(Minghui.org) Cleve Backster, an American polygraph expert, was an interrogation expert for the CIA and the founder of the Backster School of Lie Detection, which is still in operation today. But he is best known for his experiments with plants using polygraph instruments in the 1960s.
Before he watered his plants in February 1966, Backster connected the polygraph electrodes to a dracaena plant. As the water traveled up through the plant’s roots, he noticed to his surprise that the electric current did not change and print out a pattern of reduced resistance as he would have expected. Rather, it registered zig-zag shapes, just like when a human being was excited.
Inspired by this finding, Backster conducted further experiments. In one, he planned to burn a leaf. As he was thinking about how to do it, the plant registered an intense reaction, just like a person facing harm. This finding was even more astonishing because it seemed that the plant could read Backster’s mind.
Another experiment indicated that plants can even remember things. Backster instructed a student to destroy one plant in front of another plant. Several students, including the “destroyer,” later walked by the surviving plant one by one, dressed the same way but wearing a mask. The plant registered intense fear only when the “destroyer” walked by.
Backster was not alone, as others made similar discoveries. Below are some examples.
Zhu Jiawei, a biology teacher in New Taipei City, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from National Taiwan Normal University and a Master’s degree in Ecology from National Taiwan University. In April 2021, the city recognized him with an “Outstanding Teacher” Award.
In the past, he understood plants and animals based on modern science. After he began to practice Falun Dafa, a meditation system based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, he gained new understandings. In particular, from Zhuan Falun, he learned that plants could have sensory functions like Backster described.
For example, there were several big-leaf mahogany trees on the campus, but they had not produced any fruit for about 10 years. Every year, Zhu and his students that year waited in vain. This time, one of the trees produced fruit. One Sunday, Zhu had a feeling that a fruit would split and fall down. He went to the school and found carpels and seeds from a fruit under the tree—it was as if the tree had prepared what was needed for him to teach his class and he just needed to pick them up.
Another time Zhu was putting together a video to show how a chrysalis turns to a butterfly. The day before the summer session began, he saw a chrysalis—the only he could find—and took it home. He knew the chrysalis would turn into a butterfly by morning, but it was difficult to predict exactly when. Knowing how important the video was for his students, he decided to stay up the entire day to film it.
Interestingly, when Zhu entered the room at about 9 p.m., he saw the chrysalis beginning to change. Since the video camera was already set up, he was able to videotape the entire process without a hitch. “Everything has a spirit,” he explained. “It was as if the butterfly did not want me to stay up the entire night and helped me.”
Zhu is seriously interested in biology and ecology, but said there are many unknowns in these fields. Although some biology departments are now called life science centers, the understandings are still very limited. It was Falun Dafa that opened his mind to explore more.
When my husband and I worked as contractors for a company in 2020, my husband was given an assignment to dig a pit for an electron beam (EB) melting furnace used in metallurgy. The pit would be 14 meters x 15 meters with solid brick surroundings.
No contractor would take this job because of a seven-centimeter (three-inch) spring in the middle of the pit. The water kept filling the pit day and night. Even three water pumps did not help. It was almost impossible to build a pit like the one required. In fact, even if was built, it could collapse sooner or later.
My husband and his staff tried everything, but none of them worked. He finally decided to hammer a thick metal bar into the spring outlet.
“The spring is also a life,” I said. “If you block its flow at the mouth, how will it survive?”
“Okay then. I hope you can figure out a solution,” my husband replied.
Aware that the spring was a sentient being, I tried to communicate with it. In my heart, I recommended that it flow underground instead of coming to the surface.
That morning, my husband went to the pit at around 5 a.m., drank water from the spring, and cleaned up the clutter in the area. When his staff arrived at 8 a.m. (after I communicated with the spring), it had stopped flowing.
Once again, changing course of the spring showed us the spring was a sentient being.
My family grew chives in a simple greenhouse in 2007. It was going to snow and I thought it might destroy the plastic cover, so I removed it. But that turned out to be a bad idea since all the chives ended up curled from the sudden drop in temperature overnight.
We had planned to sell the chives, but now no one would buy them. My husband was furious and said bad things to me. I knew it was my fault and did not say anything. My husband’s behavior didn’t upset me either.
After a while, my husband got tired and went to sleep. I stood there, still very calm, reflecting on the mistake I’d made. In my mind, I apologized to the chives for doing wrong by them.
The next morning, my husband went to check on the chives again and saw that all of them were back to normal. Since I had told him about some of Falun Dafa’s miracles before, my husband was very grateful to Master Li, the founder of the practice.
“Thank you, Master Li, for saving us,” he said.