"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us…”
Albert Einstein
(One with all, Currumbin beach sunrise 2012)
Einstein was not just being philosophical here. He meant his statement as literal truth. We ARE connected with the world, with each other and with the cosmos, fundamentally, on the subatomic, effectual AND spiritual levels.
"For the last four hundred years, an unstated assumption of science is that human intention
cannot affect what we call ‘physical reality’. Our experimental research of the past decade shows that, for today's world and under the right conditions, this assumption is no longer correct”.
“We have repeatedly been able to change the acid/alkaline balance (pH) in a vessel of water either up or down, without adding chemicals to the water, by creating an intention to do so.”
William A Tiller, PhD
I am enormously moved by this kind of research because it confirms that we are not just affected by the world around us, but that we in turn influence that world at its basic energetic level. It’s not simply a matter of how we treat our environment but how we, our thoughts and intentions can change its basic functionality.
Nature responds to the energy we transmit through our emotions, thoughts and intentions as surely as she responds to our actions and activities, perhaps even more so.
Science describes various forms of this fundamental interconnectivity with intriguing terms like ‘entanglement’, ‘spooky action at a distance’, ‘non-local mind’or ‘entrainment’. Whatever we call it, and no matter how many ways it is manifested, it means that WE ARE INTRINSICALLY CONNECTED, not as separate bodies acting on each other but as overlapping, interacting, mutually-responsive fields of energy.
Some scientists still find this difficult to accept. Yes, they say, we will accept subatomic or quantum entanglement, but not that WE are also entangled.
It's not easy to change our paradigms, our patterns, models and key beliefs about reality. One famous scientist quipped that the only way to change scientific paradigms is through death: that is, scientists who cling to old paradigms die and make way for new-thinking scientists. Fortunately, those old paradigms of separateness are already looking mighty thin.
It can be a challenge though for anyone, scientist or no, to fully accept the idea of entanglement or connectivity. Even those who believe that we are spiritually connected may not accept it as a real fact. We too must be willing to change our paradigms.
The evidence, however, is there, in a multitiude of scientific experiments, computations and sometimes mind-boggling theories. I mentioned some of them in a previous post on Oneness: Jung's 'collective unconscious', Bohm's "fundamental something", Sheldrake's "morphic fields" etc. And as I have said before, none of this is new. Ancient concepts of connectedness, Akashic records and entanglement are found in every mythology, telling us again and again and in thousands of different ways that We Are One.
Humanity is at a turning point where this old knowing and science are coming together, revitalizing human spirituality and understanding, and giving us new hope for humanity's much-needed evolution.
So what difference does Connectedness make to My life, to Yours?
It can make a very BIG difference.
For instance, after reading about Tiller’s experiments (and recalling what I’d read decades ago in The Secret Life of Plants), I did a little experiment of my own.
Helping to Heal Nature
I have a little potted lemon tree in my back yard that has not been doing well. It’s frequently infested with bugs that I have to pick off one by one, usually struggles to produce a couple of good lemons a year (the rest fall off soon after developing), and generally appears very unhappy,
despite all my tender care. Everyone was convinced it had given up the ghost.
So I decided to try a little mind power. Every day, I went out to my little tree and gently touched its leaves. I thanked it for doing its best to grow in its clay pot, and give me lemons, and told it that I looked forward to a good crop of healthy lemons. Most important of all, I made myself believe that it would deliver.
Within that week, the leaves changed from tired almost yellow to a bright green, and the delicate branches sprouted several clusters of blossoms! It wasn't even spring. A few days later, a little lemon appeared. Just one, but it grew into a healthy, plump, juicy lemon.
This year, though, my little tree produced not one but a dozen large, healthy lemons, each easily producing a full cup of juice. Even my local farmer’s market doesn’t produce such beautiful lemons.
It goes to show what we might accomplish by growing things in an attitude of positive expectation, gratitude and love. What might we do for earth if we gave it the same loving attention and intentions?
Dr Emoto has already shown that positive intentions, prayer and loving thoughts can heal our water, transforming murky chaotic water into beautiful water crystals.
(see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAvzsjcBtx8)
How might we use our intentions to help heal our rivers, our oceans, and our soil?
Understanding that we are all connected can also help us understand and empathise with others more…even with animals. Here’s another illustration, this one completely unintentional.
Dog and I are One
First, let me explain that I have never liked dogs. I considered them too clingy, too needy, and either bad tempered or cloyingly affectionate, and altogether irritating. I also had little patience with besotted dog owners.
One sunny morning last year, I was at a cafe with my youngest daughter (a dog-loving former vet nurse), as lazy as a blowsy mid-summer rose, just letting my mind wander between our bits of conversation. A big black dog was tied up at the nearby tree, just sitting, waiting patiently for its owners.
Have you noticed that when you're not thinking and let your mind go, it seems to melt into your surroundings? Have you noticed that your mind goes far beyond the confines of your brain or body? Quantum physicists refer to it as 'non-local mind'. You’ve probably experienced it yourself, without knowing.
Well, that's what happened that day: I entered non-local mind. With my usually busy surface mind half asleep, my deeper mind flowed out into my surroundings, and I felt one with everything around me...even, to my surprise, with the black dog.
For a while, I felt no sense of separateness at all from that dog. It and I were in telepathic communication. I felt what it felt. And what I felt radiating from that dog was total love...utter contentment and patience that rested on a permanent feeling-tone of complete, unconditional love.
Now, you dog lovers may not understand this, but for me, this was a huge insight. I had always seen the love between dogs and their owners as a kind of mutual co-dependence, an emotional neediness, but what I felt was something else: it was the dog’s genuine love for its owners, deep, heartfelt and infinitely patient. I can never look at dogs in the same old way again.
A Greater Vision
That dog episode set me thinking: What else have I missed, excluded, shut out from my awareness because of preconceptions? What other insights , other wonders, might I experience if I allowed myself to experience non-local mind?
For the truth is, We are not separate from each other, nor are we separate from nature. On the most basic level of being, we are entangled….intimately connected with, affecting and affected by….with each other, regardless of distance.
Mind is energy. Thoughts are energy. Matter is energy…all ONE. It’s what mystics and sages refer to as Diversity within Unity, the Many in One, or Many aspects of the One.
We are not just made of stardust, as Carl Sagan once said: we shine with the same light. We are an integral part of the Cosmos. If we could just see it, we would know that our consciousness glows as brightly in the universe as any star. Myths from many different cultures tell us that in ways we have yet to understand, we travel to the stars, as the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, First Peoples of North America and Australia, and Shamans have done, and they are part of our destiny.
Just as important is our intimate connection to the earth. WE are made of earth; from the clay of the earth, its air, its water and many life forms. Every molecule in our bodies carries the imprints of Mother Earth and her history. Everything we do affects her, and her fate is ours.
Everything we do affects others, whether we know them or not. We are not separate from the pain and suffering of others, from the poverty of others, from wars and atrocities that occur on the other side of the world. Everything that happens anywhere in the world creates ripples of energy that will, in some way or other, affect other energy fields, and the ripples will eventually interact with our own energy field.
We are, in a very real sense, our brother’s keeper, and he is ours. Everything we do to others we do to ourselves.
Understanding this, how can we continue to cause pain or act thoughtlessly? Isn’t it time to recognise that in the welfare and peace of others, and the health of our planet, lie our own welfare, peace and wellbeing? Think about it.
Tosca
