Edit - this article was slated for publication in Synchronicity Magazine, but a series of unfortunate incidents occurred, and the magazine shut down publication shortly thereafter.
For many years the gurus and learned have been telling us that we are all connected. Using phrases like “We are all one” or “Universal Consciousness” to try and describe the relationship that seems to exist with all of us. Many readers of this genrè will not have to have the idea explained to them that we all have that inter-connectedness that seems to govern us, but why is this so? Why is it that we can know people without ever having met them, or we can like or dislike a person right from the moment of seeing them across the room, or sometimes just hearing the name? Why is it that some people seem to have foreknowledge of events that they are not even connected with?
It is a question that many people have asked, but often the answers of the gurus or mystics have seemed too much like riddles wrapped up in enigmas—too shrouded in vagueness and ancient colloquialisms—and so, many people quit trying to understand the most simple and basic question: Why?
Ask a dozen philosophers and you will probably receive a dozen different answers.
But, there is another group of people that are beginning to understand this mystery in a structured and decipherable way—they are physicists; specifically, quantum physicists, the people who theorize about the nature of the universe from its smallest particles: quarks and bosons and murons. In their early experiments these scientists found an astonishing correlation between these infinitesimally small building blocks of the universe and their own thoughts. Baffled by these discoveries they continued to delve fur-ther into the mystery and have found amazing, reproducible results.
The idea of quantum physics is not one that is a new idea. Einstein called the idea “freaky” and even “scary” when presented with the concept in the mid-thirties. But, the infant science explained many in-teractions between forces in the universe that were not covered in Einstein’s paper on the General Theo-ry of Relativity, and so the discipline took root in backroom of hundreds of universities around the world helping physicists solve a myriad of seemingly inconsequential anomalies in the theory of relativity on both the astronomical and sub-atomic scales.
With movies like What the Bleep Do We Know? we are finally beginning to carry this information to the general public. We are developing a slim understanding of the true power of the human mind—indeed, thoughts themselves—and it is trickling into the lives of the masses. Although mystics have been practicing similar types of rituals for centuries, Dr. Joe Dispenza’s speech in What the Bleep on cre-ating your day is having a powerful effect on those that took the message to heart and practice the ritual daily. The simplicity of the practice is enough to show observable effects and persuade people to con-tinue.
But, what really controls these effects? Is it a higher awareness, the alignment with the stars, or uni-fication with the cosmic energies? Truly, it isn’t anything as difficult or complex as that. While the math of quantum mechanics may baffle even the most learned, it boils down to the simplest of answers: it is merely a matter of choice.
Schrödinger's Cat
Consider the age old question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Now, expand on that idea and ask the question: If a star supernovas and no one is able to see it, does it really explode? If there is no observer to see all that happens, does it really happen?
The fact that the quantum physicists have discovered is that we live not only within the universe, but rather that we are a part of the universe. We, like the sun, stars and the galaxies, are each a little cog in the wheels that make the cosmos run.
At this point, the science begins to sound similar to the mystical speak of old.
The problem with quantum physics leaves is that it us with a rather large open question: what is reali-ty? An interpretation from Copenhagen University attempts to solve this problem by saying that reality is what is measured. However, the measuring device itself is then not real until it is measured. The problem, which is one of the paradoxes of quantum physics, is when does the cycle stop?
In the late 1930’s Erwin Schrödinger, a physicist involved with development of early quantum theory, came up with a quandary that represented the dilemma: imagine a box in which there is a radioactive source, a Geiger counter, a bottle of cyanide, and a cat. The detector is turned on for just long enough that there is a fifty-fifty chance that the radioactive material will decay. If the material does decay, the Geiger counter detects the particle and crushes the bottle of cyanide, killing the cat. If the material does not decay, the cat lives. To us outside the box, the time of detection is when the box is open. At that point, the wave function collapses and the cat either lives or dies. However, until the box is opened, the cat is both dead and alive.
On one hand, the cat itself could be considered the detector; its presence is enough to collapse the wave function. But in that case, would the presence of a rat be enough? Or an ameba? Where is the line drawn? On the other hand, what if you replace the cat with a human? The human is certainly able to collapse the wave function, yet to us outside the box the measurement is not taken until the box is opened. If we try to develop some sort of "quantum relativity" where each individual has his own view of the world, then what is to prevent the world from getting "out of sync" between observers?
Real Life Observations
In the late seventies, when researchers of quantum theory first began working with super high-powered particle accelerators in their search for the elusive quantum particle, and a frustrating reoccur-rence was that while experiments seemed to work in one facility, they would fail in another. What the scientists found was astonishing, even to them. It seemed that if some researchers believed that the ex-periment would not work – it did not, while if others believed it would work, it would! It seemed that the particles would react to the mentality of the researchers.
One experiment on the effects of randomness involved a small machine that was made to bounce a series of LEDs from center to a row on the right or the left. The premise was simple; to prove or dis-prove that thought could affect a mechanism. When tested, the results showed that the subjects concen-trating on the device could indeed influence the apparent randomness and force the right or left bank of LEDs to light up more frequently. This test was conducted on hundreds of subjects, with variance in the results close to negligible. The results of this test prove the point that randomness may not be as chaotic as we first assumed and if this is truly happening, we are affecting these instruments on the quantum level.
In 1998, at the California Institute of Technology, researchers learned the secret of teleportation. Yes, “Beam me up Scotty.” Although the process is in its infancy – the scientists have only been able to move the smallest of particles such as photons of light and single atoms – they are busy working on larg-er, more complex particles, such as molecules. These amazing techniques are achieved by using mysteri-ous processes with names like “quantum entanglement” and “superposition”. Once they are able to mas-ter these relatively huge particles, the researchers feel confidant that larger blocks of matter, such as whole cells, will quickly follow. Although none of the researchers feel that “Star Trek” style teleporta-tion will happen in their lifetimes, every technology must have a beginning. However, the process itself may help us advance our technology in a different manner, in creating quantum computers that would make the fastest super-computers of today look like child’s toys.
With dozens of papers published, Dr. Lisa Randall has been key in helping others understand not only the nature of the universe, but also aiding in understanding how the universe came into being. With her theories on the “Brane” (short for membrane) she has advanced the understanding of how some of the quantum particles, such as the long sought after gravitron – the particle responsible for gravity – seem to mysteriously appear and disappear from our universe. In her hypothesis, our universe was formed from interactions between different branes, massive membranes like shower curtains hanging close together. When one smacks another, a universe is born. According to the premise, our universe is like the material that clings to the shower curtain in your bathroom, calcium buildup that is left behind when water evapo-rates. But, the gravitron can pass freely through the brane, interacting with other branes where other universes exist. One day we may even be able to use this property of the gravitron and other such parti-cles not confined to this brane to communicate with other beings in other universes on other branes. If our thoughts are as powerful as quantum theorists believe they are, we may already be doing just that on a subconscious level.
Another extraordinary discovery that has been made in quantum mechanics is that the quantum parti-cle exists in all phases of the fourth dimension—that is time—and can move in any direction along the scale. Translated: that means that the particles can move backwards and forwards (and possibly side-ways) in time. Remember, that these are the particles that are the building blocks of all the atoms in your body, and the universe itself.
Another theory that scientist grapple with is the fact that we may be living all of our lives at once, due to these properties, and knowledge of one life becomes available to another you in a different time-stream. Could this be is the explanation for such metaphysical events such as Nostradamus’ visions of the future or perhaps the force behind past life recollections?
Reviving eighteenth century theories from Nichola Tesla and based on the later research of Antoine Prioré, an invention has been created that uses a similar process of circumnavigating time and heals by time-reversing the age of cells, to treat living cells and living bodies, in order to reverse disease and dam-age. The machine works on a principle of electricity as it moves through a dielectric channel, creating ei-ther a photon or an electromagnetic wave. Its inventor, Dr. Tom Bearden, a former physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, imagines a day when a person with his amazing device can deliver critical aid to a patient in any condition where ever the emergency takes place; whether it is in the hospital emergency room, the pandemonium of a traffic accident, or the middle of the wilderness. The device it-self is also known to affect inert matter, and using these properties it could easily solve problems of envi-ronmental pollution, nuclear waste, hazardous chemicals, disease, biological warfare, and so forth, by al-tering and treating living or inert matter. Perhaps this is the missing device that Alchemists of old were searching for when they imagined transmuting lead into gold.
Conclusions
What you have read here is only the smallest tip of a very large iceberg. There are thousands of dif-ferent experiments continuing every day at universities and research labs all over the world on every dif-ferent aspect of this still infant science. As scientists and researchers delve further into the twisted world of the sub-atomic universe, they continue to discover loopholes in the laws of physics that have governed our world since the time of Newton. Everything is under scrutiny by those in the field, from the nature of black holes to the fundamentals of matter—even the process of time itself. Quantum theo-rists are helping us solve fundamental problems and allowing us to better understand the universe we live in.
Although the research often leaves the scientist with more questions than when they started, we can not discover the unknown if we do not venture out into the void. Like the great explorers of our early world, these scientists are setting out to land on new shores and discover new territory.
To me, everything that has been discovered to this point still begs the question: If the mindset of the researchers affected the outcome of a carefully defined experiment using billions of dollars of highly technical equipment, what effect can your thoughts have on your environment?
"I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."
- Richard P. Feynman
