“Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.”

–      Buddhist sage Nagarjuna

For long, Western science had considered as its foundational rock the atomic model that suggested that the atom was the basic building block of all matter. However, vast developments in the field of quantum physics in the 20th century have uncovered the existence of various subatomic particles. It is now common knowledge that every atom has a nucleus that attracts negatively charged electrons, and that the nucleus itself is a bundle of neutrons, protons, and other nucleons.

A much bigger upheaval was wrought with the discovery that Newton's laws, while applicable for general purposes at the human scale, falters at both the subatomic and cosmic levels, showing several inconsistencies. In Newtonian mechanics, all physical events are reduced to the motion of material points in an absolute, empty space – which is always at rest and unchangeable – through mutual attraction, that is, their gravitational force. For two centuries, Newton's equations of motion were considered to be fixed laws accounting for all changes observed in the physical world. The “philosophical basis of this rigorous determinism was the fundamental division between the I and the world introduced by Descartes. As a consequence of this division, it was believed that the world could be described objectively, i.e. without ever mentioning the human observer, and such an objective description of nature became the ideal of all science.”

While this mechanistic notion of solid bodies moving in empty space is still valid in the realm of our daily experience, at the cosmic level there is no ‘empty space’, and at the atomic level there are no ‘solid bodies’. Rather, per modern physics, space is not three-dimensional, and time is not a separate entity. Both are intimately connected and form a four-dimensional continuum called space-time. Thus, space cannot exist without time, nor time without space.

The key takeaway of these revelations has been neatly summarized by Fritjof Capra in The Tao of Physics:

…the constituents of atoms, the subatomic particles, are dynamic patterns which do not exist as isolated entities, but as integral parts of an inseparable network of interactions. These interactions involve a ceaseless flow of energy manifesting itself as the exchange of particles; a dynamic interplay in which particles are created and destroyed without end in a continual variation of energy patterns. The particle interactions give rise to the stable structures which build up the material world, which again do not remain static, but oscillate in rhythmic movements. The whole universe is thus engaged in endless motion and activity, in a continual cosmic dance of energy.

In the field of quantum physics, much is attributed to Albert Einstein, who published in 1905 his special relativity theory. Condensed dramatically, his famous equation, E = mc2 (where ‘E’ is the energy of a particle, ‘m’ is its mass, and ‘c’ the speed of light), prescribes that all matter is just a form of stored potential energy. Thanks to two subsequent developments that became popular in the 20th century – Werner Heisenberg's relativity theory and Erwin Schrödinger's quantum model – the foundational view of modern science has transformed. Today, where you see a still rock, a quantum physicist might see entropy at work, slow decay orchestrated by subatomic particles. Measurement at this level can be either of position or of momentum – never both. This is because all the laws of atomic physics are expressed in terms of probabilities; one can never predict an atomic event with certainty, but only say how likely it is to happen. This means that the observer can no longer be scientifically separated from the observed. This idea has been best expressed by the late American theoretical physicist John Wheeler:

Nothing is more important about the quantum principle than this, that it destroys the concept of the world as ‘sitting out there’, with the observer safely separated from it by a 20 centimeter slab of plate glass. Even to observe so miniscule an object as an electron, he must shatter the glass. He must reach in. He must install his chosen measuring equipment. It is up to him to decide whether he shall measure position or momentum. To install the equipment to measure the one prevents and excludes his installing the equipment to measure the other. Moreover, the measurement changes the state of the electron. The universe will never afterwards be the same. To describe what has happened, one has to cross out that old word ‘observer’ and put in its place the new word ‘participator’. In some strange sense the universe is a participatory universe.

Capra adds:

Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated ‘basic building blocks’, but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitutes the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can only be understood in terms of the object's interaction with the observer.

Relation with Supernormal Abilities

The aspect of quantum physics most relevant to the topics discussed here is the existence of ‘quantum fields’ that are believed to contain information and energy related to every possible thought or action in the universe. According to physicists, at the deepest level, everything is constituted by these mysterious fluid-like substances, and these invisible quantum fields sometimes act like particles and sometimes like waves (based on the measurement technique). They can interact with one another, and some of them can even flow right through us. For generations, scientists debated whether these quantum fields were actually real or simply calculation tools. Currently, however, everybody agrees that they are real for one unambiguous reason: quantum fields carry energy.

This becomes relevant when one considers that every thought and emotion is associated with a specific vibrational frequency which finds reflection in the quantum field. Thus, all our beliefs resonate in the quantum field. Now add to this equation the phenomenon of quantum entanglement: “the phenomenon of entanglement reveals itself at very tiny, subatomic scales. When two particles, such as a pair of photons or electrons, become entangled, they remain connected even when separated by vast distances.” Extrapolating this finding to our macroscopic world, what this could potentially mean is that the individual beliefs that carry sufficient energy (i.e., enough force of intention) could resonate so vibrantly in the quantum field that they could have a cumulative effect at the material level, affecting real objects (and other humans) in the physical world. This could be an explanatory force behind some of the superhuman abilities described in this book, especially ones with strong spatial and temporal connections, such as telekinesis, telepathy, energetic transference, and conscious manifestation of desires. The bottom line is that simply by increasing the quality and frequency of our thoughts and emotions towards a specific outcome, we might be able to create energy ripples in the universe that are strong enough to translate into superhuman abilities at the material level.

In an illustration of this idea, the Japanese scientist Dr. Emoto discovered that water molecules reorder themselves when experienced meditators direct an intention towards them while being in a meditative state. He showed this by freezing the water during the experiment and comparing the ice crystals, just like how tests with vibratory plate with sand on top show different patterns with different vibrations. There is not much disagreement about attention and intention having an impact on this level and scale. What is a subject of debate, however, is whether the effect is material, meaning that it can affect outcomes of events or improve health or be strong enough to transmit information or move matter.

This book contains many examples that could be easily explained if you consider it possible to amplify the effect our minds have on the smallest possible levels. One example involves students in a controlled environment who are able to influence their odds when rolling dice. However, such examples are not evidence. It is not possible to design a replicable test to prove the effect in the way one could test the law of gravity or chemical reactions. The limitation is not a matter of failing the test, but a matter of impossibility of designing such a test. Naturally, there is no scientific proof, and it is up to you to judge whether the mind could potentially affect matter on the physical plane of existence.