26 (Eng.) Mind over Matter

My latest blog 25 was about Lynne McTaggart, who is the initiator of ‘Intention Groups’. An intention group consists of 8 – 12 people and meets once a week at the (computer) screen. Since February 2019, I have been participating in such a group. At each session we send out two intentions. Focused mental power brings about changes for the better, in the field of health, relationships, living conditions, work goals, and life purpose, I wrote.

Now I approach the question: How and why does sending an intention actually work? For an intention, the group concentrates on a precisely formulated goal, on behalf of one or more people, for ten minutes. How and why, as a result of this focused mental power, should people and the material world be receptive to change? To answer this, I could turn to the four books written by Lynne McTaggart (see blog 25).

However, recently McTaggart has begun a series of podcasts, titled ‘Living the New Science’. This new science is quantum physics, the set of insights that has totally changed the firm ideas of Newtonian physics. Many people still have difficulties agreeing on a truth grounded in quantum physics, because accepting this knowledge would lead to a completely new perception of daily life. When quantum insights are taken seriously, reality is experienced in a totally different way.

Lynne McTaggart’s goal is making people more aware of quantum insights and encouraging them to live according to them. In essence, the question is at stake: does matter exist alongside mind (‘matter and mind’)? Or is matter primordial (‘matter over mind’)? Or is mind primordial (‘mind over matter’)?

Her 6^th podcast in the series approached the theme ‘How consciousness affects matter’ (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-5-how-consciousness-affects-matter/id1475463467?i=1000452525325).
Using the information from this podcast, I attempt to explain how thoughts can influence humans and, in principle, influence anything. The fact that this is possible, is nothing new. Think of prayer circles: people pray together so that sick or invalid persons may be healed. What is new is that, thanks to quantum physics, an explanation is provided for this phenomenon.

Quantum physics experiments have proven that we may take it as a fact: the mind is primordial. Living consciousness affects (the building stones of) matter. When matter is split up into its smallest particles, atoms are found. However, it has been discovered that an atom is not in fact the smallest particle of all, as we learned at school in former days. No, an atom consists of sub-atoms, behaving as ‘a little cloud of probability’: those sub-atoms are simultaneously ‘particles’ and ‘waves’.
Moreover, a couple of sub-atomic particles may be interrelated, independent of time and space: they are forever connected to each other (a phenomenon called ‘superposition’).

When all qualities of those smallest particles are taken into account, what do they mean for the solidity and stability of matter? Do ‘things’ actually exist apart from other ‘things’? What is reality in essence? Is it really the way we experience it?
When one reflects on the implications of quantum facts, one can only conclude that all things are interconnected and that nothing is fixed. In split seconds, things may change, because the result of a ‘little cloud of probability’ has an undetermined outcome: either it becomes ‘solid’ or not.

What determines the outcome? A number of experiments have shown that the outcome is influenced by the observer. The one who is involved in the process, who participates in an experiment, affects the outcome. This is called the ‘observer effect’: the living consciousness and/or the mind of the observer is part of the process in the behavior of those numerous smallest particles.

Now, take a big step and become aware that reality, at a super-subtle level, is influenced by what you, as an observer, are thinking and feeling. Things don’t exist on their own. At the deepest level, things are related to the living consciousness of people, of all people. Your mind (thinking and feeling), as well as your consciousness, influence the invisible aspect of reality (the zero-point field or quantum field).

Back to the question: intentions, how and why do they (often) work? Because, when you focus your mind on a certain clear goal, you are affecting the movement and behavior of sub-atomic particles/waves that, in turn, either bring about something solid in physical reality (material particles), or not (energy waves).

This is not the whole story, of course. Therefore, more about this theme next time.