When I was a kid, really young, I had a question that teachers gave me answers to, but it never quite satisfied me. I think it may have been in fourth for fifth grade, when I first learned about atoms – those little buzzing balls of light that are the foundation of our world – that I asked my teacher: what separates me from you? Well, that’s obvious Dennis. Can’t you see? There is a space between us, and we are separate from each other. But that’s not completely correct, is it? That’s what everyone said – it’s obvious, just look and see the separation. For the longest time I wondering what the hell was wrong with my eyes or mind, that I could not understand this concept. Well I don’t think it’s a problem with myself.
You see, there really isn’t any separation at all, and we’re all one, connected indirectly by everything in between. Today, Quantum physics seems to frequently point in the direction of interconnectedness. I think about Newton’s cradle, the outside balls somehow striking and moving each other without ever touching one another directly. And sound waves, the pulsing of air created by my voice pounds on the eardrum of another allowing them to hear me. This is all very elementary now, but absolutely fascinated my 10-year-old self.
When I think of all this, about how we’re all one (and how very few realize this fact), I can’t help but laugh at the nihilistic skeptics of today. Physics today is showing us how strange the world really is when we try and uncover its gears. I guess nature doesn’t like us trying to peak behind the curtain, so she makes things very confusing. There’s this idea held by skeptics, that we are in the seat of privileged observers of the universe – completely separate and not influential in any way. Skepticism prides itself on supposedly removing the mind from the processes it observes – but if the mind is never really capable of being totally separate from the world, well this just doesn’t work does it?
“We live in a participatory universe with no place reserved from detached observation.” Pinchbeck, Daniel: 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, p. 101
We are active participants in this amazing universe. It’s easy to see really, if you actually look at it. How the hell can you remove yourself from the universe in order to observe it, if you’re part of it? You can’t! We are inseparable from the universe that created us.
It’s funny to see examples of this connection in scientific experiments. At the moment, I can’t remember the names of the scientists who carried out the experiment, but it was mind-boggling to say the least. A robotic arm on a table was given the goal of picking up a ball and placing it in a cup. Sadly for the robotic arm, it had to do it by randomly guessing where the ball was, then randomly guessing where the cup was. Left alone, the arm quite had a few tries before it successfully happen to randomly grab the ball, and then randomly drop it in the correct spot. What’s startling is that the researchers found that when a person sat in front of the arm, and concentrated on grabbing the ball and putting it in the cup – the number of attempts by the robot was significantly less. It seems the person was helping the little robot arm along. I know it doesn’t seem quite credible, but I hope to find the sources soon and edit this post when I do. There are many experiments on the effect of human consciousness on random number generators.
There is another similar experiment I can site, however, also involving random-number-generating computers. The Global Consciousness Project at Princeton University is quite an interesting supporter of this inter-being with the universe. Princeton researchers placed 50 random number generators worldwide and monitored their constant, random, fluctuations. Thanks to global communications, the entire world seems to know what’s going all at any moment, and so during major world events and disasters, researchers notice a deviation from the normal patterns. And on 9/11/2001, things got really interesting. On the morning of September 11th, deviations from the normal random noise peaked a few hours after the planes hit, but the changes started a few hours before the attack. The program’s director, Roger Nelson, said:
“When we ask why the Disaster in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania should appear to be responsible for a strong signal in our world-wide network of instruments designed to generate random noise, there is no obvious answer. When we look carefully and discover that the [data] might reflect our shock and dismay even before our minds and hearts express it, we confront a still deeper mystery.” (link)
I think when we all realize that we’re all linked together in something far greater, then people may begin to think twice about making harmful desicions against others.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix
