This unusual book is one of my favorites. The ideas in it are so challenging that it took me a long time to get through it when I first read it some years ago. I had to stop frequently to reread and think about the ideas. It basically asks questions about the meaning of animate life. What is “alive” and how does it differ from “not alive?” It delves into the controversial idea that plants can “feel,” but that is just the beginning of what you learn about plants in this book. Can your kindly thoughts directed at a plant make it grow faster? There is a large body of evidence that says yes to this.
The authors have developed a cult following since publishing this book in 1973 and they have written other books together and individually that deal with alternate history or speculative science.
The Secret Life of Plants discusses unorthodox ways of increasing the yield from seeds, including strange ways to irradiate fields (with radio waves, sound, etc.) and how to find natural resources by dowsing, an ancient practice known to the Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and others. Dowsing involved pointing a stick or “divining rod” at the earth and waiting for it to indicate (by pointing downward) where some desired substance (water, oil, etc.) can be found. That is amazing enough, but some dowsers have dispensed with going outside and instead point their rod at a map. Astonishing as it may seem, here is one account from the book concerning Henry Gross, an American dowser: “Sitting at his kitchen table, he pinpointed on a map of the British-governed island of Bermuda, on which no source of water had been found, just those spots where he said drilling would produce it. To everyone’s amazement, Gross was correct.”
Is there an unknown energy field that pervades everything (the ether or the orgone)? How does life get started and how is it connected to the spirit? What is the connection between plants and man? Can plants transmute one element into another? A man named Kervran who you will meet in this book says they can. You’ll learn about radionics which holds that all matter, animate or inanimate, radiates and absorbs energy. This energy can transfer positive or negative thoughts and feelings to an object. This is how someone’s negative -- or positive -- thoughts can lodge in an object and affect the energy level of whoever has the object.
You learn of the work of people like Jagada Chandra Bose and Luther Burbank who investigated the mystery of life through studying plants. In many ways, plants behave much like animals. They are alive in much the same way, but they are rooted to one spot and have no power of speech to communicate with humans. But there are people who have made connections with them, even traveled mystically through the stems and cells of plants, becoming one with them. Isn’t all life unified? Why shouldn’t we be able to communicate with plants?
You will learn a new respect for soil and never, ever think of it as “dirt” again. Soil is the stuff of life that nourishes plants and you learn that it can be self-renewing. Modern farming ruins the soil with chemicals rather than encouraging natural enrichment. The book contains much detail about the composition of healthy soil and how to keep it healthy. The food chain is an interesting aspect of physical life and why and how it exists is an open question for the seeker. If you are a vegetarian out of compassion for animals, how do you deal with the information that plants too have feelings? Why is our world set up so that some live at the expense of others?
Consider the following quote from Luther Burbank (who Paramahansa Yogananda, a close friend, considered a “saint” -- this was from a speech in which Burbank promised to “tell all” about how he could be so successful at creating new species of plants):
“In pursuing the study of any of the universal and everlasting laws of nature, whether relating to the life, growth, structure and movement of a giant planet, the tiniest plant or the psychological movements of the human brain, some conditions are necessary before we can become one of nature’s interpreters or the creator of any valuable work for the world. Preconceived notions, dogmas, and all personal prejudice and bias must be laid aside. Listen patiently, quietly and reverently to the lessons, one by one, which Mother Nature has to teach, shedding light on that which before was a mystery, so that all who will may see or know. She conveys her truths only to those who are passive and receptive.”
Can matter be created out of nothing? Do matter and energy interchange naturally in ways we don’t understand? What is radiation and how does it affect plant life? Why and how does dowsing work? This book deals with these matters and raises many questions, along with suggesting provocative answers. Much of the information here might be termed pseudo-science but the people whose ideas are presented here were not crackpots or crazies. This book is not new -- my copy has 1972 on it -- and the ideas are still controversial. But I think it is well worth reading. Investigations into the ery meaning of “alive” are surely relevant to the Big Question of who we really are
