61. Everything that has been created exhibits in some image of him a resemblance to the human being. This can be seen in each and every constituent of the animal kingdom, in each and every constituent of the plant kingdom, and in each and every constituent of the mineral kingdom.
A resemblance to the human being in each and every constituent of the animal kingdom is apparent from the following observations: Animals of every kind have appendages used for locomotion, organs used for sensing, and viscera used to power these - components that they have in common with the human being. They possess also appetites and affections similar to the natural appetites and affections in the human being. Inborn in them, too, are various kinds of knowledge corresponding to their affections, some of which exhibit a seemingly spiritual element that in beasts of the earth, in birds of the air, in bees, silkworms, ants, and the like, is more or less visible to the eye. So it is that merely natural people deem creatures of this kingdom to be like themselves, lacking only the power of speech.
[2] A resemblance to the human being in each and every constituent of the plant kingdom is apparent from the following observations: Plants grow from seed and develop from it progressively through stages of their life. They possess some features akin to those involved in marriage, and these result in procreation. Their vegetative soul is one of useful endeavor, which they give form to. And they exhibit many other characteristics as well resembling those of the human being - characteristics which several observers have described.
[3] A resemblance to the human being in each and every constituent of the mineral kingdom is apparent simply in their endeavor to produce forms which exhibit that resemblance - these being, as we said, each and every constituent of the plant kingdom - and so in their endeavor to perform useful services. For as soon as a seed falls into the bosom of the earth, the earth nurtures it and from every side supplies from itself an abundance of what it needs to sprout and exhibit itself in a form representative of the human being. That this endeavor exists also in earth's infertile areas is apparent from corals formed at the bottom of seas, and from efflorescences in mines, formed there both from mineral salts and from metal ores.
The endeavor to endow themselves with vegetable forms and so perform useful services is the outmost effect of the Divine in created things.
