Play along here with me for a minute….I want you to reach down into your pocket, get the key, and unlock your mind. Now, I am gonna go light some incense and put on some Tibetan bowls while you get comfy. Ready?
I wanna share with you a concept that totally blew my mind and completely changed my perception of reality. It made me really understand for the first time that there is no hard and concrete anything. This happened while reading Lynne McTaggart’s book The Field.
Picture two sticks stuck in the sand on the beach right at the edge of the ocean. A wave rolls in. Both sticks fall down. If you did not know about the wave, you might think that one stick effected the other or that something really weird was going on.
In the nerdy world of quantum physics (I love this stuff!) this is referred to as nonlocality. Very scientifically – it is the ability of one thingy to effect another thingy (quantum particle) over any distance despite there being no exchange of force or energy. Just as scientifically, Einstein called this “spooky action at a distance.” IT IS REAL! It has been decisively verified by a number of physicists since 1982. Nonlocality shattered the very foundation of physics.
Around this same time, in various experiments, physicists were finding that subatomic particles are not solid objects at all like billiard balls, but they are vibrating, indeterminate packets of energy that cannot be understood or defined in isolation. They are schizophrenic, sometimes behaving like a wave (vibrating and spread out) and sometimes like a particle (a set thing confined to a specific space) and sometimes even behaving like both AT THE SAME TIME.
They only ‘collapse’ into a set state upon the instance of being observed. McTaggert likens this to a property buyer attempting to live in every house on the block at the same time before choosing which one to settle in, and to Jell-O solidifying. Until the moment of observation, all that exists are possibilities. The act of observing is what causes the potential to become a reality. The crucial relationship here is between the observer and the observed.
Hence, nothing in the universe exists as an actual ‘thing’ independently of someone’s perception of it. Got that? Let that sink in for a minute. Radical, huh? This means, that every minute of every day we are creating reality by the act of observing. This very instance of collapse and perception is thought to be consciousness.
Quantum physics has an explanation for both of these phenomena. In the early 1980′s, it was discovered that there is no such thing as nothingness in the universe. What we believe to be our stable, static, universe is in fact a seething maelstrom of subatomic particles popping in and out of existence. This is called the Zero Point Field (ZPF). Nonlocality and the schizophrenic properties of particles are the result of their constantly interacting with this all encompassing energy field. The ZPF is also the reason things like acupuncture, spiritual healing and homeopathy work. The video below explains it really well.
“Reality” truly is in your brain and your thoughts.
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Great post Debbie. And a brave one. I plan to explore quantum reality over at Thought Medicine too. The implications are mind boggling, yet freeing at the same time.
It’s daunting to realize that these discoveries occurred 100 years ago and yet the impact on how people understand consciousness has been nil. Even Einstein resisted the implications of his own work. His phrase “spooky action at a distance” was a disparaging remark meant to discredit quantum mechanics because his own mathematics were describing events that seemed impossible. He spent the latter part of his life attempting to refute quantum theory. On the surface, spooky action at a distance looked like information was traveling faster than the speed of light which he knew was impossible.
It wasn’t until the 1960′s that technology developed sufficiently so that experiments could prove “spooky action at a distance” wasn’t a mathematical anomaly. It’s real. Quantum mechanics isn’t just a theory – it’s an “observable” fact – if there ever can be such a thing!
What this means is that consciousness isn’t separate from “reality.” In fact it’s not too far a stretch to say consciousness causes reality. As Einstein also said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
Many thanks, Linda. Oh, I did not know enough to even know this was brave. I guess, it is just a wee bit controversial when you are dealing with information that shakes up the foundations of reality as it is known, huh? Like you, it amazes me that this has been scientifically validated for decades and is still not well known or accepted. Shows how strongly we hold onto the “known” even when it is proven otherwise and limiting.
I find the discoveries of quantum physics to be so empowering and, as you say, freeing. It opens up the possibilities for almost everything!
I love this stuff too, Debbie!! I read The Field six years ago and was enthralled. Have you read McTaggart’s next book, The Intention Experiment? I read it a couple years ago and I’m rereading it right now. Whenever I have doubts about the power of my thoughts, I dip back into these books and read the extraordinary experiments that have been done on nonlocality. It really makes you aware of how you’re impacting the world … all over … and how it’s impacting you.
I have read the Intention Experiment. It, too, rocked my world in a good way. The scientific studies cited in it, The Field, and being done in the quantum physics field currently validate the concepts which some consider to be merely “feely good,” woo woo stuff.
Unfortunately, it will certainly take a long, long time for it to even begin to be accepted, if ever, but I truly believe it is our only hope for the future of the planet and the human species. I find it incredibly uplifting and empowering.
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