I've had an awful bug the last couple of says, my ears feel like their going to blow up & even the wind blowing sounds like a hurricane. I somehow managed to resist the urge to go back to bed with some aspirins. I achingly stepped out of my pyjamas & dressing gown, put my clothes on, & decided to take my 2 dogs for a walk, to get some fresh air. Luckily I run my business from home in the heart of beautiful Herefordshire, & I am only a 5 minute walk from the River Wye.
On this outing, I paused on a bank high up with a breathtaking view of the River Wye & all it's glory. I closed my eyes for what seemed ages and taking deep breaths, I took in the sounds of nature, the birds singing, the insects chirping, the movement of the grass below my feet, & the wind brushing against my face. It was as though nature had taken the time out to breathe on my face, the wind was so invigorating. I then started to sense the Earth as a living force. I was reminded that the Earth is very much alive, how often, due to the stressful lives, we in the West do not take the time to sense this energy, in a moment of tranquillity and peace. We do not take the time to feel our connection with Mother Earth and Nature. Maybe we should all take the time to rediscover this magical bond that so many indigenous people share with Mother Earth. Think for instance of all the trees there, how old they are, & the memories and feelings that they have absorbed during the centuries. We are all energy fields, so it stands to reason that all this greenery must be alive.
In 1966, Cleve Backster performed an experiment that should have revolutionised the way we think about plant consciousness. He rigged a dracena cane plant (above) up to a polygraph test in order to work out its rate of water consumption however, the result was not as expected. The results of the polygraph test showed a much more human like response. A lie detector is used on a person in such a way that when they detect a threat to their well-being they produce a physiological response. The concept behind them is that they stress human thinking and emotional reactions. When Backster even thought about setting alight to a leaf of his plant he found the following reaction.
"Then at thirteen minutes, fifty-five seconds chart time, the imagery entered my mind of burning the leaf I was testing. I didn't verbalize, I didn't touch the plant, I didn't touch the equipment. The only new thing that could have been a stimulus for the plant was the mental image. Yet the plant went wild. The pen jumped right off the top of the chart".
From this point on Backster started a succession of experiments that he believed showed that the plant was in tune with his emotions. He could leave the plants alone for a length of time and sit in a bar, talking with friends and the polygraph test would measure the ups and downs in the conversation that Backster was experiencing.
This was not only true of Backster's emotions, when he poured boiling water down his sink, killing all of the microbe life that lived there, the plant responded, violently reacting to their deaths.
Backster reached the conclusion that the polygraph tests showed that plants have primary perception. He doesn't call it extra-sensory perception in the way that we would if a human were to exhibit signs of being able to read the emotions and intentions of those around him, as he doesn't see that plants have the basic senses in the first place.
Experiments with polygraphs have in fact been replicated by numerous academic laboratories worldwide, some of which are cited at the end of Backster's book. Since his original experiments in the 1960s, plant electrophysiology has advanced a great deal, and simplified tone-emitting devices are now commercially available which validate the concept of instantaneous bio communication, at least between plants.
This all comes back to the findings in quantum physics (as posted in my other articles on
Pledging for Change) and the beliefs of indigenous people, that we are all connected, to nature, & Mother Earth.
I know I felt this connection, albeit too briefly, as I stood quietly and took in the moment. When I decided, reluctantly to go back, I felt re-vitalised and no longer felt so poorly & lethargic. We all need to find those moments, to re-connect with Mother Earth, and to appreciate her beauty, and that if we kill just a small part of her, we are killing a part of ourselves. The Mother Earth is a living energy, and she is sick at the moment. Like all living things, as survival is the driving force of nature, if we do not act to cure her ourselves, she may take the initiative, and shake off the cause of her ailments, mankind. There is so much beauty in this world, man is capable of such beauty also, it would be such a shame if we waste it all
