Castro Valley men probe the secret life of plants By GLENNDA CHUI CASTRO Valley - Six years ago, an Indian astrologer told Randall Fontes of Castro Valley that he would become world famous in 1976. The astrologer's prediction seems to becoming true. Fontes and another Castro Valley researcher, Robert Swanson, have landed a part in a million-dollar documentary, "The Secret Life of Plants," scheduled for release this fall with a soundtrack by Stevie Wonder. They've appeared on the Johnny Carson Show, the David Susskind Show, an NBC special and Creature Features. And Fontes and Swanson are predicting even greater things as a result of their unfinished research project, which they say is the "only report out of a major research facility that says plant sensitivity exists." They think they've found something parapsychology researchers have been seeking for years - a group of plant cells that responds to the psychic energy generated by people. If scientists could somehow harness this psychic energy, the possibilities would be staggering, Fontes and Swanson say, talking a mile a minute and interrupting each other with the ease of old friends telling a fish story. "We feel psychic energy travels at speeds faster than light," says Swanson. "If you have a particle that travels faster than light..." "...You can go backward and forward in time," chimes in Fontes. "It would be essential...". "...For space travel," Swanson says. "Rapid communication is absolutely essential for any kind of star flight," Fontes says. "It's all science fiction now, but those are some of the possibilities," Swanson says. The two researchers were already old friends when they started their inquiries into psychic phenomena almost 10 years ago. They became followers of Swami Muktananda, a man who they say is able to give people jolts of psychic energy simply by focusing his attention on them. It was while on a 1971 visit to India to see Muktananda that Fontes asked an astrologer what was in his future. "He said I would be a scientist relating the physical to the metaphysical," Fontes said. "He said that in 1976 I would be world famous because of my work." When Fontes returned, he got a call from a friend who told him about Marcel Vogel, a San Jose man doing research on plants and telepathy. "Vogel looked at me and said, 'Oh, you're the guy who's going to continue my work,''' Fontes said. He packed up Vogel's equipment and set it up at Sonoma State College, where he and Swanson were both going to school. The big breakthrough came when they attached a plant to a machine resembling a lie detector to do an experiment on plant sensitivity to temperature. "Bob yawned, and it was picked up by the plant in the form of an energy surge," Fontes said. "Then there was another spike on the graph - Bob had yawned again. He started yawning deliberately and every time we got spikes. It changed the character of the whole graph." "We could never do it again, so we don't consider it a legitimate experiment. But it did lead us to believe there's a correlation there." Fontes and Swanson then set out to do a more complete experiment on the reactions of plants to human moods. Working with another researcher, they again hooked a plant up to a lie detector-like machine which records changes in electrical level between the plant cells. But this time they hooked up a series of 10 human volunteers to a similar machine near the plant. Each volunteer was shown a series of slides which were designed to provoke emotional responses. At the end of the experiment the graphs from the two machines were compared to see if the plant reacted at the same time the human showed a response. The results showed a "strong correlation" between the responses of the human and the plant 20 per cent of the time, and the report concluded that "there is evidence of a degree of correlation beyond that expected by chance." For a conclusive experiment, Fontes and Swanson need to test a larger number of volunteers, and they're now looking for ways of financing their research. In the meantime they've installed an exhibit in the World of the Unexplained Museum in San Francisco. For the price of admission, a plant lover, or a plant hater, can try to provoke a response in a philodendron by directing his emotions at it. "Just thinking at the plant is not enough," Swanson says. "It takes a shift in consciousness, which is very hard to do on command. That's why in our experiments we show various slides or movies." Both Fontes and Swanson are continuing to teach an introductory course in parapsychology at De Anza College in Cupertino. Both hold master's degrees in psychology and bachelor's degrees in India studies and psychology. The pair hopes to have a small plant monitoring unit on the market this fall, at a cost of about $25, to coincide with the release of the film. And Fontes hopes to eventually build a "sensorium" where people can "actually experience inner ecstasy," similar to that felt by meditators, through a combination of massage, sound and vibration. Psychic energy, Fontes says, is "like cosmic candy. You eat it and you say, 'Oh, wow, I've got to go around and give it to everybody else.' Then they have the drive and enthusiasm to go out and seek it for themselves." Although Fontes and Swanson feel their research will eventually be accepted by the scientific community, they say they don't hope to convince "the skeptics out there, the dogmatic, ingrained skeptics." "We don't expect that the repercussions of what we're doing will have a big effect in our lifetimes," says Swanson. "But 100, 200 years from now…"
By GLENNDA CHUI CASTRO Valley - Six years ago, an Indian astrologer told Randall Fontes of Castro Valley that he would become world famous in 1976.
The astrologer's prediction seems to becoming true. Fontes and another Castro Valley researcher, Robert Swanson, have landed a part in a million-dollar documentary, "The Secret Life of Plants," scheduled for release this fall with a soundtrack by Stevie Wonder.
They've appeared on the Johnny Carson Show, the David Susskind Show, an NBC special and Creature Features.
And Fontes and Swanson are predicting even greater things as a result of their unfinished research project, which they say is the "only report out of a major research facility that says plant sensitivity exists."
They think they've found something parapsychology researchers have been seeking for years - a group of plant cells that responds to the psychic energy generated by people.
If scientists could somehow harness this psychic energy, the possibilities would be staggering, Fontes and Swanson say, talking a mile a minute and interrupting each other with the ease of old friends telling a fish story.
"We feel psychic energy travels at speeds faster than light," says Swanson. "If you have a particle that travels faster than light..."
"...You can go backward and forward in time," chimes in Fontes. "It would be essential...".
"...For space travel," Swanson says. "Rapid communication is absolutely essential for any kind of star flight," Fontes says.
"It's all science fiction now, but those are some of the possibilities," Swanson says.
The two researchers were already old friends when they started their inquiries into psychic phenomena almost 10 years ago. They became followers of Swami Muktananda, a man who they say is able to give people jolts of psychic energy simply by focusing his attention on them. It was while on a 1971 visit to India to see Muktananda that Fontes asked an astrologer what was in his future.
"He said I would be a scientist relating the physical to the metaphysical," Fontes said. "He said that in 1976 I would be world famous because of my work."
When Fontes returned, he got a call from a friend who told him about Marcel Vogel, a San Jose man doing research on plants and telepathy.
"Vogel looked at me and said, 'Oh, you're the guy who's going to continue my work,''' Fontes said. He packed up Vogel's equipment and set it up at Sonoma State College, where he and Swanson were both going to school.
The big breakthrough came when they attached a plant to a machine resembling a lie detector to do an experiment on plant sensitivity to temperature.
"Bob yawned, and it was picked up by the plant in the form of an energy surge," Fontes said. "Then there was another spike on the graph - Bob had yawned again. He started yawning deliberately and every time we got spikes. It changed the character of the whole graph."
"We could never do it again, so we don't consider it a legitimate experiment. But it did lead us to believe there's a correlation there."
Fontes and Swanson then set out to do a more complete experiment on the reactions of plants to human moods.
Working with another researcher, they again hooked a plant up to a lie detector-like machine which records changes in electrical level between the plant cells.
But this time they hooked up a series of 10 human volunteers to a similar machine near the plant. Each volunteer was shown a series of slides which were designed to provoke emotional responses.
At the end of the experiment the graphs from the two machines were compared to see if the plant reacted at the same time the human showed a response.
The results showed a "strong correlation" between the responses of the human and the plant 20 per cent of the time, and the report concluded that "there is evidence of a degree of correlation beyond that expected by chance."
For a conclusive experiment, Fontes and Swanson need to test a larger number of volunteers, and they're now looking for ways of financing their research.
In the meantime they've installed an exhibit in the World of the Unexplained Museum in San Francisco. For the price of admission, a plant lover, or a plant hater, can try to provoke a response in a philodendron by directing his emotions at it.
"Just thinking at the plant is not enough," Swanson says. "It takes a shift in consciousness, which is very hard to do on command. That's why in our experiments we show various slides or movies."
Both Fontes and Swanson are continuing to teach an introductory course in parapsychology at De Anza College in Cupertino. Both hold master's degrees in psychology and bachelor's degrees in India studies and psychology.
The pair hopes to have a small plant monitoring unit on the market this fall, at a cost of about $25, to coincide with the release of the film.
And Fontes hopes to eventually build a "sensorium" where people can "actually experience inner ecstasy," similar to that felt by meditators, through a combination of massage, sound and vibration.
Psychic energy, Fontes says, is "like cosmic candy. You eat it and you say, 'Oh, wow, I've got to go around and give it to everybody else.' Then they have the drive and enthusiasm to go out and seek it for themselves."
Although Fontes and Swanson feel their research will eventually be accepted by the scientific community, they say they don't hope to convince "the skeptics out there, the dogmatic, ingrained skeptics."
"We don't expect that the repercussions of what we're doing will have a big effect in our lifetimes," says Swanson. "But 100, 200 years from now…"
CIA-Initiated U.S. Government program to investigate paranormal abilities; code name "Star Gate"
The Play of Light is about the Beauty of Light, of Sound and of Form. As each of these is deeply resonant with the other, the underlying unity that they share is revealed within their dance; and can be realized through direct experience. Within this experience, the mind becomes still and spontaneous Meditation arises. I have developed this technique over a period of 45 years, and this is as effortless and joyful a path into meditation as I am aware of. Individual and Group sessions are available. Please call or email me, I look forward to sharing this experience with you. Randall Fontes R.fontes@comcast.net
Randall Fontes R.fontes@comcast.net
Be Still Be Still Within Be Still Within Yourself Be Still Within Your Own Self Be Still Within Yourself Be Still Within Be Still Be
ph: 510.235.5371 cell: 510.772.9762
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