SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 31, 1972
|
MEDLEY
MAGAZINE
|
SANTA
ROSA, CALIFORNIA
|
talk
nice to plants . . . .
they may be listening!
By Staff Writer
Many amateur gardeners are said to
have a "green thumb," but if asked what this means, few people can
give a very good answer.
They usually say something like,
"well, for some reason plants grow better for them."
But what is the reason?
This may come as a surprise, but a
group of plant researchers, including two California State College at Sonoma,
psychology seniors, think they are coming close to some answers and their
findings could have some far reaching effects on man's future.
It's a long story, but essentially,
according to students Randall Fontes, 27,
and Robert Swanson, 26, the researchers think
plants respond to human emotions or consciousness, and this response can be
tapped for the benefit of man.
In the case of the "green
thumber," the researchers think people who say plants do better for him
because he gives them "tender loving care" are probably right.
"Experts in the field,"
says Randall, "have proven that plants respond to care."
In fact, Marcel Vogel, an
International Business Machines research chemist in Los Gatos, with whom
Randall has worked for several years, says plants appear to have feelings quite
as sensitive as those of human beings.
He says, for example, some of his
experiments have shown that if a person thinks derogatory thoughts about one of
his plants or talks to a plant in a derogatory way, while praising some other
plant, the first plant can be made to wither to the point of death.
In one experiment, he picked two
leaves from a plant and "willed" one to live, while leaving the other
unattended. The one given special attention lasted much longer than the other.
By using a galvanometer to measure
plant reaction on a graph and placing electrodes to each side of a leaf,
another researcher found that when he formed the image of fire in his mind the
recording pen bounded off the top of the chart. However, when he actually
burned a leaf the reaction on the graph was less, and when he merely pretended
to burn the leaf there was no reaction.
Vogel says plants react favorably to
being talked to, admired, or touched, and claims anyone can get a plant to
flourish and grow in direct proportion to the amount of affection and
admiration it receives from its caretaker.
As an example, in a recent article
in Harper's Magazine about plant research, Vogel said "love is expressed
to a plant as a wish for it to be happy and grow. It is like feeding it energy
in the form of psychic food."
Actually, there is nothing new in
this as scientists such as Charles Darwin and plant breeders like Santa Rosa’s
own Luther Burbank said similar things decades ago.
For instance, Burbank, according to
the author of the Harper's article, talked to his plants to create vibrations
of love, said he was able to build plants to a form mocked up in his mind, and
that plants responded to his mental image, indicating some form of intelligence
and transmission of thought. Burbank also was quoted as saying "The secret
of improved plant breeding, apart from scientific knowledge, is love."
How do plants react to humans?
For one thing, experiments have
confirmed the presence in plants of electric impulses similar to the well-known
nerve impulses in man, and these are transformed into motor impulses.
Similarly, Randall and Bob, who work
as a team at the college, Vogel and other authorities in the field, think there
is an energy exchange between plants and animals.
As an example, while working in the
laboratory with leaves of a plant attached to a galvanometer by electrodes, Bob
accidentally yawned, and this was markedly recorded on the machine's graph.
They then both began yawning, with similar results on the graph.
"This was one experiment that
showed us there is an energy exchange between plants and people," says
Randall.
Other tests have shown, among other
things, that plants react to people being changed from a peaceful to excited
state through light or sound. Plants, for example, react favorably to classical
music (remember the experiments with cows and music in the barn?) but appear to
"cringe" at "acid rock."
Randall and Bob think this energy
exchange between plants and human, is more psychic than physical, and can be
tapped for the benefit of man.
"People have various levels of
consciousness, many of them hidden, and through the use of highly sensitive
plants that soon will be developed these levels could be measured.
"Some people have strong
personalities, others weak, and some have a lot of energy and others don't, and
we are able to sense these and other characteristics, which have an effect on
plants.
"If you could measure these characteristics, or
talents, or levels of consciousness or whatever you want to call them, you have
many possibilities.
'''This could, for example, be
especially useful in career selection as you could tell if a psychologist has
the ability to help people, a lawyer is good at law, a politician at politics,
or artist at art. Many brilliant people or geniuses going unnoticed could be
discovered.
"Similarly, you could measure
the negative qualities of a person, such as whether he might be a criminal,
have suicidal tendencies, or be an airplane hijacker. I think it will only be a
few years before plants are used as a means of finding negative
traits."
Randall and Bob think that the key
to this is the fact there is uniqueness to each individual's consciousness
(psyche), plants react in a certain way, and this can be measured.
Just as a plant reacts one way to a
joyous, loving person, and another to any angry, upset or depressed person, they
don't see why it wouldn't also react to more subtle personality traits.
Randall and Bob think first man will
develop highly sensitive plants for his own use, but eventually manufacture
semi-living crystals sensitive to changes in consciousness.
These crystals, they feel, only
await the discovery of the primary sensing source in plants. "There's no
reason why the source can't be isolated and manufactured to sense
consciousness," said Randall.
With the crystals, they think man
not only will be able to very finely measure levels of consciousness such as
positive and negative Psychic energy, hut also span time and space.
"In the not too distant future
man will have mind actuated machines," says Randall. "He will think
at a machine and it will do what he wants it to."
If that seems rather far out, an
electronics engineer not too long ago was able to build sophisticated equipment
to mentally trigger a device through a plant at considerable distance. In one
experiment he set a philodendron on a laboratory bench 2 1/2 miles from his
home, and sent a strong emotion to the plant. When the plant received his
telepathic message, it triggered a radio signal that turned on the ignition of
a car in the laboratory parking lot, starting the motor.
The same engineer has conducted a
similar test 70 miles away, and believes it would be successful cross-country,
which would determine for the first time whether the energy of ESP travels
either at, or faster than, the speed of light.
Along the same line, Randall says He
has conducted a telepathic plant experiment of more than 100 miles with Marcel
Vogel.
He said he had the plant, a
philodendron, in the laboratory at the college and called Vogel in San Jose,
asking him to concentrate on the plant, then on his wife. The result was marked
deviations on a graph.
Randall thinks that with the
development of semi-living crystals and mind-actuated machines, man can harness
the energy exchange between himself and plants for many benefits.
"This would be a great boon to
the space program, for example, because you could locate a trouble spot in an
instant just by thinking at a machine.
"Or, say someone is down at the
bottom of the ocean in a submarine. He could communicate his problem instantly
using the same type of machine."
Randall and Bob, soon to receive
degrees in psychology and India studies, plan to seek masters' degrees and to
continue their research. They are applying for private grants for equipment and
to support themselves while doing the research. Most of this will be carried on
at what they feel is better conditions at Marcel Vogel's summer place on the
Russian River.
“This is a brand new field with many
ways to go” says Randall. "I guess that's one of the things that makes it
so exciting.
Up to now, man has been pretty much
centered on the physical world. But, by communicating with plants he will be
getting into the more subtle world of what makes him tick.
He’ll be getting inside the nature
of all living things and close to the source of life. And to solving all of his
problems.
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