"There is only what we create through our engagement
with others and with events... We inhabit a world that is always subjective and
shaped by our interactions with it." ~ Margaret Wheatley, President of The
Berkana Institute, a global charitable leadership foundation
A growing body of scientific evidence in the fields of
physics, systems theory, chaos theory, biology, and psychology explains how and
why vision directly influences both the physical world and our perception of
it.
Science has not definitively identified how vision works,
nor has it found the formula for summoning human desire into existence.
However, much scientific evidence supports the fact that vision influences both
the physical world and our perception of it - even if it doesn't explain
exactly how and why vision works.
There are several scientific theories that support and
describe the mechanics of vision. These theories provide evidence that we are
direct participants in creating reality at a most fundamental level.
1.
Quantum physics supports the notion that reality
is not fixed or determined, but operates based upon potentials and
relationships that we can influence.
2.
Sensitivity to initial conditions, a concept
within the Chaos theory, supports the idea that a small change to a system,
like your vision, can make remarkable and significant changes over time.
3.
Systems theory points out the interconnection
that exists between you and everything that surrounds you. Your vision is a
tool to make you aware of the connections that are most important to bring you
what you desire.
This section is not a scholarly compilation of scientific
ideas, but every attempt has been made to present the views accurately. The
ideas presented here may challenge your worldview of "how things
work." Some of these ideas may be difficult to understand or seem far out,
but I hope you will take away from these articles an increased understanding of
how and why vision works. This will give you greater confidence to use vision
in your life.
Subconscious
Intention
Cybernetics is a branch of science that studies
communication and control in machines and humans. The study of cybernetics in
humans focuses on the functional relationship between the conscious and the
subconscious mind to accomplish goals. A theory within the field of cybernetics
is that the subconscious mind is primarily responsible for guiding us toward
our goals.
Cybernetics suggests that for the subconscious to work in
our favor, we must first consciously program the subconscious with our desire -
our positive vision of a preferred future.
The subconscious mind will then function as a goal-striving
mechanism, automatically taking care of the details that are necessary to bring
us what we desire.
Our subconscious has an important impact on our vision. Once
we consciously intend something, the subconscious mind operates to bring us
what we desire.
The subconscious works the same whether we program it with a
positive or negative vision. If we think that we are a failure, we will become
aware of obstacles that will help us fail. If we tell ourselves that we are
successful, we will notice opportunities to make us successful. The principle
is that simple, but it takes faith to try it.
I "lose the faith" myself from time to time. I
envision things that I do not really want. It is strange that after all that I
have studied and experienced about the positive results of vision, I still
forget to focus on what I want instead of what I don't want. I find myself
focusing on the negative because routines are hard to break. It is sometimes
easier to expect that I will not get what I want than to believe that if I
commit to what I want, I will get it.
Our Influence on
Reality
There are different opinions about whether material reality
is a subjective or objective experience. Material reality is what we experience
as solid around us. A chair, a tree, an apple, a shoe, and a person are all
elements of our material reality.
One view of material reality states that it is objective and
independent of our minds. This view suggests that material reality exists
independently of us, and we are passive players in a game. Another view is that
material reality is an extension of our own minds. This suggests that we are
active participants who influence how material reality is presented around us.
A physics experiment done by Thomas Young, an English
scientist in the nineteenth century, helped reveal the relationship that exists
between material reality and us. The experiment was designed to examine how
subatomic particles of matter, like photons, can be both particles and waves at
the same time. The difference between a particle and a wave is significant. A
particle is a small ball of matter like a marble that makes a concentrated dot
when it hits something. A wave consists of a crest and a trough like a wave of
water that spreads out when it hits something.
The following twentieth-century version of Young's famous
double-slit experiment demonstrated that the experimenter's observation in the
experiment influenced the result in material reality.
The materials in the experiment consisted of a light source
that produced one photon at a time, a barrier with two slits, and a
photon-sensitive plate. The experiment had three phases. In the first phase,
photons were fired one at a time toward the barrier, which had one slit open
and the other shut. With only one slit open, what appeared on the
photon-sensitive plate was a single band of light. This phase of the experiment
demonstrated that a photon is a particle.
In the next phase of the experiment, both slits were open.
After many photons were fired, a series of light and dark bands developed on
the photon-sensitive plate. This pattern indicated that the photon was
functioning as a wave. In this experiment, there appears to be a paradox: the
photon demonstrates properties of both a particle and a wave. This may not make
sense to you, but it has been replicated many times in a laboratory under
strict scientific protocols. What is most important about this experiment is
what happened next.
The third phase of the experiment provided evidence about
how we influence material reality. It was carried out exactly as in phase two
with one difference. The photon device fires one photon at a time with both
slits open. However, in this phase of the experiment, a detector was placed at
the entrance to each of the two slits, observing each photon to determine which
slit the photon went through.
What showed up on the screen behind the two slits were two
distinct bands of light. This is characteristic of a particle pattern. This was
contrary to what should happen. In the preceding experiment, when the experimenter
didn't observe the photon as it was fired at the two-slit barrier, a wave
pattern was detected on the photon screen behind the slits. The experimenter
seemingly changed reality by the act of observing a photon during the
experiment versus looking at the result of the photons hitting the screen. This
phase of the experiment demonstrated that when the experimenter intended the
experiment to be about observing photons as individual particles, the photons
acted as particles.
This is an example of the concept that, in any given moment,
multiple possibilities exist. If our intention is to see a photon as a particle
rather than as a wave, the wave-particle function collapses in favor of our
intention. Once we decide what we want, we collapse all of the other potentials
into a single reality; other potential realities become unlikely, and when we
take action, they vanish. By having intention and making choices, we become
active participants in influencing our reality.
Physicists who have studied the double-slit experiment don't
know how human intervention changes the action of subatomic particles. They can
see the results of the scientists' influence, but they do not know why quantum
particles react differently under the influence of intention. The fact is that
observers become participants in the reality they are observing. There is
interdependence between the observer and material reality.
We have more or less influence on reality, depending on what
we are observing. The larger the mass of the object, the less influence we have
on being able to physically change the object. For example, we can't intend for
a horse to become a rabbit or a car to become a boat. However, quantum physics
does suggest that to some extent we influence reality with our thoughts. We
accomplish this by deciding between the many options that are possible in any
moment.
When you focus your intention on a particular outcome, you
influence material reality. Your vision has the potential to influence reality.
Your vision can create real change that may not seem possible or logical. Being
focused and committed to your vision organizes reality according to your
desired outcome. Trust that your vision will create your desired future, even
though you may not have a rational explanation for why it works.
Vision - Desired
Future Results
"Non-locality" is a principle in quantum physics
that describes how particles of matter influence each other without being in
physical proximity; that is, without physical connection. At the subatomic level,
matter does not always act according to our conventional experience. Vision has
the same attribute, making "non-local" interconnections that break
our paradigm of how reality works. Being an Everyday Visionary is a way to tap
into the non-local phenomenon.
We live in a non-local universe characterized by
superluminal [faster-than-light] connections between apparently 'separate
parts'. This is a reference to John Bell's 1964 theorem, a mathematical proof
that describes the strange connection between seemingly unrelated quantum
phenomena. Bell's theorem suggests that, at a fundamental level, seemingly
separate objects or events are closely and immediately connected. This
connection between things is happening so quickly that we cannot always know or
understand the connection. We don't have to think of or know all of the things
that need to happen to make something go from point A to point B. While these
non-local connections are often subtle and difficult to identify, they exist
without us knowing how.
In the 1930s, Albert Einstein and other prominent physicists
of the twentieth century believed strongly in the principle of locality. They
thought that a quantum entity, such as an electron, in one location could not
influence another quantum particle in a separate location without an exchange
of force or energy. However, experiments by physicists of the time began to
reveal exceptions, in which spatially separated parts in a quantum system
influenced each other instantaneously. Einstein referred to this idea as
"spooky at a distance," and it became known as non-locality.
The following is one of those experiments that demonstrates
non-locality. A property of an electron is that if two electrons are paired,
and one is observed to spin clockwise, the other will spin in the opposite
direction - counterclockwise. Also, the spin of each particle is not determined
until an experimenter measures it. In the experiment, the particles are
separated. When one of the particles is observed as spinning one way the other
particle will spin instantly in the opposite direction. The particle pairs
appear to communicate their spin intention, even when they are separated by
great distance (one particle in New York and the other in Los Angeles). A
connection exists between these particles by non-observable causes over
distance. This experiment demonstrates that spatially separated parts in a
quantum system can influence each other instantaneously.
The quantum physics phenomenon of non-locality provides
evidence for the interconnected nature of reality. When you create a vision,
you become aligned with this instantaneous, non-local connection between where
you are and where you want to go.
Life and Fate
For thousands of years, science, philosophy, and religion
have considered the question, "Do the events in our lives happen because
of fate?" Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, most thinkers
believed that reality was predictable and deterministic.
This deterministic view was based upon the mathematical
theory of Sir Isaac Newton, the philosophy of Rene Descartes, and the
scientific method advocated by Francis Bacon. Their contributions, along with
the general conception of reality during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, created the framework for classical physics.
Isaac Newton postulated that every particle in the universe
reacts and interacts according to the same basic laws. Despite the complexity
of how reality appears, he asserted that matter was reducible to fundamental
building blocks and that reality operated as a clockwork universe. This view
still influences how people today think about their ability to affect the
future.
Newton's classical physics offered a way to break the
physical world down into parts. Classical physics provided the basis for
organizing the physical world into meaningful patterns that provide practical
applications for science. It was simple, and it seemed to work.
The quantum physics revolution in the 1920s introduced a
different way of understanding reality. Quantum physics asserts that certain
things about reality are not determined. Aspects of reality are dynamic and
operate organically.
Some facets of reality - including most of the visible world
- are best described as having probable outcomes. Quantum physics opened the
door to subjectivity, or human influence, on fundamental parts of reality.
Quantum physicists have many well-documented scientific experiments
demonstrating that we can influence reality at the level of subatomic
particles.
A classical physicist might explain reality this way: If you
do this ‘thing’, then that ‘thing’ will happen. It's absolute. A classical
physicist would try to take anything complex and reduce it to its parts. At the
macro (large) level of reality, this is helpful. For example, we can use
classical physics to build bridges, cars, or buildings, and go to the moon.
Classical physics suggests that at the macro level you can create anything if
you can break down the parts that go into it.
On the other hand, a quantum physicist might explain reality
this way: "If this ‘thing’ happens, then it is highly probable that that
‘thing’ will happen." At the micro (very small; subatomic) level, reality
is more organic and relative. Quantum physics states that not everything is
predetermined by its preceding action as Newton suggested. Quantum mechanics
views reality as an organic system that is constantly reorganizing itself based
upon new input into the system. According to this view, reality is not
pre-determined, and you can influence it. Your vision has the power to
influence and organize reality into the future that you most desire.
Intentions and the
Physical World
"The stream of knowledge is heading towards a
non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought
than like a machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into
the realm of matter ... we ought to rather hail it as the creator and governor
of the realm of matter." ~ Sir James Hopwood Jeans
Since the 1960s, researchers have conducted many experiments
to determine whether a person's unspoken intentions can influence the physical
world. These experiments provide scientific data that supports the idea that a
person's intention can influence simple random events in a laboratory setting.
Let's examine how our intentions interact directly with the
physical world.
An experiment that tests for the influence of intention on
the physical world uses a Random Event Generator (REG). This computer, in
essence, generates an electronic flip of the coin, producing zeros and ones at
random. The REG is a way to do a large number of trials efficiently and
objectively. If this binary event generator is used over many control trials,
it will produce 50 percent zeros and 50 percent ones.
One standard REG experiment is to ask subjects to press a
button on the REG that will produce a significant number of information bits -
zeros or ones in this case. Before they press the button, the subjects are
asked to intend for the machine to produce either more zeros or more ones.
The accumulated results of these experiments done over time
suggest that the machine is influenced by the subject's intention: for example,
if a subject intends for the machine to generate more ones, that is what the
machine will do. If the person intends the machine to produce more zeros, the
machine will turn out more zeros. The increased number of ones or zeros that a
subject can intend the REG to produce is small, but significant and not due to
chance.
The REG experiments offer compelling scientific evidence
that you can influence the physical world with your thoughts. Being visionary
is a way to focus your thoughts to influence reality toward what you desire.
Back to Vision
Chaos theory is an area of science that explains the
underlying order in seemingly disordered and random systems. "Sensitivity
to initial conditions" is a concept within chaos theory that provides
support for how and why our vision influences what may seem like a randomly
operating reality.
Until the twentieth century, Newton's philosophy of
determinism influenced Western thought: If you knew the cause, you would know
the effect, and vice versa. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
scientists began to challenge this deterministic view.
A physicist named Henri Poincare was interested in
mathematical equations that described the motion of the planets around the Sun.
He found that even the smallest change in the initial formula caused
significant changes in the results. The extreme "sensitivity to initial
conditions" that Poincare discovered in the systems he was studying became
known as "dynamic instability," which led to the term
"chaos."
Chaos theory evolved further in the 1960s when a meteorologist
named Edward Lorenz found a discrepancy in the results of a software program he
wrote for a weather forecasting model. He found that microscopic changes in the
initial software formula caused significantly different results in his weather
forecasts. This principle became known as the "butterfly effect."
The butterfly effect is another way to represent the concept
of sensitivity to initial conditions. This principle suggests that the flap of
a butterfly's wings in one part of the world can influence whether or not a
storm arises at a later time in another part of the world. The flap of a
butterfly's wings causes a small change in the initial conditions of a system
that leads to a chain of events, significantly divergent from what the system
would have done had that small change not happened.
There are many different systems: the weather, the body of
government, the human body, and the whole reality that surrounds us. Chaos
theory asserts that small changes introduced into a system can cause dramatic
effects in the system.
Imagine getting into your car after a shopping trip. You
realize that you have lost your key. Not having the key for the ignition is a
small change with a large impact. The car system will not work. You wait for an
hour in the rain for a bus, but it never arrives. Later, you find out that the
bus ran over a nail and got a flat tire. That small nail made a big difference
in the bus schedule. When you finally arrive home, dripping wet and three hours
late, you flip on a light switch - and the light does not work. A bolt of
lightning hit a pole by your house and knocked out the power. A bolt of
lightning is a random event that, in the right place, can wreak havoc with the
electrical system. All of these small changes had a dramatic effect on what
would normally be certain and predictable results.
These concepts are powerful because they suggest you can
influence a seemingly complex system by introducing a small change to the
system. One small change can make remarkable and significant changes over time.
You might feel that your life is on a certain and
predictable path. This leads you to believe that you can't change this path and
create a different life. However, by creating a vision and consciously making
it a part of your reality, you make a change to the systems of which you are a
part. Your vision is the small change that begins a cascade of effects. You can
use your vision to influence the system you are in - your current reality - in
your preferred direction.
Back to How do we Influence
our Reality?
"Everything in the universe is interconnected. It is
like a spider web. If you touch one part of the web, the entire web shimmers.
We live in one integrated ecosystem." ~ Matthew Flickstein
You are a part of many systems, such as work, family, and
your community. Several ideas will be presented here that will help you to be
happier and more successful within the systems in which you live.
The term "holistic" has emerged in the vocabulary
of many areas of science. In the scientific view, systems consist of elements
that are in mutual interaction. Systems theory provides a framework to
understand the concept of "wholeness" and the interrelated quality of
reality.
Everything is in relationship to everything else - events in
the social and physical realms that seem unrelated are in fact connected. As
human beings, we are not separate but subtly connected to each other and
everything in the world. Vision taps into this web of reality to create the
life we want. A vision acts similar to the connection between magnetic north
and the magnetized needle in a compass. Vision (like magnetic north) possesses
extraordinary attraction to draw energy and resources (the magnetized needle)
toward it.
Your vision organizes the complex connections necessary to
bring about your desire. A vision increases awareness of the connection between
individual parts that you can link together into your desired future. Moreover,
a vision does this without your managing or even understanding the complexity
that brings about what you desire.
From the systems point of view, we influence and are
influenced by reality through a concept referred to as "feedback
loops." Creating a vision and referring to it regularly is a feedback
loop. When you create a vision that inspires you to take action, your actions
have results that give you feedback. You can use this feedback to engage new
actions.
We typically refer to feedback as either
"negative" or "positive," but positive and negative are
labels rather than facts about the feedback itself. If you are not making the
progress you want toward your desired vision, evaluate your current situation
instead of focusing on feedback as either positive or negative. Become an
observer rather than a participant of past and present events. This requires
you to step back from the situation and look objectively and freshly at the
information that surrounds you. Later, you can input this feedback into your
actions by making choices.
It can also be helpful to become an observer when things are
working well. This positive feedback gives you information about what actions
work. Positive feedback provides encouragement and motivation to continue
toward the vision.
The smallest change builds upon itself, moving you closer to
the results you want. This is described as: "Whatever movement occurs is
amplified, producing more movement in the same direction. A small action
snowballs, with more and more and still more of the same, resembling compounding
interest." In a reinforcing feedback loop, it is important that you keep
in mind your desired future reality so that your efforts continue to compound
in the direction of your vision.
While there is movement within a feedback system, there are
also delays. A delay is an interruption between actions and results. This is
why continually referring to your vision is so important. Your vision is a
guiding statement that can keep you on track during the delay between the
current and future reality. The vision helps temper you, focusing your thoughts
on the long-term, so that you don't over-react or under-react to daily events.
By referring regularly to your vision as a guiding
statement, you focus and refocus your efforts toward your priorities. When you
remind yourself of your vision, it energizes your efforts. You reaffirm why you
started the journey in the first place.
Step back from time to time, and observe your journey. As
the observer, you can notice feedback that you can input into your journey toward
your vision. Referring to the vision, becoming the observer, and using feedback
are ways to maintain your momentum toward your desired outcome.
Feedback Loop
A feedback loop is a cycle of cause and effect
relationships. Cause leads to effect, and effect leads to another cause, and so
on. Your vision is the starting point of a feedback loop.
There are many examples of feedback loops in our lives. Take
the example of a teacher's expectation for students' academic achievement. At
the beginning of a term, a teacher may have the expectation (vision) that some
students are high achievers and will advance to a greater academic degree than
other students. This is the beginning of a feedback loop for those students'
academic performance.
Throughout the term, the teacher will consciously or
unconsciously refer back to the expectation, "this is a high
achiever," when interacting with students. The teacher will initiate
actions that may cause students to think and act in ways that reinforce the teacher's
original expectation. This will result in more actions by the teacher, causing
a feedback loop in the direction of the original expectation. By the end of the
term, it is likely that the students who were expected to be high achievers
will in fact be more advanced academically than the students whom the teacher
did not envision as high achievers.
This example illustrates how an expectation can positively
influence the flow of cause and effect events in a feedback loop. Vision sets
the flow of actions-results-actions in motion.
Let
me narrate a scenario that illustrates the practical uses of feedback loops in
overcoming obstacles. Let’s say, we (five friends) are on a backcountry ski
trip in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The five of us set out on our
adventure, intending to climb a mountain and ski down through fresh, untracked
Colorado powder. We also have other, short-term visions for the day: not
getting injured or buried in an avalanche, having fun, exercising, and enjoying
each other's company in the outdoors.
Our
destination is a 10K+ foot mountain that would fulfill our desire for great
skiing. We start our journey on a designated trail that meanders through the
woods. After about a mile, we consult our map and head off the trail toward the
mountain that would provide our downhill turns. After forty minutes of slogging
up through the trees, we are not where we wanted to be. We gather to discuss
our situation.
When
orienteering in the mountains, feedback comes in many forms. We use a map, a
compass, an altimeter and our most recent addition, a handheld GPS receiver.
These tools give us feedback about our position in the environment. We also
share our own feedback from the environment, such as the weather conditions and
topography that we experience along the way, as well as our own physical
conditions. Combining all this is important to the process of moving toward our
desired destination (vision) when traveling in the backcountry.
In
this case, our orienteering feedback tools indicate that we are off-course. We
are encountering interruptions and delays as we move toward our vision. We
express our disappointment and are concerned about putting in extra energy and
fear we might even be lost.
We
then exchange feedback with each other. We decide to change our route but continue
toward our original destination. We recommit to our vision of reaching the top
of the mountain and skiing down it. We continue to get feedback from our new
route and remain on course. This feedback reinforces our confidence in our
orienteering skills and use of equipment, and motivates us to keep moving
toward our vision.
By
revisiting the original vision and taking in feedback from the environment and
ourselves, we neither under-react nor over-react to such obstacles as getting
off course. We are able to adjust our route, refocus our energies, and take
action toward our desired outcome.
We
reach the summit of the mountain sooner than we have anticipated. We feel
exuberant to have overcome obstacles along the way and to have reached our
goal. Had we not revisited our vision and used the feedback from the
environment and ourselves along the way, we might have really gotten lost and
put ourselves in danger - and we might not have reached our exhilarating goal.
As an Everyday Visionary, you will always encounter
obstacles and delays as you move toward your short or long-term vision.
Observing feedback, inputting new information into your actions and connecting
to your vision will help you flow with setbacks, instead of feeling stuck or
frustrated, as you move toward your desired outcome. These are important tools
that will help bring your dreams to life.
Ways to overcome obstacles on your journey:
·
Quantum physics supports the notion that reality
is not fixed or determined, but operates based upon potentials and
relationships that we can influence.
·
Sensitivity to initial conditions, a concept
within the Chaos theory, supports the idea that a small change to a system,
like your vision, can make remarkable and significant changes over time.
·
Systems theory points out the interconnection
that exists between you and everything that surrounds you. Your vision is a
tool to make you aware of the connections that are most important to bring you
what you desire.
Conclusions
This is
the last article of series but, I cannot say for sure that I am not going to
add more articles as there is always a possibility that something could turn up
in my research in future.
It’s
been an incredible journey these past few months while putting these articles
together. The reader’s response is overwhelming which provided the much needed
impetus to successfully completing the project. I had originally intended to
write about 14 or 15 articles with the research material that I had gathered
but, the interactions with colleagues and audiences resulted in expanding the
scope of the topic and eventually ended up with 22 articles so far.
I would
like to extend my gratitude to numerous friends and interesting suggestions from
a number of readers that has helped me not only in maintaining my desire to
complete the project but also producing a scholarly work that business leaders
may want to practice the concepts presented in here.
As part of concluding this series, I would like to share an
ancient Chinese story about a rainmaker who was hired to bring rain to a
parched part of China. The rainmaker came in a covered cart, a small, wizened,
old man who sniffed the air with obvious disgust as he got out of his cart, and
asked to be left alone in a cottage outside the village; even his meals were to
be left outside the door.
Nothing was heard from him for three days, then it not only
rained, but there was also a big downfall of snow, unknown at that time of the
year. Very much impressed, the villagers sought him out and asked him how he
could make it rain, and even snow. The rainmaker replied, “I have not made the
rain or the snow; I am not responsible for it.” The villagers insisted that
they had been in the midst of a terrible drought until he came, and then after
three days, they even had quantities of snow.
“Oh, I can explain that. You see, the rain and snow were
always here. But as soon as I got here, I saw that your minds were out of order
and that you had forgotten how to see. So I remained here until you could once again
see what was always there right before your eyes.”
It is my hope that the ideas and strategies presented in
these articles will show you how to look for different ways to think about your
problems. When you do that, you will rethink the way you see things and, you,
like the Chinese villagers, will see what is right before your eyes.
Enjoy your connections!
Namaste!
