compounds in my white flowers attracted insects. These animals moved spores around in my flowers without any understanding of they were doing. This resulted in a new chain of processes: some of the spores germinated and formed microscopic plants and fertilization occurred. The little new plants had to be protected and were hidden in a pod which grew in size. Mature pods would open themselves, the seeds would fall to the ground and I would wither. Now I knew what my task had been. This cycle had taken place for eons of time. Only two thousand years ago suitable words were put to describe a similar peak event: "It is finished!"

I had produced many more seeds than necessary to carry the family on. Again you saw the finger of the Great Planner. The people who had sewn me harvested the pods when they had a suitable size — in some cases still immature. What the people used them for is unknown to me. But they secured that future generations would be spread all over the globe — also to Continents I could not reach on my own. I am certain that if Man once flies to other planets then he will bring us along. What a triumph that will be for our family!"