Subtle sound of plants...

[Kain]

I've had a most peculiar experience this afternoon...I was taking a walk in a forested hill area close to my house. It's an area I like and frequent, especially in the spring and summer months when the weather allows me to. It is very quiet and concentration-inducive, a most wonderful place to carry out various practices in privacy and fresh air.

Around half way to the top, I actually spotted a small fox waiting a bit higher up, quite close to the top. This is quite rare around here, as with the urbanization of the area most animals of the forest nearby have moved deeper in to avoid humans. This is not directly related to the experience but I found it auspicious. Anyway, upon arrival on the top, I simply stood in silence for a while, my intentions being simply to stand, relax, and think about some things I am concerned with. The wind had stopped, the insects had mostly gone too due to the sunset closing in. In that silence, I became aware of a very clear, although low, hum emanating from a bush a few feet from me. I initially thought it was an insect of some sort and did not pay it much attention. I became aware of the same sound emanating from other nearby plants of different sorts and sizes...the sound being largely uniform, vividly pulsating and expanding, as I all the more distinctly picked it up through my senses' input, in pretty much all the plants of the hilltop. I stood in amazement for a while, awed by the uniformity and living quality of the sound which was something between a low pitch snore, a hum, a crackling of static electricity and a few other similar traits.

It distinctly emanated from plants, and I tried tracing it but it seemed indistinct spacially. It would emanate from certain parts of the plant, grow stronger and in a more intense buzz, then find it's matching counter-sound from the bush next to it and flow completely to it after a few seconds, like a sea of sound. After about 20 minutes of trying to specifically track it in an area of gathered bushes of a few square feet, I decided to look elsewhere and it indeed could be heard from every part of the hill I'd find myself, emanating specifically from each small tree's and bush's "core", ever pulsating and seemingly flowing between them.

I stayed there for more than an hour, with not much progress apart from the ascertaining that it was not to do with any movement of my body, sound emanating from my body or belongings, from electrical wires of any sort (none present) or from any nearby human-made fascilities of any sort (none present). Upon leaving the hilltop, the sound also died down. I have no idea what to make of this, although it was strangely "subtle" in nature...nor have I ever witnessed subtle sounds from plantlife, although it would make sense really. Any ideas would be welcome...

Kain

[MythMath]

Wow...

[baenheh]

kain that sounds like an amazing experience, was it ontop of some kind of vortex, where your senses could be more heightened to the subtle sounds?

If its ontop of a hill there could also be something underground, like a secret cavern for experiments :laugh: I thought Athens has a lot of honeycomb passages from the ancient times underground.
If I were you I would go back to that place again, even take some of the plants involved and experiment at home with some out of curiosity.

The other thing it could be is an energy field pulsed from a UFO they love intelligent people :laugh: I bet they would get interesting readings from your strong energy fields lol.

[m1thr0s]

it's the fairies. they're gathering a tremendous army and they've got the insects in their corner! we're screwed.

in truth I have no idea. from the standpoint of chakra activity this would seem to be linked somehow to the 5th chakra (sound) and could be an indication of a very high degree of coordination going on there. everything that lives emanates sound of course but our ears are not sufficiently attuned to hear it.

perhaps you are developing an "third ear" capability of some kind. one should not leap too quickly to conclusions though. there may yet be other explanations. If it persists, the pattern will eventually define itself. If it does not, at least you are left with a pretty amazing glimpse of nature's "hidden" network of language.

m1thr0s

[fr.novumorganum]

Well, in Cosmic Trigger RAW writes of people engaged in more open modes of consciousness, (like occultists, acid-heads, free-thinkers) having a similar experience. I don't have my copy handy right now, but I know he talks about 'plant telepathy'; I also believe he related the phenomenon to the 'green man' arch-type.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_man
http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct~greenmen.html (http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct%7Egreenmen.html)

On a more personal note, I believe I've had some form of communication with vegetative consciousness (specifically trees) during 2 experiences. One was a very clean acid trip, and the second was a deep meditative poetic state (no drugs the second time, just getting into a pastoral consciousness via an invocation of Whitman). Both of these communications were experienced as imagery and symbols than sound.

If one really thinks about it, a large chunk of our poetic tradition is a communication between chloroform life and ours.


Edit: not to sound cheese-e or anything, but I think this was the arch-type JRR was tapping into with treebeard
http://www.tuckborough.net/images/treebeard-edelfeldt.jpg

[Apopheros]

I have a book called "The Secret Life of Plants'' by Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird written in 1973. I haven't read it all, but it says that 2 men called Eldon Byrd and Dr Ken Hashimoto from Tokyo University conducted a serie of experiment connecting a polygraph (lie detector) to a cactus and mesured different stimuli on it, such as water, infrared & ultraviolet light, fire and physical stress.
They said that after amplifying the responding signal of the cactus, it sounded like a distant high tension electric line. They said it almost sounded like a chant because there were rythmics and tonality changes.
Apparently, Hashimoto and his wife taught the plant to count up to 20, as it was responding with sounds that could be transcripted in shapes on paper.

My guess is that maybe it's not the plant itself that is communicating but more like a ghost or aura who is using the plant as a medium.

Interesting experience nevertheless. If this happens again, try to see if there are correlations you could make with humidity and sun light.


laters
-apo

[Radiant Star]

This does not surprize me at all Kain. I think people who work with energies and meditate a lot do become more attuned to these kinds of things.

I don't doubt it was plant noise of some kind because I recently got talking to a guy after class and he was planning a trip to Brazil or somewhere like that specifically to listen to plants.

[Talkingfox]

I don't think this is odd in the least Kain. :)

One of the things that I've missed the most in living here in the sub arctic is the quiet conversations of the trees that one hears in the Pacific NorthWest.

In my experience every species has a 'song' and every individual it's own variation on the species theme. I've been able to hear this as far back as I can remember and I've found that many others in my acquaintance do as well. How useful is this? Not very in the most practical aspects of things. Great...I can hear plants sing but can't balance my f*#*ing checkbook....:rolleyes:

[baenheh]

Here is a discussion on taping fruit with a recorder, some say that they have recorded distinct screams when the fruit has been in the disposal being shred.

I guess that will confuse vegetarians.

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Pineapple_20emotion_20amplifier

plant perception wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/plant_perception_(paranormal)

[fr.novumorganum]

I don't think this is odd in the least Kain. :)

One of the things that I've missed the most in living here in the sub arctic is the quiet conversations of the trees that one hears in the Pacific NorthWest.

In my experience every species has a 'song' and every individual it's own variation on the species theme. I've been able to hear this as far back as I can remember and I've found that many others in my acquaintance do as well. How useful is this? Not very in the most practical aspects of things. Great...I can hear plants sing but can't balance my f*#*ing checkbook....:rolleyes:

Talkingfox: yes, I have found this to be true as well, and your mentioning of the conversations of trees resonates very much. One of the few convictions I have carried since I was young was that trees do try and 'speak to us'.

It may not be commercially viable, but it may be some of the most important news we can get--in many ways trees understand how to manage, sustain and share this planet better than any other species...

It is difficult
to get the news from poems,
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there. WCW

[Catalytic Subterfuge]

Terrance McKenna (http://http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm)writes of his experiences with DMT as a way to visualize sound and communication with the "others". This has also been revealed in Clive Barker's Weavedworld of a similar expereince. What an amazing thing you have stumbled upon. On a side note, TM above took some DMT to some monks in Tibet prior to his death and they only responded with somthing like "this is as far as you go without cutting strings..." Enjoy your discovery!

[Talkingfox]

Talkingfox: yes, I have found this to be true as well, and your mentioning of the conversations of trees resonates very much. One of the few convictions I have carried since I was young was that trees do try and 'speak to us'.

It may not be commercially viable, but it may be some of the most important news we can get--in many ways trees understand how to manage, sustain and share this planet better than any other species...

WCW

The checkbook comment was less about the commercial and more addressing the fact that I still have to use my fingers to do basic arithmetic :o_O::o

[Kain]

kain that sounds like an amazing experience, was it ontop of some kind of vortex, where your senses could be more heightened to the subtle sounds?I've thought about it...but, judging from previous experiences with such sounds, it takes a very long while to integrate a new one of them into your average experience spectrum. The bee-hive one took me a bit less than a year to be clearly heard whenever present. It also appears that after the breakthrough of initial experience, one's prejudice towards the sound also gets in the way of hearing, and it takes some time to wipe that slowly away from your senses as it can be very specialized and only fumble that particular sensation alone. So, I suppose it could be heard from pretty much any plant, it's just that I haven't noticed it until now and I'm not in a position to re-establish the appropriate perceptiveness.
If its ontop of a hill there could also be something underground, like a secret cavern for experiments :laugh: I thought Athens has a lot of honeycomb passages from the ancient times underground.
If I were you I would go back to that place again, even take some of the plants involved and experiment at home with some out of curiosity.Hmm...it's true that Athens is said to have undergronud passages etc, although where I am it's only earth underneath I think, my suburb being pretty much a forest that the last king of Greece owned which was relatively recently (in a historical sense) partitioned to a degree and given to immigrants to build on. The other thing it could be is an energy field pulsed from a UFO they love intelligent people :laugh: I bet they would get interesting readings from your strong energy fields lol.Now that, I didn't think, rofl. Aliens is a subject I pretty much have no experience nor understanding of until this day. Thanks for the viewpoint baenheh!
in truth I have no idea. from the standpoint of chakra activity this would seem to be linked somehow to the 5th chakra (sound) and could be an indication of a very high degree of coordination going on there. everything that lives emanates sound of course but our ears are not sufficiently attuned to hear it.

perhaps you are developing an "third ear" capability of some kind. one should not leap too quickly to conclusions though. there may yet be other explanations. If it persists, the pattern will eventually define itself. If it does not, at least you are left with a pretty amazing glimpse of nature's "hidden" network of language.Yeah, I think it could be related with this too, m1thr0s...it's true that I have recently been attending mantric sounds more agressively and directly than at any other point in my life so far. And as for the throat chakra, it has always been a most powerful coordinate in my inner system of balance...so powerful in fact that a few of my earliest models of energy work experiments utilized it almost exclusively for directing telekinetic commands etc. . It caused most severe sore-throats though, and was very unconventional so I eventually got the tip that there were bigger fish lying above that I had to practically integrate. But I suppose it's always been one of my most readily well-coordinated centres.

Yes, I suppose that in either of these cases, I will have something interesting out of it in the end.
Well, in Cosmic Trigger RAW writes of people engaged in more open modes of consciousness, (like occultists, acid-heads, free-thinkers) having a similar experience. I don't have my copy handy right now, but I know he talks about 'plant telepathy'; I also believe he related the phenomenon to the 'green man' arch-type. Good point and thanks for the related links fr.novumorganum. It was certainly quite sentient at some points, so much so that I even thought it was addressed to me specifically in certain instances. It got me thinking in a more literal way about shamanistic myths and experiences of local 'elementals' found in the woods...
On a more personal note, I believe I've had some form of communication with vegetative consciousness (specifically trees) during 2 experiences. One was a very clean acid trip, and the second was a deep meditative poetic state (no drugs the second time, just getting into a pastoral consciousness via an invocation of Whitman). Both of these communications were experienced as imagery and symbols than sound.I'm usualy quite the visual type, so much so that for a long time I very much had trouble even imagining detailed auditory subtle perception as a possibility for my frame of mind. This growing sensitivity in recent years is taking me fully by surprise and is far beyond my expectations on the subject.
If one really thinks about it, a large chunk of our poetic tradition is a communication between chloroform life and ours.


Edit: not to sound cheese-e or anything, but I think this was the arch-type JRR was tapping into with treebeardNot cheesy at all, very good point in fact, I hadn't thought of this...

They said that after amplifying the responding signal of the cactus, it sounded like a distant high tension electric line. They said it almost sounded like a chant because there were rythmics and tonality changes.
Apparently, Hashimoto and his wife taught the plant to count up to 20, as it was responding with sounds that could be transcripted in shapes on paper.Wow, this is very interesting stuff Apopheros...this is extremely close to how one could describe the thing, I guess a high tension electric line would be very close indeed, and it was also very living in it's conduct, with tonality changes similar to those a living being would make while repeating a rythmic pattern. Most interesting...
My guess is that maybe it's not the plant itself that is communicating but more like a ghost or aura who is using the plant as a medium.

Interesting experience nevertheless. If this happens again, try to see if there are correlations you could make with humidity and sun light.This would return us to the 'forest elemental' motif, although it was so spacially indistinct while at the same time coming from thespecifically *from* plants that I think it wouldn't be something using the plants as a medium but more likely related to the plants by nature, if that was the case. Those are good points about correlations of that sort, I'll keep that in mind.
This does not surprize me at all Kain. I think people who work with energies and meditate a lot do become more attuned to these kinds of things.

I don't doubt it was plant noise of some kind because I recently got talking to a guy after class and he was planning a trip to Brazil or somewhere like that specifically to listen to plants.Yeah, I guess you're right...plants certainly have interest sound-wise, either way one looks at it. It's a subject I had not anticipated to be so fascinating although it certainly proved to be.
I don't think this is odd in the least Kain. :)

One of the things that I've missed the most in living here in the sub arctic is the quiet conversations of the trees that one hears in the Pacific NorthWest.

In my experience every species has a 'song' and every individual it's own variation on the species theme. I've been able to hear this as far back as I can remember and I've found that many others in my acquaintance do as well. How useful is this? Not very in the most practical aspects of things. Great...I can hear plants sing but can't balance my f*#*ing checkbook....:rolleyes:Heh, you're right there about the checkbooks Talkingfox :) . Very interesting viewpoint, and it makes much sense too...'species' itself is directly related with pattern, and different patterns are defined in an equally valid fashion through the spectrum of sound, in fact it is the dominant factor of differentiating and setting up patterns according to Indian cosmology, and other systems too, I believe...
Here is a discussion on taping fruit with a recorder, some say that they have recorded distinct screams when the fruit has been in the disposal being shred.Very thought-provoking links, thanks a lot baenheh!
Terrance McKenna (http://http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm)writes of his experiences with DMT as a way to visualize sound and communication with the "others". This has also been revealed in Clive Barker's Weavedworld of a similar expereince. What an amazing thing you have stumbled upon. On a side note, TM above took some DMT to some monks in Tibet prior to his death and they only responded with somthing like "this is as far as you go without cutting strings..." Enjoy your discovery!Thanks Catalytic Subterfuge...I find it quite amazing myself, even though I'm quite far from understanding it's particulars, for now at least. That's very interesting about TM by the way, I didn't know that...thanks a lot! I'll most certainly post any insights if I stumble upon any...


By the way, fr.novumorganum, that's a great quote...

Kain

[Zaii]

That sounds like a wonderful experience. While this may seem overly simplistic, everything speaks if you're willing and able to listen.

[m1thr0s]

I have experienced what I can only define as a universal language of energy a few times. To a certain extent you can pick up on this by studying the movements of snakes, who are actually very expressive but use a kind of "body language". This whole idea of body language transfers over to all living things which, regardless of vocal capacity, all rely on body language for the bulk of their communication abilitities. People do this as well but our skill with language makes it possible for us to imply movement through words. Still, things like sexual inuendo and such are largely a matter of body language...

It really seems to me that in this instance you were tuning into this at the level of sound, which of course all vibration does in fact emit. I couldn't even guess the kind of frequency levels you would have to be tapping though...that part is a just a little mind-boggling. Definitely beyond the range of normal hearing... I wonder if MythMath might have any ideas on this since he works a lot with sound...the only problem here is that we are discussing the sound of consciousness itself which probably isn't exactly on any frequency charts in existence.

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

In 1951, John Cage visited the anechoic chamber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber) at Harvard University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University). An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor will absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than bouncing them back as echoes. They are also externally sound-proofed. Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear silence, but he wrote later, "I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nervous_system) in operation, the low one my blood in circulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation)."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/media/anechoic.jpg

There has been some skepticism about the accuracy of the engineer's explanation, especially being able to hear one's own nervous system. A mild case of tinnitus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus) might cause one to hear a quiet, high-pitched sound. It has been asserted by acoustic scientists that, after a long time in such a quiet environment, air molecules can be heard bumping into one's eardrums in an elusive hiss (0 db, or 20 micro pascals). Whatever the truth of these explanations, Cage had gone to a place where he expected total silence, and yet heard sound. "Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. One need not fear about the future of music." The realisation as he saw it of the impossibility of silence led to the composition of his most notorious piece, 4'33''.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3)

[m1thr0s]

It would seem more likely that one would be tapping into the electrical activity of one's own brain. Experienced acid-heads can tell you that this is a common phenomenum, particularly coming onto acid since what is occurring in the brain itself is an electrical "arcing" around the cell walls. This translates (somehow) into a "buzzing" sound which is clearly audible to most people. This is actually where the phrase "catching a buzz" originates...

m1thr0s

[Apopheros]

took some DMT to some monks in Tibet prior to his death and they only responded with somthing like "this is as far as you go without cutting strings..."

Haha, interesting. Wow, monks on DMT lol
Have you been Experienced???:cool:

[Kain]

Hmm...that's a very interesting extract MythMath. Thanks for that.

As for 'body language' being the universal language, I would definitely agree, and all vibration can indeed be also perceived in an auditory manner. Frequency-wise, I have no idea...I often think that resonance through octaves could play an important part in the parallel and simultaneous perception through multiple bodies (and planes of reality). A phenomenon similar to that of sympathetic chord instruments, only substituting chords with bodies, thus effecting experience through multiple sheaths (koshas)...

Kain

[MythMath]

sympathetic resonance...

I like the sound of that... :yes:

[Kain]

sympathetic resonance...

I like the sound of that... :yes:Yeah, that's how I always viewed the whole Kosha synchronicity experience, forming the collectively conscious Body of Light. I had described something similar in this post (http://www.forums.abrahadabra.com/showpost.php?p=3168&postcount=6) of mine, although it was a very crude attempt to explain what's in my mind. I think this phenomenon of sympathetic resonance plays a most prominent role in all things of "transcendental interraction/influence", and that's how the "invisible" or "unmanifest" influences the "visible" or "manifest".


Kain

[Kain]

OK, I have a small update... A few hours ago I started going up the hill for the second time, seeing that I got some time for myself. About half way up, I was confronted with a most weird incident, "assaulted" by the most frantic bee I have ever come across :laugh: . I'm serious, this one was a kamicazee or something, it came out of nowhere with a furious temper and focused aggression and wouldn't leave no matter what. It was too fast for me to even hit as it moved about so I decided to start running up the path until it decides to return. It chased me solo for about 70 meteres (!), pretty much all the way up the hill, until it finally got discouraged. This is one of the weirdest and most baselessly extreme animal behavior patterns I've ever come across :confused: . I then realized that I engaged it at the same place where I met the fox the other day...weird.

Once up there, I sat down to relax a bit, and even though much more discreet, I think the same sound could be discerned. The wind was different and so was the weather, but they all seem unrelated. One of the reason I could not focus on it equally well was that some noise was carried through todays wind from the vilage closeby, so I didn't have an equally clear auditory session. But I think it was there, and I think that it was in a different mood, still alive somehow, but hardly talkative and very concise in it's interractions. I'll have to investigate this more to be sure.

Kain