Primary Perception

The Advent Of Primary Perception
Franci Prowse, "Editor of Primary Perception"

Common sense says that in order for something to exist in our world, it must have a name, which means someone was able to become conscious of its presence and identify it. Often a discovery is revealed, then researchers find correlations from written history to verify that it has been there all along. Then it can enter the mainstream of human consciousness. That is what has happened with Cleve Backster and "primary perception."

Many people have heard the story made famous in The Secret Life of Plants of Cleve's initial experience of attaching a plant to a polygraph, and getting a clear reading on the Galvanic Skin Response chart. Cleve thought of various ways to threaten the plant's well-being, similar to key questions in a polygraph test. As he has written: At that moment, the plant was about fifteen feet away and the polygraph equipment was about five feet away from where I was standing. The only new thing that occurred was this thought. It was early in the morning and no other person was in the laboratory. My thought and intent was: "I'm gonna burn that leaf!" just to see what the plant would do. The second the imagery of burning that leaf entered my mind, the recording pen jumped to the top of the chart! No words were spoken, no touching the plant, no lighting of matches, just the clear intention to burn the leaf. The plant recording showed wild excitation. This was a powerful, high-quality observation.

Since that day, February 2, 1966, the belief that plants can sense your thoughts has become widely accepted. Experiments involving plants with prayer, with music, with treated water, with cursing, with colored lights, etc. have revealed just how sensitive they are. In an automated experiment, plants were shown to react to the death of tiny brine shrimp. Yet Cleve's work in the field of "biocommunication" has branched out since that time. A plant electroded to a tone generator made a loud sound when Cleve poured boiling water down the sink, killing the bacteria that grew in the drain. This ignited the idea that the death of live bacteria was a significant event in the plant world. An electroded plant also reacted numerous times to urine hitting a chemicalized urinal which meant the death of human cells excreted was no small deal. This would lead to far more fascinating experimentation later on.

Many of Cleve's observations occurred spontaneously: An orange, when threatened with a falling knife showed a response on an oscilloscope. A plant hooked up to a GSR meter reacted to the cracking of an egg, which led to a large area of discovery about the pulses of life in eggs. When a plant caused the tone generator to go crazy at the mixing of jam in a carton of yogurt, another area of research appeared regarding the sensitivity of yogurt and other live bacteria.

The study of plants, eggs, bacteria, yogurt, and other living foods led eventually to the study of human cells in a test tube responding to the stress of the donor even when miles away. Each chapter of Cleve's exploration is packed with stories that still amaze me while I assist Cleve in polishing up his nine chapters.


Table Of Contents

Chapter One: The Famous Dracaena Plant

Chapter Two: Early Observations

Chapter Three: The First Published Experiment

Chapter Four: Initial Reactions from the Scientists and the Public

Chapter Five: Observing Eggs

Chapter Six: Tuning In to Live Bacteria

Chapter Seven: From Animal Cells to Human Cells

Chapter Eight: Biocommunication Research & Current Scientific Attitudes

Chapter Nine: Future Biocommunication Research

Appendix

About The Author

Cleve Backster is a polygraph expert who for 54 years has maintained his status in the field of "Psychophysiology" [polygraph] and runs the Backster School of Lie Detection in San Diego, California.

For 36 years he has followed his curiosity to make numerous discoveries in "Biocommunication."
This is the only book about his work by Cleve Backster himself.

As Cleve says: "A scientist is supposed to be a keen observer with an insatiable curiosity and a desire to explain ordinarily unexplainable phenomena. I believe my research reflects this principle."

Cleve Backster has maintained a working Biocommunication laboratory for thirty-six years. His original methods are now being adapted for use in other labs that are involved in observing primary perception in plant cells, bacteria, or human cells. Some have observed the responses of human DNA to thoughts and moods. Sounds like sci-fi? Perhaps so. Yet even as you read these words, devices are being designed that may allow you to personally run your own experiments, and to see for yourself. We will keep you informed.