How your Participation Creates Research
Reality is Created with Active Participation
You Make Research Happen
About a month ago, I asked for advice on how to get a computer for our research study. In the months of planning, the one need we couldn’t seem to fill had been a computer and related hardware/software for the data. Using our own was out of the question, since we had to have specialized—read: expensive—software that most of us access only in school laboratories.
Among the various responses, some suggested crowdfunding. Let me be honest: I was skeptical. My personal experience with other organizations had not been very successful. I am not good at asking for help, but when more people suggested it, I decided to try.
The first few days were not encouraging. I published updates, but I didn’t want to insist. After R., a new and rapidly becoming invaluable member of my team, suggested I reach out more, I decided to use the excuse of the crowdfunding as a way to connect with old friends. I had no idea how many people were not aware of what I am doing with my life. It is easy to take for granted in the age of social media that everyone knows everything about you, but with information overload, it turns out that it is easier to get lost in the noise.
I can’t tell you how many people this campaign has given me the opportunity to reconnect with. The amount of love and support I received reinforced an often forgotten truth that Cleve Backster himself discovered in his experiments with plants: connections know no distance! (Jensen 1997)
The Results of your Generosity
We asked for 1300€, and you gave 1311€! We have the knowledge and professionals to complete our first formal study, and thanks to you, we now have the resources!
* Research Team
* Research Protocol
* Facilities to host the research
* Pool of research subjects
* Equipment to measure subject health
* Music of the Plants device
* Device to record the sessions
* External hard drive to save the data
* Computer to record and analyze the data
* Computer to record and analyze plant music
* Software to analyze music and data
As soon as the funds arrived, we ordered the computer and external drive. A friend also gave us a second computer which will be used exclusively for music. It is such a blessing to have both, since these areas are run by different people; now each group can operate independently. The last piece will be the data analyzing and music software, which will be ordered as soon as the computers arrive.
Where do we go from here?
Your gracious abundance not only supports this first study, it provides a solid foundation for more to come. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves just yet, but… we are already dreaming of:
1. A more focused study on the effects of plant music on human health based on the results of the first study,
2. In collaboration with a biophysicist that works with consciousness and healing, a study on plant awareness and connection.
Keep following for updates on these and other developments!
Just between us…
Confidence is a funny thing. You could be extremely confident in one area, and completely insecure in another. The plant world has taught me so much over the years, and through music, speaking engagements, research, I do my best to give them a voice to express what they have been trying to express to us for centuries.
I am confident that this is the direction of my life. Where I am more unsure is if I am able to transmit everything they are teaching me. It would be so much easier if we had the study complete and I could show you the results. A successful crowdfunding means that you believe in me, in my ability to be that voice for the plant world, as much as you believe that the plant world has a message to be shared. This realization deeply humbles me and I promise that I will do everything in my power to live up to the trust you have shown in me.
Read this week’s
Discoveries & Observations:
The Origins of a New Branch of Science
When I first heard about Stefano Mancuso from the University of Florence and Plant Neurobiology, I had to know everything. If you have followed the development of this branch of science, you will know that its definition is controversial even today. The most complete…
We Are The 1% When it Comes to the Plant World
What is the impact we have on the planet and the profound effect that our actions have on the plant world? In order to answer this we need to establish a new relationship based on mutual recognition that would require us to redefine the very nature of our relationships with objects and…
Want to know more?
If you want to be part of the conversation around plant neurobiology and social innovation or plant music and communication, reach out via my website, Minds, and if you are interested in this type of research, our Facebook group on the Effects of Plant Music on Human Health and Interspecies Music.
Let’s Co-Create an Urban Plantasy!
As a philosopher, naturepreneur, and keynote speaker, I have spoken in front of intimate groups and conference audiences around the world about climate change, the Music of the Plants, plant intelligence, biomimicry, bioutilization, and how the plant world can help us find solutions to problems big and small.
How to book Tigrilla:
My schedule for the first half of 2018 is booked solid, and now you know why! If you are organizing an event and would like me to participate or would like to organize a dedicated workshop or lecture, contact me to discover a new vision sure to spark creative!
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References and Credits:
Jensen, Derrick, The Plants Respond: An Interview with Cleve Backster. Sep 1997. http://www.derrickjensen.org/1997/07/plants-respond-interview-cleve-backster-raw/