What the "bleep" do we know? Quantum mysticism and self discovery

There have been so many instances of how I have manifested my reality and watched others manifest theirs and not even be consciously aware of it.

Oh if only the world grasped that fact. Our last century's sci-fi authors showed us where we could go with technology. Our fantasy/comic book writer's showed us where we will go with our minds.

The more intelligent and more empathic you are, the more you can muck. ;) There are those among us who have a lot of control over our reality around us than the rest ever need know. Females are better at it too. Males have the advantage over changing our world physically. We however have the equal edge mentally.

I do most mine subconsciously. I try not to for the most part. I focus on being a float versus a fish ; )

If everybody lived happily in the moment, just think of the world that we might could see......

Sometimes the things we think of, aren't good for us or our world.

Not it the least. If you manifest at all, you must really really really learn to watch your thoughts. I cannot rage; I cannot get angry; and I can't get snitty at all ; ) If you have even the slightest ability, watch your karma. You'll find you manifest it just as fast too. Start learning to turn off emotions and just be an observer.

I must admit I'm at a remarkable level of manifestation. For instance, my daughter in law and I were talking in the summer while she was pregnant with my first grandchild. I promised her snow for the child's first Xmas. She's been leery every since she walked out of midnight mass that Xmas Eve to snowfall.... in McAllen TX. I have hundreds of incidents like this... The karma comes from everyone else's travel plans etc this would have impacted. Gotta be careful what you wish for!

I think the real danger with this kind of rapid advancement is that it leaves us with nothing…, but the pursuit of self-pleasure to dwell on. Drugs, Sex, Food..., ah... that about covers it…. Oh Yeah…, and Money…, with lots of POWER.

Now, those are dangerous rabbit-holes to go down. Narcissistic Fibrosis---contagious, incurable, and lethal.

For over five hundred thousand years we didn't worry... or think about Quantum Mystics too much

but the pursuit of self-pleasure to dwell on.

One has little time to think while focused on survival 24/7. One cannot plan for tomorrow while all effort is on just surviving the day. As our sight of the world around us has increased, so has our control and we now simply have more time to play.

We've had our last generations raised during one of great convenience. They'll be okay in spite of not having to walk barefoot to school in the snow. The lessons of adulthood are timeless, with families and acquiring their keep. Different century but SOS.

I've been pondering on them a lot the last couple of days. I think their mental wiring is different than those born in the centuries of religious male-dominate rule. I believe their level of empathy is higher at birth which is not necessarily a good thing when arriving in a world that is not. I have great hope for them though.

They have the internet, which is an element of cooperation versus competition to help them in their journey. Mind-to-mind interaction usually doesn't stir up the negative perceptions ingrained while viewing physical forms.

I don't think science will ever be able to prove or disprove the existence of divinity or the ultimate source of all things.

They will. That ultimate source will be known as logic when they do. Explaining that requires an article I haven't written yet so I'll hush.

("One has little time to think while focused on survival 24/7.")

("If everybody lived happily in the moment, just think of the world that we might could see......")

We survived... and thrived…, under very harsh and challenging conditions… for eons and eons.… We survived by living in the moment…, real-time moments …24/7. Adversity made us strong, quick, smart, and resilient.

But... we are destroying ourselves now in so many ways…: the softness of progress, over indulgence in consumption… the multi-tasking distractions of instant cyber-gratification, etc, etc, etc. And nobody seems to care???? More, bigger, faster..., for me, me, and me!!!

You only destroy yourself in those instances when you do them while others are still suffering. With the multi-tasking distractions comes far greater individual vision to see those others still out there in survival mode.

Some will always hold on to the 'me' attitude so previously needed for survival long past that point. It wouldn't surprise me to see forced change in those areas with the highest consumption of resources but it'll all work out in the wash. The net and our rush of techology is still a toy to so many but it has potential to be an even greater aid to humanity too.

So you see a bright future say... five hundred years from now?

No I see it right here.

The pain from overindulgence is already ingrained to happen as parents watch their children die simply because they were not fit (obesity problems from childhood that will cause an earlier death). The pain from wanting too much comes from the economic effects. the pain has to start in the first place in order to have a need for a 'cure' - changing of attitudes and curving back to a more balanced lifestyle.

I'll rephrase my question. In all of our many global over-indulgencies and unsustainable life styles (O-zone warming, nuclear weapons proliferation, fossil fuel depletion, global unrest, over population, etc)... do you see us finally coming to austerity terms… with what it will take to change our direction... and will it come in time?

Give me hope... please!!!

Well ponder on this. "evil" doesn't last longer. It just has to show up for the "good" to begin. For all the negatives you mention, knowing they are problems actually triggers the fix.

On overpopulation - look how few decades reliable contraception for the female gender has been in existence. It's not that much! The globe has always been unrestful. It's nothing new ; ); Now that we have to look, we will find how to use other sources of energy efficiently (and I think it will eventually come by quantum thought). The climate change deniers are growing smaller every day. We may have some serious problems from it but we are a resourceful sort. We have less ready nukes than ever before. If those that think there's ever a reason to do so use it, we will also survive that.

If male, you aren't wired to be hopeful. ; ) You look for the worst to prepare for it. But you can get some anyway

("knowing they are problems actually triggers the fix.")

Oh I wish you'd have used a different term. LOL.

I am wired to look for problems…, that's where the solutions are found. But... I live in the moment too..., and that's a good thing. Thanks for the balance. Gonna take my dog out for a reality check, now.

The functions I am interested in, are the ones that people with special gifts seem to tap into that others of us seem incapable of doing so.

It comes from right brain use. We have an equivalent number of inner senses as we do outer ones. We evolved focusing on the ones we needed for survival of the body. Now that we simply have more time, these will rapidly grow. I use to tell how mentally evolved someone was by eye color but with the kids born after 'the world as we knew it ended', it's not as indicative as it was.

Jackie, saying that we don't have certain cognitive abilities that some people potentially have (such as photographic memory) is not the same thing as saying that we don't use all of our brains, as a organ. Wikipedia has a decent introduction to the refutation of this persistent myth.

I have retained a level of skepticism about it myself but it did get me to thinking about the power of words.

If languages are systems for encoding information, then words, and other signifiers, are powerful, within their language. Outside of their language, they are noise. आप अज्ञात शब्दों द्वारा प्रभावित हो सकता है, लेकिन परिवर्तन उन शब्दों के अर्थ से उम्मीद के मुताबिक नहीं हैं. And in this fashion, you and water are similar.

While our minds are not fully understood, there is nothing that would indicate that they are anything but simple physical material, subject to and demonstrating the laws of normal (non-quantum) physics. Invoking a semi-mystical explanation for it would be to explain the sun-rise as a large fire being carried across the sky by a god-driven chariot (replacing one unknown with an explanation that relies on a series of non-explanatory unknowns) instead of rather likening it to stuff we do have experience with, like "well, when I turn around, that tree seems to move, when I know it's not -- so maybe it's something like that.

Are we our brain? What are our minds exactly beyond a brain. What makes ME different than YOU, if we are just a collection of experiences then explain things like emotion, what are they exactly? If you look inward at your mind what does it look like, what are the boundaries, where are the edges, where exactly does it lead you?

kim, well your genetics, your developmental environment (including the in-utero chemistry) and the like are all profound determinants as to the initial "wiring". And it changes in a myriad ways from then on.

But are you your brain -- yup. Everything you've ever experienced is there, and only there. Everything you've ever believed, felt, appreciated, known, analysed, suspected, questioned and so on is only there.

When your brain is damaged, the person that was you changes. It can be a profound change like going from having the patience of a woman teaching cats to read, to having a cruel streak and a hair-trigger temper. You can change from liberal to conservative and every shade in between.

You can forget all the people and places and things you've ever done. You can become overly affectionate or even turn into a complete psychopath/sociopath.

There's not an aspect of the "you" that isn't reflected in a part of the brain where a focal lesion won't effectively destroy or reverse it.

Emotions are cascades of chemicals, neurotransmitters and the like which are excreted under certain stimulated conditions. If you've ever been "hormonally" over-emotional, then you'll have a better understanding of how there need be no stimuli that exists in reality in order to trigger the emotion.

But, let's assume that we had no idea what caused emotions, nor how they worked. Would there be any logic in ascribing a quasi-mystical explanation to support a single exception for humans? I mean, boulders, dinner-plates, marbles and puddles all act according to the laws of physics and chemistry. Would humans somehow be different -- would humans have a special quality that would let them defy physics?

Sure, it's possible humans are different. But that would be an extraordinary claim, for which there is a huge amount of evidence to the contrary (ie., every experiment we have thought of and performed indicates we are meat).

this stuff does not belong in a science section.

Are you aware that scientists know the outcome of the experiment is influenced by the expectations of the experimenter at the quantum level? It's not farfetched in the least to grasp that we do that all the time throughout our days.

When our scientists find more of the movement at this level, a whole bunch of stuff in our lives and our history will make so much sense. Spirituality (versus religion) and science will then blend.

What?

"It's not farfetched (?) in the least to grasp that we do that all the time throughout our days."

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

I have a suspicion that you don't really understand "science"

Are you aware that scientists know the outcome of the experiment is influenced by the expectations of the experimenter at the quantum level?

Not true.

Understand science? No I'm really stupid and missed that in high school. It's forensics overall.

Yes it's true. I'm not at home where my link of that news story is but will post it later.

The expectation of the experiment effect also occurs everywhere in our actual life. That's why the 'power of positive thinking' and experiments regarding focus come into play.

Yes it's true. I'm not at home where my link of that news story is but will post it later.

No, it's not. I look forward to seeing this "news story".

There is an experimenter's effect or bias which is a type of error, such as where experimenters unintentionally influence their subject (as in medical research) through body language, tone of voice, etc. (which is why double-blind studies are standard for medical research) - or situations where the researcher discounts or adjusts data that don't meet their expectations (which is just bad science). It's not mind-over-matter stuff.

We are speaking of the quantum experimentation, not the level of human interaction you speak of. The story I speak of mentioned UC Berkeley.

So answer me this... what elements are involved in the placebo effect? There is no medication but the body reacts like there is.

Explain how that works using what energy and what matter.

Are you aware that scientists know the outcome of the experiment is influenced by the expectations of the experimenter at the quantum level?

Replace "know" with "may interpret that". There are many interpretations of quantum mechanics which come to different conclusions. Which interpretation is correct can only be sorted out if and when we are able to decide if locality, counterfactual definiteness, or both, are invalid assumptions about reality.

So answer me this... what elements are involved in the placebo effect? There is no medication but the body reacts like there is.

Explain how that works using what energy and what matter.

There is no mystical energy required, just mental and physiological responses (the body and brain do interact). The particular mechanism depends on the situation. See the wiki for a summary.

There is no mystical energy required, just mental and physiological responses (the body and brain do interact).

Who said there was? So you are agreeing the mind can alter the matter in the body by thought?

I'm not sure what you mean by "alter the matter". The brain has direct neural connections and indirect hormonal, vascular, etc. connections with the rest of the body.

American, for truly subjective items like "how much does it hurt now" or "one a scale from 1-10, how much do you think your hearing has improved" then placebos work ok.

So, yeah, affecting someone's opinion by telling them they got something that might make them feel better is likely to affect their opinion. So things like pain or panic-attacks are wonderful subjects for placebos.

Things where there is a forensic serological and empirical test for effectiveness is where placebos fail. Placebo versus infections, for instance, not so good. Placebo versus hypovolemic shock or exsanguination, placebos not so good. Placebos versus organ transplant, again, guess which one wins.

Do we know how placebos work -- for the most part, well yeah. Why they work, that's a mystery, but how, that's pretty easy to follow. It's mostly expectation bias.

Jackie, you realize that your nasal passages swell and 'relax' on cycles, right? Usually, in humans, it's from 50 minutes to 4.5 hours (current average is normally cited as 150 minutes) but that's variable depending on age, mass, height, and the like.

So, changing your breathing or thinking is likely to effect your ability to breathe (on average) in about half that time. In fact, it is usually far less, and here is why -- the expansion is slow, and the shrinking is a bit faster and you only start to notice after about 3/4th's of the way into the cycle. So you likely won't even feel any "need" to do anything until that point. So, if you start at minute 130 then you've only got a few minutes to try before you'd have gotten relief anyway.

It's called the nasal cycle. No special breathing, meditation nor the like is needed.

Sure there are a lot of natural cycles in the human body. If you choose not to believe that meditation can and does achieve many things then have at it, however there seems to be a growing body of evidence that suggests that we can indeed affect our physical bodies with our minds. Biofeedback, hypnotherapy and other types of mind over body are just some examples. No one requires belief, no really misses out on anything but you.

Kim, relaxation is a simple process that is understood to be, oh, relaxing. I hate to be all pedantic, but it's really that simple. The more relaxation time you engage in, the less time you spend actively engaging in stressful activities. That causes the expected changes in the brain and the corresponding endocrinological outcomes.

Putting people in a medically induced coma also causes such changes.

What I notice many people trying to do is say "look meditation/yoga/prayer works because this study shows lower heart-rates, blood-pressure, changes in the brain" which occurs the same way and to the same extent with any inactive avoidance of stressful conditions.

I'm not at home where my link of that news story is but will post it later.

Finally home and looking slowly. I keep running over other stuff:

The Army's Totally Serious Mind-Control Project

Those sensors detect the minute electrical charges generated by nerve pathways in the brain when thinking occurs.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1841108,00.html#ixzz1n9YNROy3

The thought is the cause for the movement. It's a separate physical thing. You can't understanding this "bleep" stuff until that is grasped.

Anything separate from its surroundings is a physical thing. Your thoughts fit that bill.

Close your eyes and picture a red heart (or solid colored simple object of your choice). That is hard for me to do but if I work on it I can. Now open your eyes.

That red heart was separate from your mind. It had physical form. There is also now a "picture" of what it looked like too (your perception). Logically, both exist.

Now explain to me what matter their physical form was made from. You can't. We haven't even gotten close to understanding it but you cannot logically deny they now exist in some form.

Every thing you see around you was first a thought, manifesting through the physical world. Some have to use physical matter to manifest their ideas. Some, not so much ; )

I'm still waiting for a link to the news story which supports your claim that "scientists know the outcome of the experiment is influenced by the expectations of the experimenter at the quantum level", American Spirit.

Finally home and looking slowly.

Did you not read that sentence? I've been looking but have oodles of bookmarks imported through computer changes and reformats so it could be awhile. This was a mainstream news story but I did a quick searching and found an interview for you:

Quantum Physicist Fred Alan Wolf on Consciousness & The Afterlife

BB: Quantum experiments by physicists have suggested that the decisions of the experimenter play a role in the outcome of the experiment. In other words, mind and matter are somehow intertwined. And that seems to indicate that consciousness is a fundamental component or aspect of the universe. Can you break that down for us? Or am I on the wrong track here?

FAW: No, you're not. It's a well-known chain of thinking [in] the popularization of quantum physics

http://www.openexchange.org/archives/JFM08/wolf.html

Yes, that says, "It's a well-known chain of thinking [in] the popularization of quantum physics". In other words, in things like the "quantum mysticism" found in the seeded article. It's not a scientific idea, nor something that has any kind of broad acceptance among scientists. As far as I can tell, it's a sort of bastardization of the uncertainty principle, which has nothing to do with the experimenters' expectation.

The experiment is part of a well known series of quantum mechanics physics which shows that the knowability of a system determines its' properties. So, if you look at Y when X is happening then Z will happen, but if you put a bucket over my head (and nobody else is looking at Y either) when X is happening the Z won't happen.

It's explained by Heisenberg, it's about conjugate-pair variables. Those are variables that never completely exist at the same time. The more precisely A is deduced, the less precisely B exists. If you know A with absolute precision, then the value of B is entirely unknowable.

It's not about intent.

Kim, because I care about the truth. And I have enough respect for the company to show them what is and what is neither accurate nor is science.

The entire movie "What the bleep..." was an exercise in fantasy-based, wish-fulfillment pseudo-science with quasi-techno-jargon sprinkled liberally about.

The conversations might seem abstract, until they posit questions for which science has long had the answer. People just don't like the implications.

We aren't more special than rocks and marbles. We are physical chemicals, atoms and the particles that make up the atoms. That makes it completely awesome, however.

You don't have to paint it in unicorns and pixies to make it wondrous.

If you want accuracy, explanations and answers, then the material is out there and it is plentiful. It is as mundane, however, as it is exquisite. And the answers, for them to be credible, must be empirically testable, or they are no different from delusion or fantasy.

But there is no reason to assume that quantum mechanics has any role in consciousness. Each and every aspect of the brain that we have every tested indicates it's purely and entirely classical physics -- like boulders and billard-balls.

I even mention the conjugate variables (mentioned also in the math-blog article too) in 9.20.

I actually do know the math (from bra's and ket's to Feynman diagrams and eigenvalues, laplace transformations), and have attended the Susskind lectures, the Feynman lectures way back when.