the science of intent, aka the Force

[tantric]

i got this book at random from a free book pile, called the Intention Experiment. it's about whether or not focused attention can change reality in a testable way. it claims to have scientific proof, but i'm still in the first chapter. now understand, i did 3 years worth of phd study in ecology and epidemiology, both hard sciences, with a focus on mathematical modelling. i *love* science, but science isn't some dogma that explains how the universe works so there's no mystery and everything is explained. that's science-as-religion and it's not the right way to go about it. see, before i was a scientist, i was a crazy psychedelic swilling street shaman. at one point i got heavily addicted to morphine, then methadone. when i quit, i used an experimental technique i devised from things i read on JSTOR and it worked - instead of withdrawal, i had religious visions and afterwards i had no urge to use at all. in that vision, my avatar, who was then painted on my closet door, came to me and healed me. he said, tomorrow you're going to want to rationalize what's happening here. that's what rationalizing does, it explains things away so you don't have to worry about them anymore. but just because you can rationalize anything, doesn't mean that irrational things never happen.

so, i didn't. i accepted it for what it was, while, at the same time, knowing that i'd cured my addiction by chemically signalling the part of my brain that processes religion and awe. it's both - the thing *happened*, what words i use for it don't change that. it's not scientific to be unwilling to admit you don't know an answer, or that in all likelihood, you'll never know. that's mystery, and that's what most scientists love about the universe.

my life experiences teach me that i can flat out use the force but i know that that's batshit insane. but...it works. it has to be something random that other people aren't aware of or at least concerned about. i can 'push' and things go my way. i have to be in the right state of mind, which means completely free from addiction and dopaminergic drugs and behaviors, including eating junk food. it should be part of the path, walking in the light and being a good person. also, i'm VERY prone to coincidences. yesterday while planting some basil, i realized that the piece of rebar i was using as a stake wasn't enough....but while digging the first hole, i dug up another, and i *know* i didn't put it there. yes, that was a random coincidence...if you want to rationalize it. i thanked the earth instead. that book on the force? my friend picked it at random from a free book kiosk on the street while making a donation - he handed it to me and said, now you've got a book, but you don't have to read it. i didn't even look at it, but i said, yes, i do have to, it came to me - and it's about the mf force. dammit. this shit gets creepy sometimes.

so, does anybody know of any real research that's been done of the subject? i read about double blind prayer-heals studies and they found nothing significant, as i recall.

 

[herbavore]

I have used what could be called the force of intention in my own mind to change the "reality" of pain (extreme pain), i.e. how I experienced the physical sensations. Other than those experiences, which have been quite astounding, I have never experienced an ability to focus my intention or mind-force that had any observable results. All the studies that I have seen have focused on the effect of "distant prayer" for people undergoing surgeries or suffering grave illnesses. While some studies support an unexplained effect, the language they use and the conclusions they draw are somewhat troubling to me as they are used to support the role of organized religion rather than spirituality.

What I would love to see before I leave this planet is one day in which people from every nation agree to sit in meditation on peace. What if that one day became a day every month, every week? Imagine the power of that. A day where the intention of a large part of the species stilled their minds, quieted the chatter of their own lives and focused on peace for every living thing. I don't even need a study to tell me what effect that would have. We have a collective mind that we ignore at great peril to life on earth. We spin around in our own small spheres letting them become huge and singularly important in our perception. We are constantly forming unconscious agreements collectively (like "war is inevitable" "it is human nature to be greedy and to seek power") but what if we formed agreements intentionally ("everything we create must be aimed at peace and balance"). Our imagination is our most powerful human ability. In a fear-based world this has become a dangerous thing.

 

[tantric]

i can cure hiccoughs. you sit facing me with your hands out flat above mine, palm to palm but not touching. then look at my eyes while i do a guided meditation: in-with-good-Brahma, hold-the-power-Krishna, destroy-the-old-Shiva....three cycles and it stops and people freak out, but its natural. and i've cured pain, though i'm not sure how much was drugs (if carpenter bee/bumble bee stings your finger, should 10mg hydrocodone make it completely vanish in 5mins?) and other little things, but its mostly outside. it's also a DXM thing.