4. The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm
The Conscious Unified Experiment and Your Own Experience
You have probably had experiences yourself, in various ways, of the same phenomenon we proved in the Conscious Unified Field Experiment. Perhaps you have had an experience something like this. You are thinking, “I’d like to hear from my friend Joe.” Just then the phone rings, and it’s Joe. Did conscious thought have an impact? It appears that it did. From a scientific perspective, the difficulty with such happenings in everyday life is that we don’t know the exact probability that Joe would have called just then even if you weren’t thinking about him.
We do, however, know the exact probability distribution of alpha particle emission by plutonium (as well as other quantum-mechanical probability distributions). My encounter with the plutonium was a controlled experiment to test scientifically whether or not people could influence the probability distribution of quantum-mechanical events using conscious intention alone, without any physical intervention.
By proving in the laboratory that you, as a conscious human being, can affect the probability of quantum-mechanical events, what we proved is you can affect anything in creation. In other words, for a human being of awakened consciousness, anything is possible. This is not just a platitude, an abstract hope, a belief, or an attitude. It is a physical fact, a scientifically proven fact.
Consciously affecting the probability of quantum-mechanical events means consciously choosing what will happen in the real universe. This puts you in command of the helm of the universe. For you as a conscious human being, anything is possible.
A Reality Check: The Findings of Experts in Spiritual Experience
In evaluating any new scientific discovery, it is useful to engage in a reality check by reviewing the findings of those who have sought wisdom and truth outside the realm of science. We can consider this from two perspectives that are unlikely to have been included in a standard science education: those who have reported spiritual experiences and those who have studied how to be successful in practical, modern life.
Reality checks regarding new scientific discoveries that consider the findings of those who have sought wisdom and truth outside the realm of science provide a context for our considerations of scientific truth. If I find something in my scientific investigations that is consonant with the truths discovered by others in different realms, this provides support and confirmation of the direction I am heading. If not, I am alerted to give particularly careful scrutiny to these scientific findings.
With respect to spiritual experience, it seems to me that there is a remarkable level of agreement in different cultures and traditions, in different times and places. If we look at the original scriptures of the various spiritual traditions — which were always founded on spiritual experience, and not just information or belief—and at the spiritual experiences reported throughout history, we find a number of universal themes. (We are speaking here of spiritual experience, not of religious belief systems. The latter have led to some decidedly anti-spiritual behavior, such as persecuting or even killing people who do not adhere to the dogma in question.)
Others, including great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, and Werner Heisenberg have expressed the same realization, as discussed below.
It would be the height of hubris for a scientist to presume to summarize the universal wisdom of all the spiritual traditions throughout history in a single encyclopedia, let alone a single paragraph. Please allow me, however, to suggest for your consideration the following themes that appear to me to be universally recognized by those who report experiences of a higher spiritual nature.
1. The entire universe (including all objective and all subjective aspects) functions according to universal, eternal Laws of Nature.
2. The universe is an undivided whole. Everything and everyone is intimately connected with everything and everyone else.
3. To find the truth you must look within.
4. Within every human being is an infinite, eternal, unbounded realm of life, a realm of infinite possibilities, of unlimited knowledge, beauty, joy, fulfillment, and intelligence.
5. The primary purpose of life, and the key to success and fulfillment in life, is to discover and unfold this realm.
6. This inner realm is discovered through silence, rather than through activity.
7. The light of life that is discovered in this silent inner realm is the first cause and essential constituent of creation, with all its diversity and activity.
8. Human beings have free will to make of their life anything they can envision.
9. What you desire to see in your environment or your life, you must first create within yourself.
10. The results of your actions will ultimately accrue to yourself. You reap what you sow.
The Conscious Unified Field Experiment was essentially an empirical test of these same truths. The result we found was in accord with the findings and teachings of the great spiritual leaders of the past.
Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and the Congruence of Scientific and Spiritual Realms
The idea of harmony and even potential unity between the world of scientific experience and knowledge and the world of subjective and spiritual experience and knowledge is also not new in the realm of science. The founders of the recent scientific revolution in physics devoted considerable thought to this issue.
Albert Einstein expressed the following view on the relationship between scientific and spiritual experiences.
“You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a peculiar religious feeling of his own ... His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is without doubt closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages.” (Einstein, Albert, The World as I See It. New York: Citadel Press, 1979, p. 28-29.)
Werner Heisenberg, a principal founder of quantum mechanics, sounded a similar note in the final paragraph of Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science.
“Coming now to a conclusion from all that has been said about modern science, one may perhaps state that modern physics is just one, but a very characteristic, part of a general historical process that tends toward a unification and a widening of our present world.... Modern physics ... through its openness for all kinds of concepts raises the hope that in the final state of unification many different cultural traditions may live together and may combine different human endeavors into a new kind of balance between thought and deed, between activity and meditation.” (Heisenberg, Werner, Physics and Philosophy, the Revolution in Modern Science. New York: Harper, 1958, p. 206.)
This book began with a quotation from Erwin Schrödinger identifying the universal “I,” the universal human consciousness that is one with the Conscious Unified Field, as “the person, if any, who controls the ‘motion of the atoms’ according to the Laws of Nature.”
Schrödinger described the “perennial philosophy” that holds consciousness to be the ultimate reality, and marvels at its universality and at the
“...miraculous agreement between humans of different race, different religion, knowing nothing about each other's existence, separated by centuries and millennia, and by the greatest distances that there are on the globe.
“Still, it must be said that to Western thought this doctrine has little appeal, it is unpalatable, it is dubbed fantastic, unscientific. Well, so it is, because our science—Greek science—is based on objectivation, whereby it has cut itself off from an adequate understanding of the Subject of Cognizance, of the mind. But I do believe that this is precisely the point where our present way of thinking does need to be amended, perhaps by a bit of blood-transfusion from Eastern thought.”9
Schrödinger went on to discuss the perennial philosophy in terms of the teachings of the Christian religion, the Upanishads of the Vedic literature, and the recorded experiences of sages of various traditions.
Since Schrödinger's 1944 publication, and in particular during the last couple of decades, the similarities between the findings of modern physics and those of the various spiritual traditions of the world have been widely examined both by scientists and by spiritual proponents.
The Conscious Unified Field Experiment was designed to form the basis of an integration of scientific thinking and human experience—of scientific exploration on the one hand and the universal experience of consciousness on the other. Recent scientific discoveries in physics and neuroscience certainly point toward such an integration. The early discoverers of the quantum-mechanical nature of the physical universe recognized in the early years of the last century the fundamental importance of the conscious subject in the process of observation through which the universe arises. Science has also recognized for some time – at least in principle — the fundamental connectedness and interrelatedness of all of the universe.
The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm:
A New Paradigm Encompassing Consciousness and the Material Universe
An optimistic look at the discoveries of the first part of the previous century would conclude that science was then at the threshold of the greatest breakthrough in the history of human thinking and experience: the integration of the subjective and objective worlds, a universal paradigm inclusive of both consciousness and the world of material experience. For a century we have remained on the threshold.
A scientific paradigm that integrates consciousness and the material universe is long overdue. Given the results of scientific research in quantum and relativity physics, the conclusion that consciousness creates the physical universe through the process of observation is inescapable. The process through which this takes place, however, has until now remained as much a mystery as it was prior to the advent of quantum mechanics, relativity, and modern neuroscience.
In the absence of a viable paradigm encompassing both consciousness and matter, the scientific recognition of the fundamental importance of consciousness has remained without practical applications. We know in principle that consciousness is fundamental to the process of observation through which the physical universe emerges, but we have remained entirely unable to apply this knowledge to improve human life. We also know that the universe is an infinitely interconnected whole, but this realization, too, has remained without practical or useful implications for living.
The Conscious Unified Field Experiment was designed to test essentially a fundamental hypothesis regarding the nature of human life and the role of conscious beings in the universe. You and I in our most universal Nature, the universal “I” of consciousness, controls not only the “motion of the atoms” but even the motion of the elementary quantum-mechanical particles that comprise the atoms.
The results of the Conscious Unified Field Experiment proved that Einstein, Schrödinger, and Heisenberg were right. The great spiritual masters of antiquity and the founders of the major spiritual traditions were right. The modern experts on success in living are right.
Humans, as conscious beings, have access to the unbounded inner field of consciousness, the same field as the unified field of quantum mechanics from which the entire physical universe springs like waves on an ocean (or, more precisely, particle/wave phenomena in space-time). From this field of our own consciousness, we human beings can command the universe.
Wise and intelligent people have always taught this. The difference that the Conscious Unified Field Experiment made is that now it is a matter of scientific proof.
Taken together, all of this forms the foundation of the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm, a new paradigm in science and in human life. The Conscious Unified Field Experiment proved it to be true.
We have crossed the threshold to a new paradigm that integrates man and Nature, science and spirituality, subject and object, consciousness and matter, knowledge and experience, human life and the material universe. This book is about how you can fully realize this in your own life, how you can take advantage of your magnificent stature in the universe to create the life of your dreams.
5. The Beginning of My Journey
I was 13 years old and I was drowning. I do not mean drowning, as in overwhelmed, bewildered, confused, and struggling to find meaning in life, although I was all of those things. I mean drowning, as in my physical body was trapped underwater, and I was out of oxygen and out of time.
It got to the point where I was sure I had only about a second more to live. Then something amazing happened – actually three things simultaneously. The first was that I let go of something that I didn’t know I was holding onto, something I didn’t even know existed.
In my life, sometimes things had not worked out the way I desired or intended. Something did not turn out right. I said or did something that didn’t work. Generally, someone was hurt, angry, or afraid – sometimes me. On some level, sometimes conscious but generally not, I felt that there was a possibility that I could go back and make things right, go back and fix it so everything was OK. The possibility might have been infinitesimally small, but on some deep level I always felt that I might someday get a chance to set things right and undo the hurt and pain and misunderstanding and conflict.
Now I knew my life was over, and that would never happen. I consciously let go of ever going back and fixing anything, of ever making things better or different than they were. I felt as though a huge tangled mess flew away from me at that instant.
Simultaneously, my life flashed before my eyes. I have often heard or read that when you are drowning your life flashes before your eyes, but this experience was nothing like what I imagined from those words. I clearly saw, clearly experienced, every single scene and happening in my life, all at once. It was not like a movie preview of just the major highlights, or a fast-forward re-enactment. It was a full experience of each and every moment of my life, just as clear as the present moment, yet all at once. I had no idea that my consciousness could expand to encompass all of that at once, but it did.
The third thing that happened does not easily fit into words. Having let go of ever attempting to change anything, and seeing my whole life, I felt that I saw it clearly for the first time. I was struck by the sense that it simply was what it was, and it was perfect exactly how it was. I was delighted at the perfection I saw in my life. I thought to myself, now, finally, I see my life the way it truly is, and it is perfect. Not that I didn’t see the mistakes or the pain. I simply saw that it was what it was, and sensed the perfection in the universe and in my life in particular.
I had the fleeting thought, “If only I could have seen it that way while I was living it, I would never have suffered. I would have cherished every moment. I would have in every instant seen my life for the exquisitely beautiful experience that it was.” But even that didn’t matter, because I truly saw it now. I realized it had been that way all along, and it didn’t even matter that I hadn’t really gotten the reality until now. Now I got it.
I had no regrets that my life was ending after only 13 years. It was what it was. It was not just enough; it was more than plenty. It was exactly what it was, and I had nothing but delight in my one last flash of it all at once.
Just then I got to the surface. I was gasping for air and spitting water, and my experience of life was back to what it had been.
That is the moment I became a seeker. I knew I had experienced my life the way it truly is. I knew if I could experience it that way all the time, I would always experience fulfillment and never suffer. Even “fulfillment” seems pale and dull compared to the experience I had just had. I knew that the real, true experience of my life was intensely delightful, fascinating, fully engaging in every moment. I felt acutely that that was not what I was experiencing now, or had experienced before, except for that brief moment.
I also knew that if I could experience reality once, I could do it again, and there must be a way to have that experience permanently. It was very clear to me that that was the key to ending suffering and experiencing fulfillment in life. I also had the sense that on the foundation of experiencing my life the way it truly is, I could also freely create everything in my life that I desired, and accomplish my highest aspirations. Not because my life would not be OK without that, but because once I was experiencing the intense wonderfulness of my life when seen truly, I’d naturally be inspired to express my creative intelligence in ways that resonated with me. That inevitably would lead to success on every level.
It has been said that ignorance is bliss. Not so. It was abundantly clear to me in that flash of experience and insight that all of the suffering in my life had come from ignorance, from not experiencing and knowing life the way it really is. It was equally clear that the key to fulfillment in life – to living the life I truly desired, to experiencing a life that inspired and thrilled me at every moment – was experiencing life the way it really is, not the way it had previously appeared.
How did I know? I knew the same way you and I know, when we awaken from a dream, that now we are awake, and before we were dreaming. Reality, when perceived, is self-validating. I just knew, and I knew with more certainty than I had ever known anything in my life.
My life as a Seeker
I set out to discover everything I could about personal development, spirituality, and consciousness. I read every relevant book I could get my hands on. I went to countless lectures, seminars, and retreats.
One of the first books I read was Plato’s Republic. I was inspired and encouraged when I read his allegory of the cave. He said in the ordinary level of consciousness we are like people bound in a cave, with a fire at our backs. We cannot see each other or the fire at our backs. All we see are shadows. We don’t see ourselves or others for what we truly are, only the shadows of people and things.
Plato said it is possible to break free of the bonds and begin to see actual people and things, not just shadows. It is possible to make it to the surface, out of the cave, and see the world and the people in it truly. It is even possible to see the Sun, that which gives light to everything and makes perception of everything else possible.
I realized that Plato must have had experiences similar to mine, and that he must have found a way to make the experience much more complete and whole, and to make it permanent. This all made more sense to me later. At the time, it was primarily an inspiration that I was seeking something that was real and that others had previously discovered, experienced, and known in depth and detail.
The most superficial level of attempting to make some more of life is on the level of what you have. The advertising industry and those who employ it will have you believe that what you have is the key to happiness, success, admiration, and respect, not to mention sex. Just buy more things, and that will get you where you want to be in life. I never really bought that concept, and if you’re reading this book, you probably don’t buy it either.
I did, however, at one time think that the key to success and happiness involved in large measure doing things. I believed that if I could have spectacular enough achievements, that would make my life successful. If I could do impressive enough things, that would garner me respect and admiration from others, and that would bring lots of fulfillment to me. If I could find the right person and do all the things necessary to have the right kind of relationship, that would be a major key to happiness.
I found that most of the self-improvement and personal development books and courses I could find focused on methods for changing what you do. The message was that highly successful people do certain things. Learn to do these things as a matter of habit, and you will be highly successful. This perspective was particularly prevalent in books and courses focusing on maximizing achievements in the world.
Most of the relationship books and courses were also about what to do. Treat all people in an uplifting and loving way. Treat women this way, with certain refinements because of the way they are. Treat men that way, with different refinements because of the way they are. Say these things, do these things, learn a set of rules of engagement that foster harmony, love, and understanding, and your relationships will be successful.
I found considerable value in the advice given in many books and seminars on what to do to create a successful life. My underwater experience had taught me, however, that the true experience of life and the fulfillment that comes from it go beyond anything that one does or does not do.
Many of the books and courses of instruction I encountered recognized that there is more to life than what you do. They recognized that what you do is dependent on what you think and how you think. If you want to change your life for the better, you must change your thinking. As a person thinks, so he/she is. As a person thinks, so he/she behaves, and the fruits of that behavior follow. Think negative thoughts, and you will manifest a negative outcome. Think positive thoughts, and you will manifest a positive outcome.
I practiced many techniques for changing my thinking to be more positive, harmonious, and productive. Most provided substantial good benefits. I knew from my own direct experience, however, that truth and fulfillment in life went beyond any thoughts or ways of thinking.
Some of the more advanced books and seminars included the realization that how and what you think depends also on how you feel. It depends on how you feel about yourself, about others, and about life. It depends on your subtle and often unconscious or semi-conscious feelings about the way life is. Early experiences have an impact on your feelings about yourself and others, as well as your thinking. What you manifest in your life is greatly affected by how you feel – about yourself, about others, about your role in life, about your strengths and weaknesses, about what life is like, and so on. I learned many techniques for changing how I feel, and gained considerable benefit from most of them.
Still, I knew from very intense and self-validating personal experience that there is much more to life than what I do, think, and feel. I knew that living a life that was truly real, truly inspiring, and intensely enjoyable goes beyond any formula for doing, thinking, and feeling.
Some of the most advanced books, seminars, and courses on life recognized something beyond doing, thinking, and feeling. I learned a number of techniques for personal transformation that were aimed at transforming how and who one is being, who and what one perceives oneself to be, and what one perceives life to be. Successful people have a way of being. To be successful, achieve such a way of being. Transform your self-image and your inner sense of who you are and the way life is, and you can live a truly extraordinary, successful, and fulfilling life.
Some of the most valuable techniques and experiences I have had in the realm of personal development have focused specifically on transformation. This perspective, and the techniques and programs based on it, led to significant realizations and insights and to significant improvements in my life. Still, all of this did not get me to the full realization and experience of life that I had glimpsed that one moment underwater when I was sure it was all about to end.
I thought that perhaps if I could find the most intelligent and educated people, I could learn from them. I graduated from high school, applied and was accepted to Harvard University. I thought to myself, “Now I’ll meet the most intelligent people, leaders in the field who have studied life their whole careers. Surely they will be able to help me to find the truth.”
When I arrived at Harvard my freshman year, one of the first things I did was to make an appointment with a professor in the psychology department. He was offering a special seminar where he would personally mentor students. I had just arrived from Seattle, on the other side of the country, and I overslept. I rushed off to the appointment, but still arrived ten minutes late. I was eager to learn, and excited to get to meet someone who would be able to teach me something about life.
The professor and purported world-class expert in human relations greeted me with an angry red face. How dare I, a mere college freshman, be ten minutes late for an appointment with someone so important as him? He was really deeply angry, and he did not hold back in chastising me about it. I realized quite quickly that being intelligent and educated was not necessarily the key to wisdom. It was abundantly clear to me that I knew much more about life, and about human relations, than this expert ever would. And I had an advantage: At least I realized that I didn’t know much, so I would have a chance to learn.
I did not, however, abandon academic learning as a means to discover more about life. I had always been interested in science. My father, George Farwell, was a professor of physics. I grew up around science and scientists, and I always knew that it was an important part of our understanding of life.
I also knew that the brain is fundamental to our experience of life, to everything we do, think, and feel, and to who we are. I decided to study the brain. I did brain research at Harvard, graduated, and went on to earn my PhD in neuroscience at the University of Illinois, focusing on studying the active, living human brain through electroencephalography (EEG). This provided the foundation, from a scientific perspective, for the techniques I have developed for creating miracles in your life.
At the time, though, all of that still did not get me to where I truly desired to be in life.
Spiritual books and teachings had been a major focus in my life since my original spiritual experience at age 13. After quite a few years, I had read and studied everything in sight, and practiced all the spiritual development techniques I could find. Yet the words in the books and in the seminars and in my own head, and the various techniques I learned, still did not get me to where I truly desired to be in life. No matter what I tried to do, think, feel, and even be, my experience of life still fell far short of what I knew from direct experience that it could be.
Returning to the story of my underwater epiphany, soon I made it to shore, caught my breath, and shortly was home and dry. Then I had a chance to think about what the experience meant for me. What it meant for me was that the rest of my life I would be seeking to discover how to get from a state of limited awareness and inevitable suffering to a state in which my life was unboundedly inspiring, fulfilling, thrilling, and delightful exactly the way it was.
I knew it was possible to get from the experience of “this is unbearably painful” to the experience of “everything is delightful.” I had experienced that once, and I knew intuitively that it must be possible to experience it again, and permanently.
It was clear to me that what I had learned up to that point, and what I had experienced up to that point, was not all of life, and not even the most real aspect of life.
After years of study, learning, and practice, I was not much closer to living what I knew to be the true reality of life – or to living a life in fulfillment – than I had been five minutes after I emerged from the water on that first day of my life as a seeker.
6. The Blind Spot
No matter what I learned to do, think, feel, and even be, I had not yet been able to create the life I truly desired. I began to realize that the truth must lie somewhere else beyond where I had been looking. In other words, I had had a major blind spot all my life. The most important truths about life and the most fulfilling experiences apparently had resided in that blind spot, inaccessible to me except in small glimpses and small doses that seemed to arrive at random.
Before going further, I’d like to illustrate for you just how powerful and convincing a blind spot can be. The one I am about to show you is physical. Mental and intellectual blind spots are even more convincing and blinding, as I shall discuss shortly.
A Simple Way to Experience Your Blind Spot
To begin with, I would like to share with you an experience of how the senses generate an apparent reality, an experience that may be quite striking if you have not had it before.
First, look around the room. Do you have a complete vision of what is in front of you? Cover one eye and look around again. Except for the smaller visual field, is your vision no less complete? With one eye still covered, look at a stationary object, so that your eye does not move. Then, being careful not to move your eye, move your attention around the visual field to see if it is complete. Are there any holes in your visual field? Experience clearly says "No."
What would you say if I were to tell you that there is a hole in your visual field, pretty near the center, and large enough to lose the face of someone standing 15 feet from you? In fact, there is.
Here are the facts. We see by virtue of light entering through the pupil at the front of the eyeball and falling on light-sensitive receptor cells in the retina on the back of the eyeball. Each point in space in front of you maps to a point on the retina. The receptor cells in the retina convey information to other visual processing cells, and on to the brain through the optic nerve. There is a small hole in the retina where the optic nerve exits. There are no receptor cells there, so any light that falls on this area is not picked up by receptor cells. You do not see whatever is in the corresponding small area in visual space.
This is empirically testable. Let's prove it.
Before you turn the page, please read the following instructions. The next page of the book is blank except for two dots. First, just look at the page and locate the two dots. They are quite easily visible.
If you are reading this on a very small screen, or in a format where the images are too small or difficult to see, you can print out this experiment at https://larryfarwell.com/pdf/blindspot.pdf. There are several other websites that illustrate the phenomenon of the blind spot, some with animated displays and a variety of configurations. (If you are wearing glasses, you may need a somewhat larger display to see this phenomenon clearly; or you can try it without your glasses.)
Hold the book (or digital device) so that the dots are on the same level horizontally. Hold it so that the distance from the book to your eyes is about five times as long as the distance between the dots. This will of course vary depending on the size of your screen. For example, if the dots are four inches apart (as they are in the printed book), hold the book or device 20 inches away from your eyes.
Now, cover your left eye and keep it covered. Look at the dot on the left side. You will still see the other dot out to the right.
Now, while continuing to look at the left dot, slowly move the book or device toward you. When it is about four times as far from your eyes as the distance between the dots (16 inches away if you are using the printed book), the second dot will disappear, and you will see nothing but a blank, white page with one dot near the left. You may have to try this several times to get the dot to line up with your blind spot.
Once the dot disappears, you may find it immediately appears again because you have moved your gaze from the dot on the left to the dot on the right. If you refocus on the dot on the left, the dot on the right will disappear again.
If you keep moving the book or device toward you, the dot will reappear when it is about three times as far away from you as the distance between the dots (12 inches away if you are using the printed book).
Now, turn the page and try the experiment. Once you have seen the dot disappear, go on to the following page.
Could you see the dot disappear?
How can you walk around for 20 or 90 years with a blind spot and never see it, and never miss what is behind that spot? When the dot is in your blind spot, the brain fills in the spot with whatever is around it, in this case with a white background. What is there is a page with two black dots. What you see is a page with one black dot and all the rest white.
Now, let's try it again, and see what else the brain can fill in. On the next page, you will see a black dot and a square with a white dot in it. Hold the page so the black dot is on the left and the square is on the right. Cover your left eye, move the page as before, and when your blind spot hits the white dot in the square, your brain will fill in the black box and you will see a solid box that isn't there. Now turn the page and try the experiment.
Could you see the solid, black box that wasn't there? What is really there is not a solid box but a box with a rather large hole in it. If you line up the hole in the box with your blind spot -- a hole in the visual field that the visual system fills in without your knowing it -- you see an illusory solid box. If the box is some other color, or even a line or a pattern of parallel lines, your visual system will fill in the same thing in your blind spot. (There are several websites that demonstrate this online.)
Your blind spot is actually quite large, about five degrees of visual angle, big enough to fit about 70 full Moons in it, unseen.
What is so remarkable about this phenomenon is not that there is a hole in your visual field, but that you don't ordinarily see it. Without your even knowing it, your machinery of experience fills in a complete picture, making assumptions that what you do not see is the same as what you do see. This shows that your sensory systems construct a consistent, plausible reality, rather than just passively reporting what is really there. "What you see" and "what is really there" are not the same thing, and this little demonstration is only the beginning.
Intellectual and Experiential Blind Spots
Our sensory systems are not the only place where blind spots exist. They exist on the level of intellectual understanding as well. Their existence is, in fact, inevitable given the nature of the universe and the nature of the human intellect. Nature is infinitely complex, and the ability of the human intellect to understand is finite. In order to make sense of the universe so that we can function within it, we adopt metaphors that approximately match and explain what we observe through the senses.
Metaphors are characteristically simple and comprehensive -- suited for dealing with infinite complexity using the finite tool of our intellect. The power of metaphors is that they provide a framework within which a multitude of diverse observations can make sense. The weakness of metaphors is that, like our visual system, they can appear to comprehend all of reality when in fact they do not.
Scientific understanding of the universe or some part of it takes place within a paradigm. A paradigm is an overarching concept that defines how we think about the universe, or some significant part of the universe.
Every scientific paradigm has its foundation in a metaphor. For example, there was a time when it was believed that Earth is the center of the universe. The metaphor of the Geocentric Paradigm was one fixed ball (Earth) at the center of the universe, with other balls of various sizes moving around it in various patterns.
Scientific research within a paradigm consists essentially of observing more and more of nature, and fitting it into the ruling metaphor and the conceptual scheme arising from it.
Every incomplete paradigm, every incomplete system for thinking about life and the universe, is inevitably based in a metaphor that is much more limited than the reality it purports to comprehend. Thus, every scientific paradigm has a blind spot, a place where realities inconsistent with the paradigm reside.
For one steeped in the paradigm throughout a lifetime, these conceptual blind spots are exceedingly difficult to see and overcome. On the intellectual level as well as on the sensory level, we fill in the gaps so convincingly that we have what appears to be a complete picture even when something very fundamental is missing.
For example, during the reign of the Geocentric Paradigm, for over a thousand years some very intelligent people believed the geocentric metaphor as an a priori truth. It is obvious that everything moves around Earth. That is a matter of direct perception – just look at the Sun rising and setting, the motions of the Moon, etc. The question that those seeking truth about the universe asked was, “How do the heavenly bodies move around the earth?” No matter how brilliant the questioner and the answer, once that question had been asked, there was no possibility of arriving at the truth.
The Geocentric Paradigm had a blind spot. If the entire universe consists of things that move around the earth – which it certainly appears to – then it should make sense to seek to understand the universe by understanding how things move around the earth. Once you have asked that question, the entire realm of possibilities open to you is missing the only possibility that actually accords with reality. The blind spot in the Geocentric Paradigm in fact contains the entire knowledge of how the planets, stars, and galaxies move in the universe.
We now know that Earth rotates on its axis, Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun, the Sun and other solar systems revolve within a galaxy, and all the galaxies move away from each other at high speed. The question that must be asked to get to this realization could not be asked in the Geocentric Paradigm. It is a fundamentally different question: “How do all the heavenly bodies, including the earth, move in relation to each other in space and time?”
Asking that question, and finding answers that are in accord with the observed data, resulted in a scientific revolution where the Geocentric Paradigm was replaced by the Heliocentric Paradigm, with the Sun at the center of our solar system (but not at the center of the universe).
Finally I began to realize that just as the Geocentric Paradigm had a blind spot, I had a similar blind spot in my experience and understanding of life. Everything I do, think, feel, and perceive appears to be a complete account of my life. Working to improve everything I do, think, feel, and perceive – to transform my ways of doing, thinking, feeling, and perceiving – appears to be all that is possible to create the life I truly desire. Yet all of that was not getting me to the much more real and much more fulfilling life that I knew from my own experience must be possible.
7. Science and Consciousness
When I realized that the key to creating the life of my dreams must be in a blind spot, life looked like a dilemma. I later discovered that it was not a dilemma, but a paradox.
Once I understood the paradox, the path from “this is unbearably painful” to “everything is delightful” was clear and easy to traverse. Now my task is to guide you along the path that I have traversed to expand my understanding and experience beyond that dilemma, and to share with you practical techniques that have arisen out of that exploration.
The bottom line is that what was missing in my view of life and the universe, what was in my blind spot, was consciousness. Everything we think, feel, and do, everything we experience in life, is based on the level of consciousness we bring to that experience.
Consciousness is something with which we are all intimately familiar. You know what it’s like to be asleep – very little consciousness. You know what it’s like to be awake – more consciousness. You know what it’s like not to have slept enough, or for some other reason to be half awake – less consciousness.
The more consciousness we are experiencing at any given moment, the more we have clarity of mind, intelligence, joy, fulfillment, creativity, harmony, energy; understanding of life, the universe, and other people; and everything else that makes life successful and enjoyable. Consciousness is the essence of life. The more consciousness we bring to any experience or situation, the more life we bring. Success in every realm of life is a byproduct of the level of consciousness we bring to bear there. Consciousness is not something we see, feel, touch, do, or say. It is the fundamental quality of life that lights up everything we experience.
To bring to light what was missing in my life, what lay in the blind spot to which I had been blind all but a few fleeting moments, I’d like to explore with you the role of consciousness in life and the universe. I do not propose to have a definitive answer. I will, however, propose some working hypotheses that I have found to be interesting and useful.
Scientific Paradigms
To begin with, let’s consider the nature of science. For most non-scientists, science primarily consists of facts. You learn in your science courses in school what has been established as fact. The whole thing is pretty static, cut and dried. For practicing scientists, science is a process of explaining what we know with reference to natural laws, and discovering what we do not yet know. Practicing scientists deal with scientific paradigms and working hypotheses, not “facts.”
Scientific understanding and working hypotheses take place within a scientific paradigm. A paradigm is an overarching metaphor that defines how we think about the universe, or some significant part of the universe. For example, as discussed above, the Geocentric Paradigm held that the earth is the center of the universe, and everything moves around the earth. This paradigm defined how people thought about everything they could observe in the heavens.
The Geocentric Paradigm was replaced by the Heliocentric Paradigm about four hundred years ago. At the time of Galileo and Newton, scientific observation and explanation of the universe began to progress more swiftly than it had in previous centuries. The Newtonian Paradigm or Materialist Paradigm arose to explain the universe in terms of objects and forces. Objects included small things like a baseball and large things like the Earth and the Sun. Forces included forces at play on large and small scales, such as gravity and magnetism.
In the new Conscious Unified Field Paradigm that has arisen to replace the Materialist Paradigm, we explore even deeper questions that have transformed our understanding of the nature of space, time, objects, matter, energy, and life. This new paradigm turns out to be very useful for living a more successful and delightful life, as we shall see in later chapters.
Working Hypotheses
Working hypotheses are explanations of how the Laws of Nature work in the universe or in a particular realm. They lend themselves to predictions as to the outcome of experiments and observations. Working hypotheses are not “Truth” or even “truth.” They are simply explanations that fit the currently available data. When new data arrive through empirical experimentation and observation, working hypotheses often must be revised.
From time to time, observations or experiments yield data that completely do not fit into the current paradigm, and a whole new paradigm arises to explain these. When Galileo and others observed that Venus goes through phases like the Moon, they realized that this would not happen if everything moved around Earth, but only if everything revolved around the Sun. Sometimes Venus is approximately on the other side of the Sun, and we see the side that is lit up by the Sun, just as we do with a full Moon. Sometimes Venus is more on our side of the Sun, and we see a sliver of the light side and mostly the dark side of Venus, just as we do with a new Moon.
The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm Revisited
As I discussed above, the theories and scientific data of modern physics and modern neuroscience are incompatible with the previous Materialist/Newtonian Paradigm that reigned for four hundred years. Reality, as revealed by currently available scientific data in physics and neuroscience, requires a new paradigm: the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm.
This paradigm has certain working hypotheses that have profound implications for human life. It turns out to provide a very useful practical foundation for creating an extraordinary life.
In the Materialist Paradigm, the entire universe consisted of objects and forces. The smallest objects were indivisible atoms of the various elements. Atoms behaved no differently than baseballs or planets; they were just smaller and more homogeneous. The universe functioned mechanically like clockwork. Our role as observers was to come along and look at it. We could observe any phenomenon in the universe from outside, without affecting it, and could be certain of what was going on there, independent of our observing it.
The primary metaphors of the Materialist Paradigm were particles and waves. Some things, like baseballs and atoms, could be understood as particles. Other things, like light and waves in the ocean, could be understood as waves.
Relativity, quantum mechanics, and modern neuroscience have brought about a new scientific paradigm. These new fields brought to light that the real universe was in fact very different from the clockwork universe of the Materialist Paradigm. It turns out that the Materialist Paradigm was missing the same fundamental reality that I was missing in my early understanding of life: consciousness.
The quantum-mechanical universe is not a phenomenon that we can sit back and observe from outside, without participation. Our conscious observation is a fundamental and necessary element in the structuring of the universe.
This can be understood with reference to some common experiences. For example, this morning in Seattle, the Sun rose at 6:03 AM. I could clearly see it come up over the mountains behind the hills across the lake. I clearly experienced, as a direct empirical observation, that the Sun rose.
Of course, we now know (as others did not know five hundred years ago) that the Sun did not rise. The sunrise is an experience, not an object or an objective event. When you are on a ball that is 8,000 miles in diameter, rotating once every 24 hours, you will experience a sunrise once a day, even though the Sun does not in fact rise.
When the weather bureau informs us that the Sun will rise at 6:03 AM, we do not accuse them of misrepresenting or attempting to deceive us. We all recognize that the weather bureau is describing the preconditions for an experience, not an objective thing or event. To say that the Sun rises is shorthand way of saying that under certain conditions, from a certain point of view, moving at a particular speed and position on a particular planet, and observing in a particular way, we will experience the Sun as rising.
Another common experience that appears to be an objective thing, but isn’t, is a rainbow. Raindrops refract and reflect sunlight at a particular angle. When the Sun is behind us, and raindrops are in front of us at a particular angle, we experience a rainbow. The location of the rainbow depends on our location. As the Sun is about to set in the west, we may see a rainbow apparently ending in a lake that is due east of us. A friend who is a mile north of us may see a rainbow that appears to end in a forest, a mile north of the lake. If we go to the lake where the rainbow appears to end, it will now appear to end farther east, over a hill. If we are driving south at 60 miles per hour, we will experience the rainbow moving southward at 60 miles per hour, skimming over the lake and into the forest. If a friend is driving north on the same highway, he will experience the rainbow moving north. With rainbows, it is very clear that our experience depends on how we observe.
Where is the rainbow when we are not experiencing it? We could say it is everywhere (within a certain range), because we could observe it everywhere within a certain range. We could say it is nowhere, because we are not experiencing it anywhere. Both of these answers have some truth to them, but neither of these answers is really accurate, because the question makes a false assumption: that the rainbow exists independent of our observation of it.
In reality, the rainbow is an observation, an experience, not a thing that exists independently of our observing it. When we are not observing it, the rainbow exists only as a potentiality, a probability that if you make a particular observation you will have a particular experience. A friend can call and provide us with a formula for experience: Go to your window, look east, there is a high probability that observing in this way you will experience a rainbow.
The table in front of me appears at first glance to be very unlike a rainbow. My experience is that it appears to be hard, solid, brown, and unmoving. The reality of quantum mechanics, however, is very different from this. “Hard,” “solid,” “brown,” and “unmoving” are experiences created in my nervous system. The table is giving off electromagnetic radiation in a wide range of frequencies. A small segment of this electromagnetic radiation is in the range we perceive as light. Light at a particular range or combination of frequencies we experience as “brown.” As described above, a different nervous system may experience a different range of frequencies, and may have subjective experiences that are very different from “brown” in response to the same table.
Is the table smooth and solid and unmoving? Not if you look closely. It is mostly empty space, with myriad particle/wave phenomena moving at extremely high velocities. In fact, even that description falls far short of representing how far the actual reality is from our common-sense notion of the table.
The Newtonian Paradigm held that the table was made up of atoms, tiny particles not unlike a very small baseball. The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm, and in particular quantum mechanics, reveals that the essential building blocks of the universe, the basic constituents of matter and energy – protons, neutrons, electrons, photons, and all elementary particles – are more like rainbows than baseballs.
Quantum mechanics reveals the strange reality that all the elementary particles that make up our experience of the physical universe are experienced differently depending on how we observe them.
Protons, neutrons, electrons, photons, and all the quantum-mechanical phenomena that structure the physical universe are experienced as waves when we observe them in such a way as to observe waves. They are experienced as particles when we observe them in such a way as to observe particles. Before we make a conscious observation, there are no particles or waves. There are no electrons, protons, neutrons, or photons. There is no mass, velocity, specific location, charge, or spin. None of the qualities of matter exist. There is only an abstract probability function, stretching infinitely in space and time, which defines the probabilities with which the relevant elementary particle/wave phenomena will be observed at a particular place and time.
Like a rainbow, anything in the physical universe cannot meaningfully be said to be at any particular location or to have any particular qualities – or even to meaningfully be out there – until we observe it. The photons and protons and other particle/wave phenomena that make up the physical universe have the qualities and locations that we choose by our choice of how to observe them.
Quantum Mechanics on the Christmas Tree
I first came across an empirical test of this phenomenon when I was 12 years old. My family was in Denmark where my physicist father was on sabbatical for a year with Niels Bohr at the Niels Bohr Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen.
It was Christmas, and we had candles on our Christmas tree, as was common at the time in Denmark. We were opening Christmas presents on Christmas morning. Dad was taking pictures with a camera, the kind that records the image on film. A film camera detects particles of light – photons – through a chemical reaction in the film.
Dad took pictures of the Christmas tree with the candles. The light particles emitted by the candles dutifully behaved like particles and recorded the appropriate patterns on the film. Each candle created a small, single spot on the film of the camera that, when developed, would result in a lighter image than the surrounding area. Thus, one could see the image of the candle on the film – a single dab of light for each candle.
From the point of view of physics, the important point to note here is that it was light particles that made the impression on the film. Each photon took a straight, single path from a candle to the lens of the camera, changed direction slightly in the lens as light does, and continued to the film. This is what particles do.
If the candles had been shooting out small ping-pong balls instead of photons, they would have taken the same paths. Nothing is strange here so far.
Dad gave Mom a silk scarf for Christmas. I was admiring it, and I happened to look at the Christmas tree with candles through the scarf – or, more precisely, through the multiple tiny holes between the threads of the scarf.
When I looked through the scarf, candles no longer looked like single candles. Each candle exploded into multiple bands of light.
My Dad was very excited when I showed this to him. It illustrated the paradoxical dual nature of things in the quantum-mechanical universe. Observe the light from a candle one way (no scarf), and it acts like a stream of particles. Observe it another way (through holes in a scarf), and it acts like waves.
One of the fundamental experiments illustrating the paradoxical particle/wave nature of matter in the quantum-mechanical universe is the “double-slit” experiment. The little holes between threads in the scarf had the same function as the slits in the double-slit experiment.
I will not explain this phenomenon in detail here. I explained it in detail in my previous book, and many other illustrations are readily available.
Very briefly, when you have one hole or slit that light passes through, it behaves like a particle. A small object like a candle appears as a single object. When you have more than one hole or slit for light to pass through, light doesn’t behave like a stream of particles. It behaves like waves. The waves interfere with each other and create an interference pattern. When the peaks of the wave from light going through two different holes line up, you get a bright spot. When the troughs of the waves line up, you get a dark spot.
So when you look at the overall pattern created by a small source of light like a candle, you don’t see a single candle anymore. You see multiple bands of light and dark.
The strange thing in quantum physics is that even when you send the particles through one at a time, as long as there are two slits (or multiple holes), each particle seems to somehow go through both slits and interfere with itself, creating the multiple-image “wave” pattern and not the single-image “particle” pattern.
When you add an additional step to catch it going through one slit or another, and observe which slit it goes through, then it goes back to acting like particles. It goes through only one slit and no interference pattern is created. In short, the double-slit experiment – and the silk-scarf-Christmas-candle experiment – show that what is there in the physical world depends on how you observe it.
We didn’t have the physics apparatus to conduct the full experiment. It was enough for Dad that we had a quantum phenomenon here in our living room in Copenhagen, and we could directly observe it. The excitement in his eyes and his voice was tangible.
I still remember the thrill and wonder of that experience for me. I looked at a candle without a scarf and saw a single candle. I looked at the same candle through a scarf, and it exploded into multiple bands of light – which were, incidentally, exquisitely beautiful.
Dad was even more thrilled than I was. Here all of a sudden out of nowhere comes a quantum-mechanical phenomenon readily observable here on Christmas morning without a physics laboratory.
We put the scarf over the lens of the camera, and when we developed the film later we saw the same phenomenon – without the scarf, single candle flames (particle pattern); with the scarf, multiple bands of light (wave pattern).
At 12 years old, I didn’t understand the physics or the math. I did, however, get the excitement and the thrill of discovery. I already knew I wanted to be a scientist, and I knew I would one day discover new and amazing things and get just as excited about them as Dad was.
Fundamental Working Hypotheses of the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm
In the quantum-mechanical universe, the material qualities of the universe come into being through our conscious observation. Prior to observation, there is only the unified field from which all particle/wave phenomena spring. There are no photons or protons. Matter and energy exist only as potential, as abstract probabilities for the outcome of future observations at particular times and places. This can be and has been definitively demonstrated in the scientific experiments of quantum and relativity physics.
The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm provides a framework for understanding this strange reality. It explains the relationship of consciousness and matter in a way that is compatible with the results of research in quantum physics.
As discussed above, it turns out that the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm is also in alignment with the teachings of the great spiritual traditions and the wisdom of many modern experts on success in living. Every great spiritual teacher and every great spiritual tradition, and many of the ancient and modern works and teachers on the subject of how to be successful in life, have taught the same major truths. For our purposes, let’s consider these to be working hypotheses, rather than absolute truths.
My purpose is to take advantage of what is useful, what resonates with me, and what has served to enhance my experience of life. I suggest that you may choose to do the same. I’ll leave the determination of absolute truth aside, as it is not necessary to accomplish what I would like to share with you.
Here are some fundamental working hypotheses of the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm. In my view these hypotheses match all known scientific data, and everything else that humans have observed. As we shall see, these working hypotheses also have some wonderful practical applications in living life.
1. The inner field of pure consciousness is the essential constituent of life, the foundation of all our experience in life, our essential Nature, the nature of the Self. It is what makes a human being fundamentally different from a rock or a robot. This field of pure consciousness is an unbounded field of energy, intelligence, and happiness, which we draw on to some degree in all that we experience.
2. The unbounded field of pure consciousness that we experience within, and that lights up all our experiences in life to one degree or another, is the same as the unified field from which all matter and energy in the physical universe spring like waves on an ocean (or, for those of us who are more technically minded, quantum wave-particle phenomena as described by the equations of quantum mechanics).
3. We create our lives by first envisioning something on the level of consciousness, then manifesting it through dual means: by taking actions, and also by enlivening the Laws of Nature inherent in the Conscious Unified Field so that things take place spontaneously in accord with our vision, desire, and intention, things that could not be predicted by mechanical cause and effect.
If these working hypotheses are correct, then another testable hypothesis arises that has huge implications for human life. To understand this, it is necessary to consider a little of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. According to quantum mechanics, all the forms and phenomena of the universe are quantum-mechanical particle/wave phenomena that arise from the unified field according to specific Laws of Nature governing the various types of particles/waves – photons, electrons, protons, neutrons, the more fundamental quarks of which they are composed, strings in string theory, and so on.
These particle/wave phenomena arise according to specific, known laws that function probabilistically. That is, before we consciously make an observation, all that is there is an abstract probability distribution with respect to the various particles potentially involved. There is no mass, no charge, no velocity, none of the qualities that matter and energy have once they have been observed. This probability distribution expands infinitely in time and space, and only becomes definite upon the occurrence of an observation.
When we make a conscious observation, the abstract, unbounded probability distribution collapses into an event with material properties that can be quantified and measured (and are measured specifically in that observation).
This is known in physics as the wave function collapse. As conscious observers of the universe around us, this is fundamentally what we do. In a very real sense, we create the quantum-mechanical forms and phenomena of the physical universe through the process of conscious observation.
Wave function collapse is discussed in detail in my previous book.10 The dependence of collapse of the wave function on conscious human observation is also discussed in intricate detail in John von Neumann’s seminal work, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics.
Von Neumann summarized the situation quite succinctly. "Indeed experience only makes statements of this type: an observer has made a certain (subjective) observation; and never any like this: a physical quantity has a certain value." (p. 420.)
If that sounded a bit abstract and strange, that’s because it is. Observing things that are of the size and traveling at the velocities that we usually observe in day-to-day life has given rise to our common-sense notions of the world. In our common-sense view, the universe doesn’t appear to work the way that quantum mechanics describes. It can be and has been shown definitively, however, that the way things actually are in the quantum-mechanical universe we live in is very different from our common-sense notions.
Prior to the collapse of the wave function through the process of conscious observation, there are infinite possibilities. Some potential outcomes of observation are probable. Some are improbable. Some are extremely improbable, so improbable that they might be called “impossible.” But nothing imaginable in the quantum-mechanical universe is actually impossible, just highly improbable.
An accurate understanding of the universe of the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm gives rise to the realization that anything is possible. Some things are improbable, yet anything is possible. This reality will turn out to be very useful later in our discussion of how to manifest improbable and even “impossible” outcomes through effective use of consciousness.
Now we come to the next hypothesis. If the above three working hypotheses are the case, and if we can open our awareness at least to some degree to this field of pure consciousness -- the unified field wherein all the Laws of Nature reside, the unbounded field of energy, intelligence, and happiness from which the universe springs -- then another working hypothesis inevitably follows: Consciously functioning from the level of the unified field, or at least to some degree connected with that level, we should be able to influence the probability distribution of quantum-mechanical events. Here’s the hypothesis:
4. By consciously contacting the inner field of pure consciousness – which is the same as the Conscious Unified Field that gives rise to all of physical creation – and functioning from that level, human beings can influence the probability of quantum-mechanical events using consciousness alone, without any physical intervention. Since the entire physical universe consists of quantum-mechanical particle/wave phenomena, this means that we can consciously influence the physical universe to move in accord with our desires and intentions.
Who Am I: Human Life in the Real Universe
In a previous section I introduced a working hypothesis regarding the essential Nature of human life: The inner field of pure consciousness is the essential constituent of life, the foundation of all our experience in life, our essential Nature, the Nature of the Self. This field of pure consciousness is an unbounded field of energy, intelligence, and happiness, which we draw on to some degree in all that we experience.
All of the great spiritual traditions, and many modern writers and thinkers, recognize that the Self of every human being is one with the infinite field of pure intelligence that underlies, creates, and structures the universe. For human life on earth, however, it is also important to realize that each of us is more than that infinite, universal side of life.
Your self (small “s”) is individual. You have a mind of your own. You have your own intellect, emotions, likes and dislikes. You have your own body, your own senses, your own experiences uniquely blending the various aspects of you: your mind, your intellect, your emotions, your senses, your body. The infinite Self is equally compatible with everything and everyone in the universe. Your self has your own likes and dislikes -- things, people, and events you resonate with and those you do not.
When Socrates said “know thyself,” he was no doubt referring not only to recognizing the infinite Nature of your Self, but also to knowing and being in tune with your own individual self. Self-knowledge involves knowing both the universal Self and the individual nature of the self. Self-development involves both integrating your universal Self into your life and also developing your self in all of your individual aspects.
“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Shakespeare’s famous words brought to light the reality that creating a life that is true to yourself is fundamental to living in truth with others as well. Here he is referring largely to the small-s self, your own true individuality. This applies equally, if not more so, to your Self, your infinite, universal, divine Nature.
Dr. Seuss touched on the importance of the self to the experience of human life on earth in this way: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
Incorporating the infinite value of your cosmic Self into your life is of immense value. Creating a life that is in harmony with your self, true to your self, is equally fundamental to success and happiness in life.
As a foundation for the techniques I will describe for accomplishing this, first let’s take another look at how the physical universe works and how our brains work. We shall see that in light of the structure and functioning of the universe and of our brains, anything is possible. Then we will discuss how to realize these possibilities in practical human life.
The Conscious Unified Field Paradigm and the Current State of Physics
As discussed above the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm provides the explanation of the universe that is, in my view, most compatible with all empirically observed data to date. Within the Conscious Unified Field Paradigm, there are several different functional and mathematical theories regarding how the Conscious Unified Field vibrates in particle/wave phenomena to create the physical universe.
Physics, in its current state of development, has hypothesized four fundamental forces and a few elementary particles. According to unified field theory, the unified field is the single, universal field from which all of the forces and particle/wave phenomena spring. Two of the forces, electromagnetism and gravity, are readily observable in macroscopic forms and phenomena. The strong force binds neutrons and protons together in the nucleus of an atom, and has a very short range. The weak force is also a short-range force that affects a number of elementary particles.
Elementary particles are particles (or actually particle/wave phenomena) that are not (yet) known to be composed of more fundamental particles. As science has progressed, layer after layer of particles originally considered to be elementary have been found to be comprised of other particles.
Prior to the last hundred years, it was thought that atoms were indivisible. It was then discovered that atoms were comprised of protons, neutrons, and electrons, which interact with electromagnetic energy in the form of photons.
The current standard model in physics includes fermions, which can be considered to be matter particles, and bosons, which can be considered to be force particles. Fermions interact with other fermions through the exchange of bosons. Known fermions are quarks and leptons (and their antimatter equivalents). Known bosons comprise four gauge bosons, which mediate the four forces (gravity, electromagnetism, weak force, and strong force) respectively, and the Higgs boson. All of the forces and particles arise as particle/wave phenomena, perturbations of the Conscious Unified Field.
Recent advances in theoretical physics have hypothesized yet more fundamental constituents of matter and energy. String theory and its elaboration in M-theory hypothesize that all particle/wave phenomena are comprised of oscillations or vibrations, like a vibrating string. These vibrations arise at resonant frequencies, due to the nature of the Conscious Unified Field from which they spring.
Vibrations at different resonant frequencies produce the qualities of different particle/wave phenomena that structure the myriad forms and phenomena in creation. The entire universe, with all its particles, waves, and forces, all matter and energy, can be seen as an intricate pattern of resonant vibrations. In string theory, as in previous quantum theories, the physical universe arises as perturbations or vibrations in the Conscious Unified Field.
This phenomenon of resonant frequencies will turn out to be very useful for applying your brain to create miracles in life, as we shall see in later chapters.
Resonant Frequencies and the Structure of Life and the Universe
The ten-dimensional vibrations of string theory and their resonant frequencies can be understood in a basic way with reference to vibratory phenomena in daily life. When you pluck a guitar string, the vibrating string compresses air ahead of it as it moves, and creates a partial vacuum behind it, which then fills with air. As the string moves back and forth at a particular frequency, these alternating compressed and decompressed regions of air propagate as waves to our ears. Our auditory system is structured so as to pick up these vibrations, and to recognize the different frequencies as sound.
When you pluck the middle of a guitar string, the whole string vibrates back and forth, the entire string forming a curve first in one direction and then in the opposite direction. The size, mass, flexibility, and tension of the string determine a particular frequency at which it naturally vibrates. This is a resonant frequency, in this case the fundamental resonant frequency. For a properly tuned guitar A string (the fifth string), the fundamental resonant frequency is 110 cycles per second (Hz).
If you place your finger gently in the middle of the A string, holding it still, and then pluck the string, it will vibrate in a different way. The top half of the string will move up as the bottom half of the string moves down. Instead of a single arc, it will vibrate in two arcs, with a still point in the middle. This is roughly an S-shaped pattern, from S to reverse-S and back to S again. This is another resonant frequency of the guitar string, the first overtone or first harmonic. This is twice the frequency of the fundamental, 220 Hz for a guitar A string. This is an octave higher than the fundamental resonant frequency.
If you place your finger one-third of the way up the string, on the seventh fret, and pluck it, the string will vibrate in three sections, at another resonant frequency. This will be approximately three times the fundamental frequency, 330 Hz, resulting in an E note. Doing the same thing on the fifth fret, one-fourth of the way up the string, results in the string vibrating in four sections, and produces vibrations at yet another resonant frequency. This will be four times the fundamental frequency, 440 Hz, producing an A note two octaves higher than the open A string.
The characteristic sound of a guitar string is produced by the combination of the fundamental resonant frequency and many overtones at other resonant frequencies. The pattern is further complicated, and the sound is further enhanced, by the vibrations of the air inside the guitar and the vibrations of the wood of the guitar. Vibrations of the wood are influenced by, and in turn also influence, the vibrations in the air in and around the guitar.
Each musical instrument has a unique sound because of the set of resonant frequencies created by its configuration of strings (or reeds, lips, etc.), solid materials, and/or hollow spaces in which air vibrates, and the unique configuration of relative amplitudes of the various harmonic resonant frequencies.
An entire symphony (or a rock band, or jazz, or blues, or jug band) can be described in terms of the fundamental notes being played at each moment in time by each instrument, at the resonant frequency of the string(s) (or whatever else vibrates) played in combination with the finger placement, and/or the vibrating air inside the instrument and the vibrating material (wood, metal, etc.) of the instrument itself. Our auditory system and the associated brain functional systems can sense and appreciate this rich blending of vibrations at resonant frequencies.
What does this have to do with quantum physics? The strings of string theory and M-theory also vibrate at resonant frequencies. Unlike guitar strings, they are vibrations in the Conscious Unified Field that arise in ten or eleven dimensions of spacetime. Only three dimensions are apparent to us, or four dimensions counting three in space and one in time.
Like all quantum phenomena, these strings exist only as probabilities until consciously observed. In string theory, as in previous quantum theories, consciousness is a necessary ingredient because without the phenomenon of conscious observation, all that exists is quantum probabilities, with no manifest matter or energy. In the wave function collapse, conscious observation collapses this infinite potential into a finite pattern of manifestation with the discretely measurable qualities of matter and energy.
The way we appreciate the universe is very much like the way we appreciate a concert. We resonate with a rich blend of vibrations at resonant frequencies. The vibrations that constitute the universe are a bit more complex, providing more richness of experience, than those of a concert.
Also, our brains are made up of the same elementary particle/wave phenomena that make up the rest of the physical universe. So our experience of the universe amounts to the complex vibratory pattern that is our brain resonating with the complex vibratory pattern that is the universe, or that part of the universe we are currently interacting with. It’s all one complex, interactive pattern of vibrations at resonant frequencies within the Conscious Unified Field. This pattern of resonance is what creates our experience of ourselves and the universe.
In the universe of the Conscious Unified Field – that is to say, the real universe, as it actually exists – there is no separation between you and the rest of the universe. The vibratory pattern that is your brain and your nervous system is intimately integrated with the vibratory pattern that is the whole universe. Any apparent separation only comes from limited perception.
This reality turns out be to be very useful for living your life, as we shall see in later chapters.
Anything Is Possible
The Conscious Unified Field Experiment showed that by functioning from the level of the Conscious Unified Field – which we can do since it is our essential Nature as well as the essential Nature of the universe – we can consciously choose from among the infinite possibilities inherent in any configuration of the particle/wave/string phenomena that arise in the Conscious Unified Field. These particle/wave/string phenomena arising in the Conscious Unified Field are what appears as forms and phenomena in creation. Since we can consciously choose and influence this process, potentially we can create any pattern of vibrations: anything is possible.
All forms and phenomena arise according to probabilistic laws as particles/waves/resonating strings in the Conscious Unified Field, which contains within it inherently all possible configurations. Functioning from the level of the Conscious Unified Field, we can influence the probability of what pattern will arise in a given time and space. With a sufficiently high level of consciousness, which equates with a sufficiently high level of contact and integration with the Conscious Unified Field, we can create events of any level of improbability.
In other words, if you are sufficiently in tune with the unbounded field of consciousness that is your own essential Nature, your Self, you can create miracles of any magnitude.
How the Brain Works
To use the brain effectively for success in living – and to create miracles in your life – it is valuable first to have an understanding of how the brain works and how we grow and develop through enhancement of brain functioning.
Let’s look at some basic features of how we learn. Look at how you initially learned about the world around you. You are three years old, and you’re exploring the kitchen. You touch the floor, the table leg, the door, a plate on the table, a chair, a drawer, and a hot burner on the stove. Which one do you notice most? Which one do you remember? Which one do you learn the most from? The burner on the stove, right?
We learn by trial and error. When we experience something and nothing much comes of it, the brain takes this as an ordinary experience. No change is necessary. When we encounter the hot burner, we have an intense experience. At that moment, the brain is open for programming. Something important has happened here, something that produces intense experiences. This is an intense experience we want to avoid in the future. What can we learn from this? What can we integrate into our internal representation of the world that will help to avoid this experience in the future?
We learn by trial and error. Errors that have intense consequences open up the brain for input. The intense experience alerts the brain: Now is the time to learn something, to make some changes, to integrate some new knowledge, to recognize a pattern, to gain a new vision of the world.
We can’t reorganize the brain with every experience that happens every few seconds. Most of the time, the brain is not in input mode. When we have an intense experience, the brain takes that as a signal to open up for input, to be amenable to reorganization. This is how the functioning of the brain is optimized as we learn and grow.
We learn and grow in leaps and bounds, not smoothly. Every leap is preceded or accompanied by an intense experience that opens the brain up for input. Intense experiences put the brain in input mode, in reprogramming mode.
My “Aha!” in Neuroscience, and Your “Aha!” in Life
One primary focus of my research in neuroscience has been this phenomenon of learning, reorganization, optimization, and Transmutation in the brain. The neurons in the brain fire electrically (or actually electrochemically). When the brain engages in particular functions or information-processing processes, many neurons fire in certain particular patterns. The electrical activity of the neurons summates to create patterns of electrical voltage that can be measured through electroencephalography (EEG) with sensors on the outside of the head. When a significant information-processing event takes place, it creates a pattern in the EEG, an electroencephalographic response.
In my study of neuroscience I finally discovered what happened in my brain that life-changing day when I was underwater. When the brain recognizes something significant, and opens up for reprogramming, there is a particular pattern in the EEG that I discovered known as a P300-MERMER (Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted Electroencephalographic Response). The P300 part is a previously known response that is one facet of the P300-MERMER.
Whenever you have an “Aha!” experience, the brain functions in a particular way, and the electrical impulses it generates create a P300-MERMER brainwave pattern. This pattern can be measured precisely with EEG sensors placed on the head and analyzed by a computer.
What brings about these “Aha!” moments or MERMER moments? An intense experience, something noteworthy, something striking or unusual, something worth taking note of. Sometimes these are the errors in a trial-and-error process, the negative experiences that bring about learning. Sometimes these are intensely positive experiences. In any case they are outside of the business-as-usual experiences in life.
Any intense experience, particularly a novel, unusual experience, creates a major shift in the functioning of the brain. Now something important is happening. There’s something to be learned here. The brain opens up for reprogramming input. Measured in the laboratory, that creates a P300-MERMER pattern in the electroencephalographic brain response.
I have developed several inventions based on this phenomenon, including the first brain-computer interface, a method to communicate directly from the brain to a computer and a speech synthesizer; Brain Fingerprinting, a method to detect criminals and terrorists and to exonerate innocent suspects by measuring brainwaves; methods for using brainwaves to determine what people pay attention to and retain; and a method for early detection and treatment management in Alzheimer’s and other cognitively degenerative diseases. These inventions are described in detail in publications by my colleagues and myself in the scientific journals as well as in my patents.
More importantly for our purposes here, this learning and reprogramming process in the brain that takes place with the “Aha!” experience and the corresponding P300-MERMER brainwave response has major implications for how to create the life you desire. This brings me to the first practical technique I would like to share with you.