If there’s one idea that is at the core of all motivational, self-help, or New Age teachings, it’s that we can influence reality with our minds.
The ancient phrasing, as attributed to the esoteric teachings inscribed in the fabled Emerald Tablet — is that which is above is like (to) that which is below, and that which is below is like (to) that which is above, or, as we say it nowadays, as above so below.
We throw phrases and aphorisms around like this as if they were irrefutable universal laws, even though we may not always be able to demonstrate and verify them like we can the physical Laws of Motion, Gravitation, Thermal Dynamics, and Conservation of Energy, Mass, Matter and Momentum.
Another such saying that often gets thrown around is “perception is reality.” Being a promoter by nature, and working at times in a marketing job, I understand what it means, but I still have cause to dispute it. Perception is the reality of the perceiver. It may be my reality or your reality, but does that constitute reality, as in the truth?
All these ideas and sayings flashed through my mind while reading an article in the science news, describing a study by a team of German researchers, which proves that our perception of reality is determined by our thoughts.
It described an experiment in which the researchers touched the index finger of test participants with two needles simultaneously. When the needles were far enough apart, the subjects were easily able to distinguish the two points of contact, but when the needles were moved closer together, there came a point at which the participants could only feel it as one needle.
Repeated testing showed that the distance at which the sensation goes from two needles to one, which they call the “sensation threshold,” is consistent for each person, from one day to the next.
The researchers then wanted to see if they could change the sensation threshold by changing the person’s thoughts. They did this by bringing in a professional hypnotist who managed to convince each participant that their index finger was either five times larger or five times smaller than it actually is.
When they thought their finger was bigger, their sense of touch improved and the sensation threshold decreased; and when they thought their finger was smaller, their sense of touch worsened, and the threshold distance increased.
When they were hypnotized and not given a command of a bigger or smaller finger, their sensation threshold remained the same, thus proving that the beliefs held by the subjects determined their perception.
We see this principle play out in social settings all the time. People calling the cops because there’s a Black man, and he’s big and strong and dangerous and threatening, when in reality he’s likely just average size and strength and going about his own business — maybe just birdwatching in Central Park.
The reality in the experiment is that there were always two needles, never just one, which for me provides further credence to the dissenting voice that says perception is not reality. It’s our experience of reality.
There’s not just one reality, or maybe there’s only one, but there are myriad ways to experience it. It can be hot in one place and cold in another, sunny on your block, while raining just across the highway. In this sense, reality is local and personal.
The impoverished refugee fleeing bombing and violence experiences a very different reality than a wealthy retiree lounging on a beach somewhere. But even on the road of flight, there are those who still can smile and sing and dance, and on that beach there are those who shed tears of sadness.
We may be tempted to attribute reality to our circumstances, but this experiment reminds us that our thoughts can alter our experience of the world. Isn’t that really what we mean when we talk about changing reality?
Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, efforts to develop alternative sources of energy, such as solar, wind, water and hydrogen, were consistently and continually quashed, judged and declared to be too expensive in comparison to coal, gas …
A guy they refer to as “The Godfather of Artificial Intelligence” recently quit his job at Google so he could speak freely about the dangers of the technology, which he helped create.
Some might think it a simple bout of emotionalism on my part, wishful thinking or an illusory flight of fancy, but I think that if the whole universe can appear in a flash out of nowhere from a spontaneous explosion …
