A little something on the Mystical side

As the brave journeyers huddled closer to the fire the wise old man cleared his throat which they all knew was his subtle way of saying “now pay close attention to what I’m about to tell you for it will be valuable to you for your discovery of what real truth is all about”.

With keen ears they all cleared their minds of their earthly distractions and prepared to receive their monthly lesson of wisdom and insight which they knew came from someplace deep and remote, as though from some place beyond the planet herself, someplace mystical and true.

As his piercing blue eyes scanned all the faces present he waited for the moment to begin. As though in some ancient ceremony his face would all of a sudden look years younger and a glow seemed to form around him as he began to speak.

“Be still my friends” he began “give yourself to your higher self and let the journey begin”

“When each and every one of you present is truly ‘here and now’ I will know and we shall begin”. There were the last few rustlings as we found our selves and our postures and gently and slowly we could feel it begin to gather.

“Be ye free of worry and distraction, let go of your fears and concerns, if only for the next few moments while we make progress the way humans were designed to” he said from a depth that was settling and comforting to us all. This is what we had worked for for so many days and nights, we were all well spent and glad of it for it made letting go that much easier. “Good, good.” He acknowledged our arrival as a collective, “now I shall begin”.

“Join me on my magic carpet where all is well and you will learn much. Climb aboard and let us make light and travel to a place untouched by man. Come for a ride and we shall see and learn and grow”.

“We make our way now to a time long long ago. Before history as you know it to a place remote and alive, wild and graceful. To a time before humans, before animals, before all terrestrial creators. To a time before any life trod upon this great blue ball or any form swam in her waters. To a place where all that existed was green and lush and prolific. “Can you see?” he said, as we sojourned in our minds eye along with him. “Can you see the vast expanses of foliage? So many different shapes and sizes. So many colors, so curious a variety, so enchanting the aromas.”

“Let your senses be washed by the primal display. Allow yourselves to observe the completeness of it all”

“We are in the garden now” he said “the garden of all that which is to come. We are in the place where it all began”. The sense in my soul is that we had been collectively transported, as though we all had merged into a multi-sapien unity and the perception of one was the perception of all. The sheer energy of all that green life was fierce and awesome. We were there. Where none had been before.

“Can you not feel and see that the intelligence of all life is contained in the potential of the greenery of this beautiful place?” “Do not your senses leap at the grandeur of it all and the portention that is palpable in the very air?” “This is the place that demonstrates the first confirmation of the Maker. Many planets strive to be fit to be a home to life and some do make it. This planet the one we see now has not only been chosen to be hostess to life but also carries a special designation of being a place where a great experiment is to take place. That experiment will be the evolution of life, striving for higher and higher connection through the universe. But first it must start with a foundation, and this lush plantscape that you now witness my friends is the start of it all. And as the whole of a human life is there in the meeting of sperm and ovum. So in the greenery of this place is the whole of all that is to follow. For can it be any other way. Do you see now that all flora is the very bedrock of physical and electrical evolution to grow out from? Do we not in our time utterly depend upon the plant life of the earth for our survival? It feeds us, it gives us air to breath, it clothes us to protect our bodies, and it is the source of our medicines. We negotiate its form to create shelter for ourselves. The green life of this beautiful place ‘is’ life.” He paused and gave us time to absorb the depth of his words and to assimilate the wisdom of the moment.

“In the space where we are now, it is clear that all flora is simply teaming with intelligence and meaning. It’s undeniable that the greenery we see all around us is a gift from on high and an indicator of something much more at play. Can you see how in the chapel of chlorophyll there is the marriage of the yellow energy of the sun and the blue energy of the earth making its display the green of cosmic union? Read the life around you for it is the book. The life of this great place is the instruction manual and the whole of it our church for growth, refinement and development. Take this into yourself now and add it to the garden that you are. For do you not grow yourself as a garden, giving fruit and life to other things? Quicken these knowings into yourself and be nourished in what ever way they are meant to be for you.”

“Come now” he said, “We must return now to the place of struggle and success, but we return enriched and powered to make better the way we use our time”

Slowly I felt myself descend back into my body. The sun was just breaking the horizon and we looked at each other and smiled. When we cast our eyes over to our guide, he had fallen asleep. We gently pulled a cotton blanket over him and quietly let him be.

The Secrete Life of Plants lives on!

36 years ago The Secrete Life of Plants was first published. Like many other works from the early 70’s it was inspired by the mind expanding movements of the time. And like some of the inspirational themes of the 70’s it has stood the test of time and grown and evolved into present day. Essentially the book follows several scientific explorations and philosophical deliberations on the mysteriousness of plant life. On the scientific side, the book follows as a CIA polygraph expert connects his polygraph to a plant on a whim. Only to be amazed and instantly convinced that plants possess an acute awareness and response behavior to other living things in its environment. The subsequent flurry of polygraph tests that Cleve Backster was to embark upon would change the course of his life and that of many others. The most significant results of his vast researches were focused on the direct reaction that his plants had to human thought. Backster’s remarkable ability to record a plant’s reaction to human activity inspired the scientific community to respectfully term the phenomena “The Backster Effect”.

The Secrete Life of Plants also explored the more spiritual side of flora. Goethe is portrayed as a romantic rouge who becomes enraptured with plants and flower and postulates on the miraculous simplicity and dynamic portrayal they give to the most basic fundamentals of all life.

Many a hippy will recall The Secrete Life of Plants as a pillar of validation for their newly found liberated perception of life. Those were days of breakthrough for human rights and a time for the individual to embrace their own creative urges and discover new arts and music. It was also a time for the breakdown of old stale ways of looking at life. And in this struggle for new to emerge from the old the book represents a piton for much of today’s new age movement.

But many will look back at that time of liberation and unbridled expression and glibly ask “but where are they today?” Well the saying is true…everything that’s old is new again. Almost 4 score after its birth there has been the reemergence of the Backster Effect, only this time it’s all dressed up in today’s technology. It’s called a Floraniun and it is an elegant fusion of an ultra sensitive detector which is wed to the leaf of a living plant. The magic in this marriage is that as the plant reacts to other living things in its vicinity those reactions are put through a mini processor that then translates them into an amazing colored light display. Back in Backster’s day the needles on his cumbersome polygraph would go scribbling away on a rolling sheet of paper as his plants responded to people. The Floranium having just a couple of discrete wires and a much greater sensitivity reveals the subtle reactions of plants in a multicolored array of lights. Simply by interacting with your plant you can see immediately the lights changing color indicating that the plant knows you are there. The old wives tale of talking to your plants has all of a sudden taken on a whole new meaning.

So small is the hardware portion of the Floranium it is unnoticeably tucked underneath the multi-colored votive. It is perfect for home or office and will continually give you a way to see what your plants are telling you. So thanks to Cleve Backster and his bold inventions of yesteryear which today have evolved into a multipurpose elegant technology that will have people talking to their plants across the world…and getting an answer back!