 | Spirit Matters by Susan Meeker-Lowryposted by Susan Meeker-Lowry, Exclusive AccessMonday, September 14th 2009 @ 1:31 PM (not yet rated) |
(I)t appears we have come upon nothing less than the driving force of life and of the physical universe: Love, with a capital L.
- Robert Jahn, Ph.D
Ever since I can remember I’ve been intrigued by the relationship of spirit and matter and the power of thought, intention, and will — although as a child I certainly wouldn’t have used those words. In my heart I knew that the world was full of magic even though most of the adults in my life would chuckle and mutter that I’d grow out of it. The exception was my father’s mother, known lovingly as Nanny to all children and many adults. Nanny was a special gift. She was a deeply spiritual person and the most important lesson she taught me (and she taught me many) is the power of Love. “Love is the most powerful force in the universe,” she’d say.
When I was about 13, Nanny introduced me to reincarnation and spirit, to the power of Love and prayer. “When you pray for healing”, she instructed, “see the person already healed and well. If you’re looking for something that’s lost, know that nothing is lost in Divine Mind and let it go. If it is yours you’ll find it.” She saw everyone as a “perfect child of God” and her God was a God of Love. She helped me to know the whole Universe as alive and full of meaning. I can still hear her sure voice declare, “There are no accidents. Everything has a purpose.”
When I was in my teens I had an experience that expanded my understanding of the nature of reality (or, perhaps more accurately, the reality of nature). I had gone to a party at Lower Falls on the “Kanc”. Wanting to be by myself for a bit, I wandered in the woods until I found a tree with a low branch that curved into a perfect seat. I sat for a while, gazing up into the bowl sky full of stars. Suddenly everything was alive in a new way and I was connected to it all. To the tree in which I sat, to the stars, to the roaring of the Swift River full with ice melt from the mountains. Everything glowed with a fire that came from within. How could I not have seen it before? It was an awesome experience, a wonderful gift.
As we look back over our lives certain events come to mind, signposts along the way or choices that forever change us. That night was one of them. I didn’t want to lose that magical feeling of connection, of wholeness and so I committed my life to it. Why, I wondered, would anyone want to live in a flat, mechanical world when they could live in a world full of magic? We are taught that there’s Life and there’s life. Trees, plants, animals are obviously alive but humans are alive in a different way. As a Catholic I was taught that only humans have souls. Most organized religions have similar teachings. This belief system sets us up for a do-unto paradigm. But when you feel the world as whole and connected in a deeply personal way everything shifts. The paradigm becomes one of mutuality, reciprocity, respect, and responsibility. No longer can we separate ourselves from ancient trees being clearcut or starving children in Afghanistan or whales beaching themselves on our shores. Ah, yes. Awakening is painful. It’s easy to despair, and tempting to go back to living the old way. The trick is, once you’ve felt the magic you can never go back. You can try to numb yourself with drugs or work or one of the many other forms denial can take, but a part of you will always know. And once we learn something, we are responsible for it.
Researchers are proving what I and so many others have long known intuitively: that everything is connected and that our thoughts and intentions matter. Back in December 1997, forty scientists from leading American universities including Harvard and Duke met to discuss the implications of research that seems to show that our thoughts and intentions have an impact on physical reality. Since that meeting, several more studies have been completed and more are on the drawing board. While most of the studies have to do with healing, I believe this research has major implications for our understanding of the nature of the universe and our role in shaping the future.
One healing-related study was conducted by Elisabeth Targ, M.D. and Fred Sicher at the Complementary Research Institute at California Pacific Medical Center. In a double-blind study of forty patients with advanced AIDS, half received healings six days a week for ten weeks conducted from a distance, the other half did not. Neither patients nor doctors knew who was receiving the healing. The patients who received the healings had significantly fewer new illnesses (2 versus 12), fewer doctor’s visits (185 versus 260) and spent fewer days in the hospital (10 versus 68). “This is significant not just for healers, but for everyone,” Targ states. “It says something about the nature and power of our own intentionality. . . . It suggests that we can always be healing each other, that we’re more connected than we realize.”
Even more intriguing is the work of Robert Jahn, Ph.D., an engineer and former NASA researcher and founder of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab and Brenda Dunne, a developmental psychologist. For over twenty years they have been studying the ability of people to influence electronic devices called random-event generators. Data analysis of more than 50 million experimental trials indicates that people do have the ability to influence chance and that individuals have “signatures”, a unique pattern of in-fluence, regardless of the test. What is most interesting is that people with the greatest ability to influence the machines spoke of feeling a resonance or bond with them.
PEAR has also experimented with the effects of groups on random-event generators. Interestingly enough, during engaging group situations like rituals and ceremonial gatherings a machine’s output may become more ordered, whereas business meetings have no effect. “When we are in harmony with each other, the world becomes more harmonious”, Dunne explains. “When we are not in harmony with each other, the world becomes more chaotic. The two aspects are not separate.” PEAR’s findings are not universally accepted, but Jahn has no doubt: “We are talking about the role of human desire, human intention and human will on the way the world works.” In other words, our thoughts and intentions enhance our actions, make them more (or less) effective. It matters whether we feel love and compassion or anger. It matters whether we see forests as resources or as living communities of diverse species all of whom have spirit. And we are part of it all. We aren’t separate beings walking around on the surface of the planet with other creatures who happen to be here, too. We may feel separate because we’re conscious of ourselves. Regardless, we are part of the whole, part of the energy — the sacred source — that created and continues to create the universe. And every thought we have, every action we take has an impact.
From Volume 2, No. 1 & 2
Colin Lowry photo
