For decades, scientists and philosophers around the world have been exploring what it means for us humans to experience consciousness, what we are referring to when we use the term “mind”, and what it means for us to be an observer in this universe within the bounds of its physical principles.
And what’s startlingly exciting about all of that research is that we are learning that mind, consciousness, and being an observer have long been considered metaphysical concepts, but experiments have been showing over and over again that they are indeed players in this physical world- so much so, that researchers in many interdisciplinary fields are beginning to uncover that reality may not be what we’ve assumed it to be at all! Instead, we are beginning to understand how we, as observers, give rise to what we call reality through our mere observation…
Studies in meditation have shown the very real effects that the mind has invoked on what we call the physical world. In one experiment, a group of 4,000 meditation practitioners gathered in Washington DC in the summer of 1993. The hypothesis of this experiment was that the meditations of the group would lead to lower crime rates in the DC area. After factoring in and controlling for other possible variables such as weather, surrounding crime data, police staffing, daylight, and historical records and trends, it was shown that incidents of violent crimes did in fact decline during the demonstration period. What’s even more interesting is that the decrease in crime also corresponded with the increase in size of the meditation group, peaking during the last week of the project when the most demonstrators were participating, in congruence with a 23.3% decline in violent crimes. Records showed that during the previous five years, no such decline in area crime had been observed.
Another experiment in Japan revealed how thought or intention was able to physically alter the formation of water crystals. Seeing this is beyond mind-blowing, and it has led to practitioners of other disciplines to incorporate these findings into their own research. “If our minds can do that to water, and our bodies are composed of 70% water, then imagine what our minds can do to us…” Psychologists have even been incorporating mindfulness-based practices to support their clients in actively using their minds to effect their bodies, which studies have shown to be effective.
Exploring all of this has led some scientists to claim that our minds are powerful enough to not only alter how we perceive the outer world, but that they can quite literally alter the outer world itself. Now that is some amazing stuff!
So the next time you catch yourself thinking that you’re too tired to pursue the life of your dreams, be careful! You’re powerful enough to make that so… “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t- you’re right.”
Choose your thoughts wisely…