Blinding me with science

With our thoughts, we could save the world, if they only knew…  And the time will come when you see, we’re all one, and life flows on within you and without you. George Harrison, Within You Without You

I always loved this Beatles song, from the Sgt. Pepper’s album. My dad gave it to me for my 8^th birthday, beginning a life-long love affair with The Beatles and the music of the 1960’s.

Maybe that’s why I’m such a hippy at heart.

This week, I have had three separate discussions with friends about my blog, in which they have very gently expressed that while they like reading my blog, they don’t agree with what I write. This got me to thinking about my beliefs, and about the effect our beliefs have on the way we perceive the world.

So, if someone disagrees with me, this shouldn’t affect my beliefs right? I mean we are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs, even me. Yet, I was aware that these revelations created a reaction in me, a reaction I can create just as easily in myself, as well. A reaction of doubt. As soon as doubt creeps in, it feels as if the faith I have in the belief of manifesting intentions and energy healing evaporates. Maybe that’s why these energies are known as ‘subtle energies’, because as subtle vibrations they are perhaps easily subdued. It’s hard to explain this stuff to the scientific mind, because it is so experiential.

The spheres are in commotion. The elements in harmony. She blinded me with science!  Thomas Dolby

My friend and I talked about the role of science, and the importance of exposing mis-truths, false claims, and quackery, but I don’t think of science as infallible either. Precisely because I believe in the power and energy of intention, I think science sometimes – because it is conducted and interpreted by people – sees only what it wants to see. Or more to the point, it finds what it goes looking for.

Thus we find ourselves in one of the ultimate questions of philosophy, is there one truth, one reality? Or are there versions of reality depending on who is observing it?

For the last four hundred years, an unstated assumption of science is that human intention cannot affect what we call “physical reality.” Our experimental research of the past decade shows that this assumption is no longer correct. We humans are much more than we think we are. William A. Tiller

Do we only see what we already believe? Is that why mainstream science so often fails to see the effects of subtle energies and energy healing, which from the point of view of the believer, seem obvious?

Many years ago someone gave me an audio version of Deepak Chopra’s Books of Secrets. I was looking for another CD this week and it literally jumped out at me. It’s a fascinating read (listen). Deepak uses the intelligent design of the bodily systems as an analogy for the secrets to life, in its broadest sense. The recurring message is that our consciousness is constantly evolving and self-correcting for our highest good, like the bodily systems themselves. And this intelligence carries on whether we believe in it or not, whether we are mindful of it or not. That said, we can through awareness of this intelligence, harness its energy in co-creating our lives.

Your body, which is bonding millions of molecules every second, depends on transformation. Breathing and digestion harness transformation. Food and air aren’t just shuffled about but, rather, undergo the exact chemical bonding needed to keep you alive. The sugar extracted from an orange travels to the brain and fuels a thought. The emergent property in this case is the newness of the thought; no molecules in the history of the universe ever combined to produce that exact thought. Deepak Chopra

Our consciousness depends on transformation as well. We are designed to experience, expand, and grow. But what of the impact of our consciousness on the physical world?

William A. Tiller – a professor emeritus of Science and Engineering at Stanford University – has discovered that there is an energy space between particles which can be influenced by human intention. Tiller appeared in the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? which looks at quantum physics and the implications for human consciousness. He is a seriously respected mainstream scientist who has been investigating the effects of human intention on what we call physical reality.

His white paper A Brief Introduction to Intention-Host Device Research explains how, in a series of experiments, he and his colleagues have discovered that “it is possible to make a significant change in the properties of a material substance by consciously holding a clear intention to do so.” For example, they have been able to change the acid/alkaline balance (pH) in a vessel of water, without adding chemicals to the water, simply by creating an intention to do so. 

Even more amazingly, they discovered they could ‘record’ and ‘store’ this intention into an ‘intention-host device’ – an electronic device they created to store an intention and use this remotely at any geographic location.

Wow! It’s sounds more like science fiction than science, right?

As I read this article I thought either this guy has lost his marbles or this intention stuff, it’s really, really huge!

Reading on, he’s not crazy and he supports his claims with rational scientific explanation. So how is this possible? As Tiller explains it, there are two states of physical reality. These states are made up of two reality ‘levels’ one is the reality of our senses and our measurable, observable, molecular reality. And the other? I’ll let him explain it…

This new level of substance, because it appears to function in the physical vacuum (the empty space between the fundamental electric particles that make up our normal electric atoms and molecules), is currently invisible to us and to our traditional measurement instruments. It also appears to be of a magnetic information-wave nature. William A. Tiller

Now stay with me here. The first state of reality is what Tiller calls ‘uncoupled reality’ where these two levels of physical reality appear to move around each other, but they do not interact with each other (like boys and girls at a primary school disco).  The second state is called coupled reality where the two spaces are interacting with each other. (Moving on to the late teens disco..)

It is the use of these intention-host devices that affects the experimental space in such a way that meaningful coupling begins to occur between these two very different kinds of substance and the vacuum level of physical reality becomes partially visible to our traditional measurement instruments. William A. Tiller

Then he goes off into serious algebra – which for the first time in my life, I wish I knew – if anyone can explain the rest of the paper to me I’d be most grateful. Thankfully we have science journalist Tara MacIsaac to explain it to us in plain English, read her article here.

Dr Tiller’s writing is at times a little challenging for the non-scientists among us. Basically the point is, as Tara MacIsaac writes, “an intention projected from a person’s mind seems to increase the conductivity between the atom/molecule level and the vacuum level.” And how did said scientists introduce a specific intention into the host device? Mentally and emotionally, from a deep meditative state, of course!

Check out William Tillman talking about our energy system:

Another radical idea about intention and belief crossed my path this week, psychologist Kelly McGonigal in her fascinating TED talk about stress. She says it’s not stress that kills, it’s our BELIEF that stress makes us sick which kills. New research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case.

What if you learned to view the symptoms of stress – heart pounding, rapid breathing quickening, sweating bullets – not as performance-reducing and life-threatening fear and anxiety, but as a helpful response to energise you to perform better? Apparently your attitude towards stress, based on your beliefs about stress, makes a HUGE difference to the physiological effects of stress on your body.

A study she refers to, measured two sets of people under identical stressful test conditions, only one group had been trained to reframe stress as a helpful bodily response. When people are trained to view the symptoms of the ‘stress’ response – increased heart rate and rapid breathing – as helpful to the challenge they are facing, their cardiovascular profile mirrors the signature of elation or joy, because their blood vessels actually stay dilated, instead of the constriction of blood vessels associated with stress response in those who believe it’s bad for them.

Never forget that you are not in the world; the world is in you. When anything happens to you, take the experience inward. Creation is set up to bring you constant hints and clues about your role as co-creator. Your soul is metabolizing experience as surely as your body is metabolising food. Deepak Chopra

Stress also releases oxytocin – the hormone known as the ‘cuddle hormone’ – a neuro-hormone which fine tunes the social instinct, and makes you do things that strengthen social connections. It enhances empathy, and makes you more likely to help, to be compassionate, and caring. Oxytocin is a stress hormone, as much as adrenalin. However it works by motivating you to seek love and support, to reach out and tell someone how you feel, and to notice when someone else is needing help, so you can support them.

Oxytocin also has significant physical effects on the body. It protects the cardiovascular system from stress, because it is anti-inflammatory. The heart has receptors for oxytocin, which appears to help the heart to heal from stress-related damage. All these effects are enhanced by social contact and social support, by seeking or giving support. Oxytocin actually motivates us to do the things which provide us a healthier stress response and help us to heal faster.

Human connection is a built-in mechanism for stress reduction. Kelly McGonigal

Another study showed that every major stress – death, bankruptcy, divorce – increased risk of dying by 30%, but people who spent time caring for others showed no stress related increase in dying, caring actually created resilience.

So how you think and how you act transforms the effect of stress.

On some dimension or other, every event in life can be causing only one of two things: either it is good for you, or it is bringing up what you need to look at in order to create good for you… Evolution is win-win…life is self-correcting ― Deepak Chopra

Watch Kelly’s TED talk.

This just shows how powerful our minds really are! However I think there’s an important distinction to be made here between beliefs and affirmations. While affirmations are helpful to shift our attitudes and thinking, they do not necessarily convert into beliefs. Our beliefs are deeply entrenched, often subconscious and ingrained over time. Affirmations need to be intentions, we say them, but then we must live as if they are true. Our beliefs will change as a result of our changed experience of the world.

Affirmations help purify our thoughts and restructure the dynamic of our brains so that we truly begin to think nothing is impossible. The word affirmation comes from the Latin affirmare, originally meaning “to make steady, strengthen.” In the sequence of thought-speech-action, affirmations play an integral role by breaking patterns of negative thoughts, negative speech, and, in turn, negative actions. Carmen Hanna

A few years ago I dated a guy who challenged some beliefs I held, in a big way. He literally rocked my world. I realised that because most of the people around me also held those beliefs also I’d become a little lazy, a little apathetic about my intellectual rigeur. It turned out I needed a good shake-up. The relationship didn’t last but it taught me a valuable lesson. While it can be comfortable to be surrounded with people who agree with you or see things in a similar way, it’s not necessarily good for intellectual growth. I need to be challenged to give my beliefs a good airing, to make sure I actually believe them. So, I’m not about to run off and join a hippy commune, I’ll keep debating, and listening, and contemplating. And I’ll be grateful to those who challenge me.

The difference for me now is how I process this doubt. Previously I would have let it shut me down. The wave of shame and doubt would have crippled me – “What am I doing writing about this stuff, I’m not qualified? Who do I think I am, do I look like a complete fool?”

These thoughts came and my energy was depleted by them. Then I meditated. I pulled out my hippy toolkit. I had the frankincense burning, as well as the essential oils that stimulate the heart energy, and I just lay down, breathed deeply, and allowed these thoughts to roll through. I had the image of waves. I experience waves of praise and they rise and fall – I like them – then I have waves of challenge rise and fall – they are okay depending on how I’m feeling in myself – and then I have the waves of doubt – don’t like them. They are all waves of mental and emotional energy; the only difference is my level of emotional attachment and reactions to them. For some reason I attach much more firmly to doubt than praise, obviously it taps into some beliefs I have about myself.

Based on William Tiller’s research and my experience I have drawn my own conclusion. These subtle energies of the chakra system and other energy meridians, as well as the energy of intention which seems to operate in the space of human consciousness interacting with the space in physical reality, are interdependent with our belief system. Our intentions to interact with these subtle energies either allow or restrict that interaction. Literally if we believe they exist, we experience them, if we don’t, we don’t. That’s not to say they only exist if we believe in them. That’s called fantasy! Like Tillman’s experiment, they exist in an uncoupled state; they exist but are not interacting in a visible way with our physical reality. Only with intention does this interaction become more visible and more powerful.

As Deepak Chopra says, the great cosmic joke is that whether we believe or don’t believe, the universe around us – and within us – behaves exactly the same. The question is, do you want to see it, and do you want to harness these energies?

You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible. Deepak Chopra

Today’s affirmations come from Dr Carmen Harra’s article 35 Affirmations that will change your life:

I am the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents.

Today, I am brimming with energy and overflowing with joy.

My body is healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil.

I have been given endless talents which I begin to utilize today.

I forgive those who have harmed me in my past and peacefully detach from them.

A river of compassion washes away my anger and replaces it with love.

I am guided in my every step by Spirit who leads me towards what I must know and do.

I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful.

Creative energy surges through me and leads me to new and brilliant ideas.

Bless!

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