I decided to add a stone border around one of my flower beds in my backyard and I was enamored by the strength and structure of how the interlocking stones made such a beautiful design. As I leveled out the ground to lay each stone side by side they took on a personality of their own. Just like a human. Could they be alive in someway?

That’s a good question…..

Since I’m not smart enough to answer it myself I started researching the subject. I asked the question. Can stones have a soul?

I stumbled on an excerpt from a book written by Dr. Jeffrey J Cohen Dean of the Humanities Department at Arizona State University. He calls himself a trained medievalist working in English, Latin, and French, working in the field of environmental studies. Dr. Cohen has published numerous books on using the teachings of scholars in medieval times to help us better understand the human condition. One of the chapters happened to ask the question, “Do Stones Have Souls?” After reading his thoughts it dawned on me that he was writing about something that resonated in my life.

Over the years I’ve taken several stones from special places that our family has visited. I would then set them on my desk like a little shrine. I would only choose the ones that for some reason or another were aesthetically pleasing. Some of the stones were smooth, others had crystals, while others had a peculiar color that made them unique. There they were all sitting on my desk, all of them picked up from different places yet they all had one thing in common. They brought me back to a beach, a hike, or a fishing trip that was extraordinary in some way. Those fond memories would spring back to life when I held one in my hand. They all would kind of speak to me. How could a stone do that? Was it living in some mysterious way?

Dr. Cohen, who is obviously way smarter than me wrote a whole chapter on the subject in one of his published books. Cohen goes on to cite the writings of the medieval scholar Albertus, an Aristotle disciple. Albertus argues that even though stones can’t reproduce or digest food they do have many qualities similar to humans. He writes, “as if there were in these things something pleasing to the stones, or a soul by which they were moved.” Stones radiate a potency that derives from substantial form along with the relative order of their constituent admixtures of elements with heat. Such lithic power is marvelous, mortal, innate and mobile. Even though Albertus insists that lithic power does not constitute being, rocky force does an excellent job of imitating life, especially when stone and human form an alliance. Corallus, for example, can staunch bleeding and protect against epilepsy. To wear corallus around the neck is to be guarded from storms, lightning and hail. Powdered and dissolved into water, it will fertilize herbs and trees, “multiplying their fruits.” Corallus connects human bodies, bodily fluids, the weather, and the vegetal world. Like all the stones Albertus describes in his alphabetical lapidary, coral is not a passive material to be harnessed to specific uses. Its virtue is innate, always emanating, always seeking the connections that will allow the rock to become an agent so powerful it can rebuff tempests, so fecundating it can compel the vegetal to superabundance. Coral’s force, moreover, encompasses an entire ecology: water permeates wood and petrifies through the power of place. Other stones act with similar vigor. Chryselectrum changes its colors during the course of the day. Because it fears fire, when held in the hand it reduces fever.”

I know I kind of went off on a tangent and got all philosophical on you but I wanted to expand on my feelings that when certain stones entered my life they had a special place in my heart. Can an inert object really do that without having some qualities of a living thing as we know it? Stones and humans are made up of many of the same substances. That connection is undeniable. The stones on my desk have a special place in my life. The memories that resurface when held in my hand make me smile and recollect on the wonderful times that my family had together. None of them were picked by accident. They might not be described as living in the typical sense but in my eyes they have a power that blurs the lines between what makes something living. I guess after reading Dr. Cohen’s article that debate has been raging for centuries. Who would of known? You learn something new everyday!