28. (Eng.) The placebo wonder

This blog again covers a ‘mind-over-matter’ subject. Blog 26 was about what occurs at the most subtle level, in the quantum field, when you focus on an intention for yourself or for someone else, for a wish that will hopefully come into concretion.

Now the question at stake: What occurs in your brain that causes this effect to occur? And how are your conscious and unconscious thoughts involved in this process? What is needed to ‘make your mind matter!’? I learned more about this topic while reading ‘You Are the Placebo: making your mind matter’ (2014), by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

His story is remarkable. About thirty years ago, when he was 23, he was injured in a dramatic traffic accident in which he was wounded in 8 parts of his thoracic vertebrae. Doctors said he would have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, unless he agreed to an operation … but he declined both possibilities. Instead, he opted for a third approach.

‘If there exists a vital principle that is able to create our wonderful bodies, why might this principle not be able to heal my body?’ He started to concentrate on his body and its wounds on a daily basis, entertaining an internal focus, searching for contact with that intelligence. He visualized that he would fully recover…

It was after six weeks that Dispenza felt a special ‘click’. Something made him feel at home with that higher principle in which he had put his trust and faith. Simultaneously, his injured vertebrae began to heal. Finally, he could imagine a future with many possibilities again. In his mind, he visualized his future – via the quantum field.

And ‘a miracle’ occurred: After 9.5 weeks he got up and walked, without support. After 12 weeks his health allowed him to go back to his work as a chiropractor. This incredible healing experience gave him an invaluable knowledge. Dispenza has reflected upon it deeply, written several books and explained how such a healing is really possible, one of which books is ‘You Are the Placebo’. His vision is that, in principle, each human can achieve such a healing, provided that…

In his book, Dispenza talks about the many placebo-studies that have investigated how and why placebos have a positive effect. At the same time, he refers to the flip side of this phenomenon: how negative expectations may hurt a body. This is called the ‘nocebo-effect’.

Both terms were coined in 1960 and derive from the Latin language. (Placebo = I will please. Nocebo = I will harm.) At the time, scientists found that in human beings, something stronger must be at hand than simply the efficacy of an active compound in medicines/drugs, due the following observations:

  • In cases that showed the positive effect of a drug tested on patients, the patients in the control group (taking a placebo) responded almost as positively.
  • Looking at the side effects of a particular medicine, patients in a control group, who – without knowing – took the placebo, turned out to also be hindered by the (expected) side effects of the medicine tested.
  • Even when patients had been told and were aware that they had taken a placebo, this appeared to have a healing effect on them.

Thus, the most prominent Dutch dictionary, Van Dale, is right in stating: the placebo-effect is based on the auto-suggestive influence, brought about by taking the placebo as such.

Likewise, Joe Dispenza writes that the placebo-effect is related to the expectation patients have towards a pill! The power of that expectation, as well as the coupled emotions, bring about a noticeable effect in the body – noticeable for both patient and physician.

Therefore, Dispenza says, it is possible to evoke a placebo-effect on yourself, without taking a pill. That is the core of his message: trust the power of your expectation and imagination, and the placebo-effect works! So, miracles may occur: let go your old self and create a new self, with a ‘new’ mind and a ‘new’ body.

Spreading this knowledge and intrinsic experience has become Dispenza’s life purpose. In the workshops he gives all over the world, he inspires people to start the process in themselves. Through giving explanations and meditations. Meditations help the person to leave their comfort zone, to let go of the adverse impact of his or her history, and to focus on certain desires for the future, whether health related or otherwise. This has led to wonderful recoveries and transformations in many people!

Visit his website at: https://drjoedispenza.com/

25 (Eng.) Lynne McTaggart

March 30,  2019

How to deal with polarizing forces? That question came up in blog 22, The Time Spirit. A famous journalist who excels in giving an answer is Lynne McTaggart. She says, with regard to both the spiritual and the practical: focus on the essence of people, start from  their good will, and you have won a world of goodwill and growing mutual understanding. On a small scale, as well as a large scale, she puts that vision into practice.

Lynne McTaggart, born in America and living in London, has a unique outlook. She brings together ideas about focus and thinking that have also guided my own life. Moreover, through her and for her, I have recently become part of an “intention group” that meets virtually every week online, to my pleasure and inspiration. 

The purpose of an intention group (in this case a group of 11 women from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) is to jointly “send out” intentions to group members and their friends and family. Focused mental power can bring about major changes in the areas of health, relationships, living conditions, work goals and e.g. your life’s purpose. This was shown in numerous intention experiments undertaken by McTaggart since 2000, worldwide via the internet and in groups during seminars. 

In the intention experiments, groups of individual people concentrated together on a positive outcome for another person or to achieve an important goal, such as peace. Lynne MT received feedback from countless people that participating in the experiments had had a positive impact on themselves. To  some of them, even a true miracle occurred. Initially, Lynne MT could not understand this at all. Read her latest book “The Power of Eight : Harnessing the Miraculous Energies of a Small Group to Heal Others, Your Life, and the World” (2018). 

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While many spiritual teachers still aim at the personal development of an individual, Lynne MT aims at group development. Experiencing oneself as belonging to, involved in a group, evokes an energy that transcends the personal development of its members. “The group is more than the sum of its members.” Groups of eight to twelve people have the best results, she found. 

Her last book was preceded by three books: –> ‘The Field : The search for the secret power of the universe’ (2001), –> ‘The Intention Experiment : Can your thoughts change the world?’ (2007) and –> ‘ The Bond: Become aware of the field in which you live’ (2011). These are all comprehensive works, in which she extensively reports on the contacts with, and findings of numerous scientists around the world, in the areas of consciousness, energetic healing, and related topics. (See also her website https://lynnemctaggart.com.)

 In essence these books tell about  the long inquiry – that Lynne MT already announced at the beginning of her book The Field – into possible connections between science and spirituality

Thanks to her journalistic expertise and her scientific interests and insights, she has been able to report on explanations of phenomena considered unbelievable until recently. The intuition of many people in the field of spirituality and practice with healing and reading, is confirmed and proven by scientists. It’s nice when one’s beliefs turn out to be founded on scientific truth … 

The clarification is at stake of phenomena usually considered unreal and irrelevant for daily life. According to Lynne MT the new knowledge is not only important for science, but also for daily life. Become aware that all things happen within a framework of invisible forces. When you are aware of these energetic forces, you may learn to influence them. That is the ultimate goal of Lynne MacTaggart’s “Power of Eight” intention groups!