TABLE of CONTENTS
[click on any heading]
Foreward and Overview
A growing number of people are discussing collective consciousness
and wisdom. When I first published an article about these topics in
19921, my literature
search turned up only one line of related scientific research, begun
in 1979, regarding the social effects of “unified field”
consciousness, accessed through group practice of transcendental meditation
(TM).2 A
year later, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab
began studying how focused group intention and attention – or
“field consciousness” -- brought order to random computer
output. In 1995, Roger Nelson and Dean Radin began researching similar
effects that occurred when mass attention was captured by events like
the O.J. Simpson trial. In 1998, the Fetzer Institute and the Institute
of Noetic Sciences (IONS) co-sponsored two national dialogues exploring
group consciousness and synergy, which my wife, Julie Glover, organized.
Fetzer published a report, Centered on the Edge: Mapping a Field
of Collective Intelligence and Spiritual Wisdom, three years later,
and supported creation of this website in 2002. The following year Rupert
Sheldrake published a book about “extended mind”, and IONS
and the Association for Global New Thought co-sponsored the first conference
on collective wisdom, which was attended by 2,500 participants. When
I did an Internet search regarding collective consciousness in October
2003, I got more than 64,000 hits. In its May-July, 2004 issue, What
Is Enlightenment? magazine ran a feature article on collective
consciousness. Clearly, the topic has been increasingly infiltrating
our social discourse.
Is There Scientific Evidence? If
more and more people are talking about collective consciousness, is
there any scientific evidence to back it up? Yes – and that’s
important. Rigorous science helps us avoid the fuzzy thinking and unquestioned
assumptions that too often characterize spiritual and New Age discussions.
Moreover, science may ultimately introduce mainstream society to collective
consciousness and demonstrate how it can benefit us all.
Over the past 12 years, I’ve studied a good deal of intriguing
research about collective consciousness. It suggests that we influence
each other in many subtle, yet powerful ways, and that our collective
wisdom and creativity can be harnessed for the common good much more
than we do presently.
Moving Around This Document. This
Foreword and Overview will give you some brief examples of the research.
If you want to delve into the research in greater detail, you can explore
the longer paper that follows. If you click on a link in the Overview,
it will take you to the corresponding section of the in-depth paper.
It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive – perhaps the only
-- survey of the research on collective consciousness available today.
It represents my perspective on collective consciousness, based upon
my thinking and experience working with collective wisdom in teams and
organizations over more than 30 years. Finally, the paper’s endnotes
will allow you in many cases to link to the original research.
We have also provided additional ways for you to find the sections
of the paper that are most interesting to you. You can click on the
links in the Table of Contents,
above.
We will cover a lot of ground in this paper, addressing a number of
crucial issues involved in the scientific study of collective consciousness:
- Defining collective consciousness clearly and operationally,
in a manner that allows us to conduct effective scientific research;
- Beginning to outline a model of individual and
social development, and to develop a theory and testable hypotheses
regarding collective consciousness, so we can conduct research that
is rigorous, disciplined, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and grounded
in human experience and development;
- Drawing upon theory and research regarding consciousness,
fields, subtle energies and tele-prehension, that suggest possible
explanatory mechanisms for collective consciousness; and
- Examining some of the possible implications of
building collective consciousness, based upon the research, in terms
of physical, emotional and mental healing, strengthening and sustaining
our organizations and communities, and facilitating learning and creative
collaboration.
Before moving into the body of the paper, let me briefly summarize
the main areas of research and potential benefits that I will later
address in detail:
What Is Collective
Consciousness? Collective consciousness
is a mode of awareness that emerges at the first transpersonal stage
of consciousness, when our identities expand beyond our egos. A crucial
capacity that accompanies this awareness is the ability to intuitively
sense and work with the interactions between our and others’ energy
fields, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. For example,
just as Gene Rodenberry imagined a future where Star Trek’s
Spock could “mind meld” with others, more of us are now
becoming aware of our capacity not only to intuit each other’s
thoughts and emotions, but also to consciously think and create together
without communicating through our five senses.
The Role of Energy Fields.
Most of the researchers below postulate that energy fields
explain the effects of consciousness. Fields are regions of influence.
Examples include gravitational, electric and magnetic fields. Although
invisible, we have learned how to measure these fields. Some of the
research I will now describe, however, indicates that another type of
field may be associated with collective consciousness.
Psi or Tele-prehension.
Psi is extra-sensory perception or influence, perhaps made possible
by the apparent ability of consciousness to operate beyond the constraints
of space and time. Examples include telepathy and remote viewing. The
existence of psi (or tele-prehension, as Ken Wilber calls it) has been
convincingly demonstrated in a large number of scientific studies, carried
out by Marilyn Schlitz, Dean Radin and others. For example, in a number
of remote-viewing experiments people have described a distant location
to which another individual has been sent, with a statistically significant
degree of accuracy, well beyond chance levels. As in other psi experiments,
pairs who had an emotional bond have obtained the strongest results.
These findings suggest that building a sense of connection and trust
in groups may allow members to access and understand each other's perspectives
more readily, to “see through each other’s eyes.”
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake and others have conducted a number of ingenious
experiments that show that psi abilities are widespread, even in animals.
For example, using synchronized video cameras in dog owners’ homes
and workplaces, he has proven that dogs go to the front doors of their
homes to wait, as soon as their owners decide to return home from work,
even though those times are varied daily. Sheldrake, Radin and others
have conducted many other telepathy experiments, showing that people
can sense the thoughts and intentions of others across space and time.
Through tele-prehension, the members of a group may be able to read
each other’s minds and engage in a non-sensory, creative, mental
interplay.
Facilitated Learning
and Creativity. Sheldrake has
also demonstrated that we can assist each other’s learning across
distances. In one of a number of studies, a group completed a newly
created crossword puzzle. It was then broadcast to millions via TV,
for them to complete. Subsequently, a new group, that had not seen the
puzzle, finished it significantly faster than the original group. If
we extrapolate from individual to group effects, these results imply
that a team may be able to help other teams to develop cognitively and
creatively, without any external interaction. Systems theorist Ervin
Laszlo has suggested that such findings may also explain cultural synchronicity
in times past, where a discovery or creative renaissance in one culture
appeared within relatively short timeframes in other cultures around
the world, despite an absence of communication.
The Creation of
Order or Coherence. Radin, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies
Research (PEAR) Lab, and Roger Nelson’s Global Consciousness Project
have conducted many other intriguing experiments with random-number-generating
(RNG) computers. RNGs are programmed to issue zeroes or ones randomly,
so that each
number eventually appears 50% of the time. Ordinary people, however,
have used intention to create order out of this randomness, causing
RNGs that were sometimes thousands of miles away, to issue significantly
more of one number over many trials. Bonded pairs – couples in
a relationship – produced effects that were six times stronger
than individuals. Like the remote viewing experiments, these results
indicate that people with an emotional connection, when acting in concert,
are more influential than individuals acting alone.
Groups also produce stronger results than individuals. For example,
even when only the attention of groups has been captured by
high-interest events, the RNG effects have been three times greater
than individual-intention results -- despite the fact that
the groups were unaware of the RNGs and therefore did not intend to
influence their output. When groups of people meditated together –
a practice that creates even greater focus by synchronizing members’
brain waves – the effect of their coherent attention
was six times greater than the individual-intention results.
Finally, during certain events that have captured mass attention, such
as Princess Diana’s death and the 9/11 tragedies, the combined
output of 60 RNGs around the world has significantly deviated from chance.
These results suggest that focused collective attention or intention
can create significant order in otherwise random and chaotic reality.
It is precisely this effect – the transformation of randomness
into coherence -- that underlies insight, learning, healing and creative
manifestation.
Interpersonal
and Collective Entrainment. Just as we can create order in
physical systems through focused attention or intention, a number of
experiments have suggested that two or more people can create synchronization
or coherence between their nervous systems. For example, Marilyn Schlitz,
William Braud and others have shown that calm individuals can intentionally
reduce the anxiety of others in distant places, and that focused people
can help others in remote locations to concentrate their attention.
These effects may be explained by other studies, including those conducted
by a non-profit organization, HeartMath, and by researchers at Bastyr
University/University of Washington Consciousness Research Lab. Even
when participants were in separate rooms, their heart and brain waves
became synchronized or entrained, when they had close living or working
relationships, or when they felt appreciation, care, empathy, or love
toward each other. When people meditated together, their alpha brain
waves entrained. And when people were able to internally entrain their
own personal heart and brain waves, they caused the heart and brain
waves of other individuals to entrain with theirs. Entrainment appears
to increase attention, to produce feelings of calm and deep connection,
and to facilitate tele-prehension of each other’s sensations,
emotions, images, thoughts and intuitions. Like Sheldrake’s facilitated
learning experiments, these findings have significant implications,
since chronic stress is a key cause of physical and emotional illness,
and since enhanced attention greatly improves learning and creativity.
Distance Healing.
In another arena – distance healing -- 67% of 150 controlled studies
have shown that individuals and groups can use intention, relaxation,
enhanced concentration, visualization, and a request to a healing force
greater than themselves, to heal others to a statistically significant
degree.
Improved Quality of
Life, Peace and Social Health. On community, societal and
even worldwide levels, more than 20 experiments, published in respected
scientific journals, have demonstrated that Transcendental Meditation
groups, representing 1% of a target population, have caused significant
improvements in social indicators of quality of life, health and mental
health, and have reduced crime, accidents, conflict and war, apparently
by reducing stress in the corresponding population.
Promoting the Common Good.
These and other studies provide strong evidence that, given
certain conditions, we can develop and work with our collective consciousness
to produce a number of important interpersonal, organizational and social
benefits: increased empathy, compassion, understanding, respect, appreciation
and rapport; greater cooperation, creative collaboration, teamwork and
collective wisdom; and enhanced well-being, peace, and physical, emotional,
mental and spiritual health. In our increasingly diverse workplaces,
communities and global institutions, where we are challenged by extremely
complex problems, developing these capacities will not only promote
the common good, but could also ensure our survival.
The Focus of This Paper
How I and you enter into a “we”, and
how you – as an alien object or “it” – become
a “thou”, in a circle of understanding and care, is an
extraordinary mystery. A “we” seems to hold the heart
of the Kosmos3
hidden in its embrace.
–
Ken Wilber4
I have written this paper in order to give scientists and laypeople
alike an overview of the possibilities offered by science and the wisdom
traditions, in terms of investigating and understanding the phenomenon
of collective consciousness. It is alternately referred to as group,
shared, correlated, field, ecological, global, cosmic, or Kosmic consciousness,
although these terms are not always used in the same way. In many instances,
the various terms reflect ever-widening circles of identity and care,
which are correlated with deeper and deeper levels of consciousness.
I have not focused upon collective wisdom for the most part,
since I believe it is necessary to begin with consciousness, which precedes
wisdom, in attempting to conduct a research program. Apart from some
of my own action research, I have not found any research studies on
collective wisdom per se. Nonetheless, much of the
theory and research described in this paper will indirectly apply to
collective wisdom. I do not mean to imply that collective wisdom cannot
be the focus of research. For a discussion of collective wisdom, please
consult my papers listed in endnote 5, especially
those after 2001, including the paper on this website, Calling
Out Our Potential: Developing Collective Wisdom and Team Synergy.
I have organized this summary according to various lines of research
and practice. In each section, I propose one or more intriguing and
important questions, which might help us to study and understand collective
consciousness. I also provide links for readers who wish to pursue some
of the information in greater detail. I have placed these links in the
endnotes, so that I would not clutter or complicate the main text.
Due to space limitations, I will not be able to describe the work of
some of the individuals or organizations that have conducted research
in the research areas described below. Rather, I have referenced those
whose work I believe to be central and critical to the research area.
Although I periodically mention critiques and problems, space limitations
prevented me from discussing these critiques in detail. Finally, I cannot
cover all the arenas of potentially relevant research. For example,
the extensive research regarding intergroup relations and regarding
teamwork would be very productive areas to explore. My overall intention,
rather, is to provide references that will allow readers to consider
the debates and controversies in greater detail and to engage in dialogue
through this website. If you would like to obtain addition information
regarding relevant researchers, whether cited here or not, please consult
the articles, chapters, audiocassettes, and book that I have published
regarding collective consciousness.5
A number of researchers are now investigating collective consciousness
per se,6
or phenomena that may be related. I will refer to the key theorists
and researchers below. I recently interviewed or corresponded with most
of them (about 20 individuals), to discuss their latest thinking and
questions regarding collective consciousness. I also updated my knowledge
of the field by reading a number of the latest articles and books. As
a result, this paper should give you a fairly comprehensive overview
of research that may be relevant to understanding collective consciousness.
I realize that the research questions I have presented will have to
be explored in a certain order and over at least the next 20 to 30 years.
If one examines the history of the propagation of novel ideas and phenomena,
pioneers can wait decades before their ideas enter the mainstream and
become eligible for research funding. My hope is that this paper will
stimulate interest in research regarding collective consciousness and
wisdom. In my conversations with the researchers doing pioneering work
in these arenas, one theme emerged consistently: they believe, as I
do, that learning to develop collective wisdom may prove extremely helpful
in dealing with the complex social and cultural issues that we face
as a globe.
The Strengths and Limits of Science
I am delighted that this website is opening a dialogue with the scientific
and academic communities regarding collective consciousness. Scientific
inquiry can bring disciplined thinking to the exploration of any phenomenon,
can unearth unexamined assumptions and beliefs, and can clarify confusing,
redundant, and unnecessarily complex terminology and concepts. When
novel ideas begin to spread through societies, they often progress from
the original innovators and pioneers to the academic and scientific
communities. By bringing rigor and discipline to the study of collective
consciousness, these communities can help build bridges to organizational
and community leaders who might otherwise dismiss the phenomenon out
of hand. If scientific investigation validates the reality of collective
consciousness and its effects in society, the phenomenon will begin
to receive serious, more widespread and mainstream consideration and
application over the next 10 to 50 years. If the potential benefits
of collective consciousness are demonstrated, in areas such as creativity,7
leadership,8
health and mental health,9
problem solving,10
and sustainability,11
these aspects of our lives may well be transformed and the common good12
may be advanced significantly.
On the other hand, traditional science may be limited in its ability
to examine all aspects of collective wisdom. As Ken Wilber has noted,13
science excels in examining sensory experience (via empiric-analytic
science) and phenomena that can be understood through reason, logic
and concepts (via phenomenological philosophy and psychology). Understanding
some aspects of collective consciousness, however, may require the practice
of contemplation and meditation, and access to knowledge via gnosis,
i.e., direct knowing or realization, which is transrational, translogical
and transmental. Such experiences have been elucidated by the world’s
wisdom traditions.
In the last case, scientific rigor may still be brought to bear (and
speculative, often culturally conditioned metaphysics14
avoided), since claims can still be tested through the essential components
of all forms of knowledge validation, including review and consensual
proof by a community of trained peers who have practiced the specific
approach being used (in this case, introspective phenomenology). Nonetheless,
to the degree that the study of collective consciousness requires examination
of the higher developmental stages of human consciousness, and the direct
experience of Spirit, or infinite, nondual Emptiness, that experience
can only be expressed by poetry and metaphor, not by finite and dualistic
categorizations and descriptions.
Einstein warned us that science without religion is blind and that
religion without science is lame. Since the split has always appeared
nonsensical and strange to me, I have chosen to use Wilber’s integrative
model as a framework for discussing the research and wisdom traditions
presented.
The Challenge of Clear Definition
If we want to approach collective consciousness scientifically, we
must first develop a clear definition of what we believe it uniquely
is, based upon our experience and observation. For me even to write
this paper, I have had to do so. Otherwise, I cannot suggest the areas
of research that may be relevant and fruitful.
It is not unusual to find conceptual unclarity and confusion when
the dimensions of a phenomenon are first being explored. But if we wish
to observe and measure relevant variables, conduct methodologically
sound research, and develop findings and conclusions that are valid
and reliable, then we must define collective consciousness in a way
that is clear, that is as simple and parsimonious as possible, and that
can be operationalized (i.e., contains variables that are measurable).
I will present my working definition of collective consciousness,
and will situate it within a model of human development, in the next
section.
A Model of Human Development
In an online draft of his latest book,15
Wilber continues to lay out an integral model of human development,
which is thoughtful, clear, rigorous, interdisciplinary, and grounded
in a cross-cultural survey of scientific research and texts from humanity’s
age-old wisdom traditions. Because his model is so comprehensive, it
provides an excellent overall framework for defining collective consciousness
and synthesizing the relevant research. It helps us avoid conceptual
confusion and the narrow lacuna and unwarranted absolutism, in which
single-discipline theory and research often get trapped. By stripping
metaphysical concepts that are culturally conditioned from the transpersonal
stages of development, his model allows us to study collective consciousness
scientifically.
Wilber portrays his integral model via a comprehensive psychosociograph
of individual and collective development. He draws upon theory and research
from the wisdom and scientific praxes and proposes correlations between
levels of consciousness and types of development.16
The vertical axis of his graphic model represents the overall level
of consciousness for an individual or a collective (10 levels are suggested).
The horizontal axis displays 12 types of development, which include
cognitive (Piaget, Aurobindo), self-sense/identity (Loevinger, Cook-Greuter),
moral (Kohlberg), needs (Maslow), values (Graves, Spiral Dynamics) and
interpersonal (Gardner) development.
To lay some groundwork for my later discussion of collective consciousness,
let me give a brief example of individual development, taken from an
essay I wrote.17
At a certain point in their lives, individuals may begin a series of
transpersonal stages of development, wherein their “sense of identity
or self extends beyond the individual…to encompass wider aspects
of humankind.”18
Wilber labels the first of these levels “higher mind (vision-logic)”,
on the cognitive developmental line. Here individuals -- having transcended,
yet incorporated, their previous identities (e.g., ego-, family-, membership-group-,
ethnic-, and nation-centric) -- now consciously choose a world-centric
identity, “not just with all humans, but with nature.”19
They go beyond mutual recognition, the “free exchange of…actualized
self-esteem needs”20
to mutual identity,21
whereby individuals now recognize themselves in each other, “beyond
the illusions of separation and duality.”22
Individuals begin to make organizational decisions, for example, from
the perspective of a common good, that transcends, yet embraces, the
boundaries of ego, family, tribe, city and nation.
Moreover, whereas individuals on the previous level add up the diverse
perspectives in a collective, in order to arrive at integration, individuals
working at the vision-logic level “directly see the integral [through]
intuition.”23
The development of this intuitive ability may play a crucial role in
the development of collective consciousness. Research indicates that
members of a group may be able to directly apprehend the unexpressed
thoughts and feelings of each other, and perhaps the intelligence of
Spirit. If this is so, teams can engage in a relatively fast, nonverbal
interplay between their hearts and minds. In my experience, teams and
organizations can access a level of wisdom that surpasses, yet incorporates,
the individual perspectives of their members.
In terms of collective consciousness, the developmental and spiritual
literature describes an evolutionary progression, leading to ever widening
circles of identification and care: from a particular group (marriage,
family, organization, etc.), to a community (geographic, interest group,
etc.), to a society or culture (national, ethnic, tribal, etc.), to
all sentient beings, to Nature (ecological consciousness), to the globe
(global consciousness), to the cosmos (cosmic consciousness),24
and to the Kosmos (Kosmic consciousness).25
The wisdom traditions assert that, ultimately, an individual “realizes
a Self-identity with Spirit.”26
A Working Definition of Collective Consciousness
The circular ripples that radiate out from a pebble thrown into a pond
can metaphorically represent our sense of ever widening identity. In
Wilber’s 10-level model of consciousness, transpersonal development
spans levels six through nine. I believe collective consciousness begins
to emerge at level six. I define it as:
A mode of awareness, in which we directly experience, through
an intuitive felt-sense, our union with the interconnected wholeness
of life, and recognize ourselves in others. Our identity extends beyond
our individual boundary and embraces the collective, through a free
and conscious act of identification, rather than through definition
by convention or external authority.
Once this awareness develops, individuals – because they now
perceive themselves as mutually interdependent parts of a larger whole
-- develop an authentic, abiding and primary concern and care for common
good and for the well being, health and productive functioning of the
communities to which they belong (including organizations and, eventually,
the global community).
Note that I am speaking about a mode of awareness that may exist in
an individual, not a collective. The phrase, “group mind”,
that is sometimes used to refer to collective consciousness, gives the
impression that a new mind and, therefore, consciousness emerges as
a collective entity, a position that is speculative at present.27
I am therefore simply holding for now that the reported experience of
connection, of communion, and of direct apprehension of the thoughts
and feelings of others is due to some form of invisible interaction
between the members of a group. The research cited below will outline
some possible explanations for the nature of that interaction.
Note also that I am not using the term coined by Carl Jung, the “collective
unconscious”, which he used to describe the phenomena of universal,
archetypal and mythological images and symbols which appear across cultures.28
Although collective consciousness involves ever widening circles of
identity, and therefore an awareness of the many essential and universal
ways in which we are profoundly connected to other humans and to all
manifestations of life, building collective consciousness and wisdom
is primarily a conscious act – one that explicitly nurtures diversity
as the key to reaching true wisdom.29
Developing A Theory, A Model and Testable Hypotheses
To my knowledge, no one has yet developed a theory, a model or testable
hypotheses regarding collective consciousness. One productive way to
do so would be to use a qualitative research method, such as grounded
theory,30
to interview individuals who believe they have experienced collective
consciousness. Such a research method allows a theory and hypotheses
to emerge from the perspectives and experience of those who possess
knowledge of the proposed phenomenon. In other words, the data of people’s
experience shapes the theory, rather than it being imposed upon data.
It is common for scientists to first experience or observe a phenomenon,
to notice and study correlations between apparently relevant variables,
to speculate about and to investigate possible cause-and-effect relationships,
and to search for and postulate explanatory mechanisms. The first two
activities may take place before scientists formulate a theory or model.
To my knowledge, this is the situation today regarding collective consciousness.
On this website,31
in my own writing,32
and in the work of others,33
the qualities or dimensions of collective wisdom, the correlations among
variables, and potential cause-and-effect relationships have been postulated.
Essentially they include:
• Qualities of the felt experience
of collective consciousness, including resonance; communion; sense
of community; interconnectedness; mutual understanding, respect and
support; concern for the welfare of each other, others and the common
good; precognition of each other’s thoughts, words and/or actions;
love; intuition; openness and receptivity; synergy; coordination;
being heard and seen fully; shared, correlated, or unified consciousness;
and sense of a group field;
• Effects that may be
correlated with, and possibly caused by, collective consciousness,
and/or focused group attention or intention, including increased personal,
group and social creativity, collaboration, conflict resolution, wisdom,
health, mental health, and effectiveness; and improved decision-making.
• Conditions that may support
the emergence of collective consciousness and its presumed benefits,
including creating a sense of sacred space and time, good listening
and communication, openness, receptivity, trust, emotional bonds (warmth,
love, care, etc.) between participants, intuition, tolerance, respect,
inclusiveness, clarifying purpose and intent, meditative and contemplative
practice, and development of higher levels of consciousness.
Collective consciousness is a very complex phenomenon. There are many
aspects and dimensions, which might be examined. For example, one might
focus upon the qualities of the felt, inner experience of collective
consciousness. Or one might focus upon the observable, exterior manifestations
and effects of collective consciousness, the behaviors of group members
that express concern for the productive functioning of the collective.
(I and Julie Glover have considered some of these dimensions in another
seed paper on this website,34
such as the distinction between the felt inner sense of communion with
others and the exterior processes and interactions which contribute
to building and sustaining community.)
Our model should reflect the complexity and wholeness of individual
and collective development. The number of interactive variables will
therefore make research challenging. On the other hand, well designed,
cross-cultural, longitudinal, hermeneutic and structural research35
would honor, rather than reduce, the complexity of human development,
would enable us to study the relationship between individual and collective
development, and would provide a profound understanding of the nature
of collective consciousness.
In the following sections, I will describe theory and research that
may be relevant, in order to build an adequate model of collective consciousness
and to examine collective consciousness scientifically.
The Felt-Sense of Collective Consciousness:
Tele-Prehension
The extended mind is a scientific hypothesis that
leads to testable predictions. It is already supported by a large
body of evidence, both from people’s spontaneous experiences
and from controlled experiments.36
–
Rupert Sheldrake
When asked in interviews to describe the features of collective consciousness,
a common response concerns the felt-sense of extrasensory perception
or communication, of being able to anticipate another’s words
or behavior, of reading another’s mind,37
of seeing through another’s eyes, of feeling another’s feelings,
and of a harmonic resonance of heart and mind.38
Consequently, people speak about a sense of deep connection. This may
be due to telepathy, the exchange of information between two or more
minds without using ordinary senses.
Wilber finds the evidence for psi to be “very compelling”,
as do a number of researchers.39
Sheldrake has noted that much psi research has been “scientific,
open-minded, and experimental,”40
with research protocols that have typically been more rigorous than
those used in mainstream research, even in the hard sciences and with
results that often exceed chance by huge margins.
Wilber calls this ability to feel another’s feelings or know
another’s thoughts in an immediate and direct way “tele-prehension”.41
He identifies three ways in which tele-prehension may occur:42
1. Psychic or psi phenomena. A
key example is telepathy, or prehension (feeling, perception or awareness)
at a distance.
2. A transcendent Self (Spirit).
Wilber believes “the same nondual and nonlocal Subject inhabits
all subjects, such that an instantaneous intersubjectivity from within
connects holons43
prior to any [communicative] exchange.”44
3. Harmonic empathy or resonance. In
exterior resonance or vibration, a note struck on one string instrument,
e.g., causes the same string on another nearby string instrument to
vibrate. Harmonic empathy is the “interior equivalent between
two sentient beings: a type of felt resonance or mutual prehension
– an immediate, nonreflexive, intersubjective presence or resonance
with another holon at a similar level of depth.”46
The second proposed source of tele-prehension brings us back to the
limits of traditional science, as discussed above, and to the importance
of meditative practice and direct awareness, in terms of developing
a true and full understanding of collective consciousness.47
Of course, traditional science can be used to study the first and third
phenomena, since they may be exterior manifestations of the second.
Ralph Waldo Emerson seems to have described the experience of collective
consciousness, even though he did not use that term. He attributed his
experience to the presence of the divine, similar to Wilber’s
second explanation of tele-prehension. Emerson described his discovery
of “an identical [common] nature appearing through all”,
which
is God. And so, in groups where debate is earnest, and especially
on high questions, the company becomes aware that the thought rises
to an equal level in all bosoms, that all have a spiritual property
in what was said, as well as the sayer. They all become wiser than
they were. It arches over them like a temple, this unity of thought….
All are conscious of attaining to a higher self-possession. It shines
for all.48
Emerson referred to God as the Over-soul, “that common heart
of which all sincere conversation is the worship.”49
Similarly, Friedrich Holderlin said, “…We calmly smiled,
sensed our own God amidst intimate conversation, in one song of our
souls.”50
The potential trap is that groups may become caught up in extrasensory
phenomena per se, or to become primarily focused upon re-creating,
over and over, a wonderful feeling of connection – rather than
developing and using the expanded capacities of collective consciousness
for the sake of serving the common good. If collective consciousness
indeed involves the direct and intuitive sensing of tele-prehension,
the implications for mutual understanding, empathy, compassion, mutual
support, effective decision-making, creativity, conflict resolution
and collaboration are profound. For these reasons, the research on tele-prehension
is important to consider. We may be able to identify the key factors
or variables that would enable groups to derive the above benefits for
the sake of their communities, organizations and societies.
Sheldrake has suggested a number of simple experiments that ordinary
folks can conduct, to help scientifically explore and document tele-prehension,
which he calls “the seventh sense” (a term designed to distinguish
it from the “sixth sense”, a term biologists have already
applied to the electrical and magnetic senses of animals).51
He believes that these phenomena are explicable. Rather than suggest
research questions for this segment of the seed paper, I refer you to
Sheldrake.52
I will outline some questions in the sections below, regarding subtle
energies, fields and psi phenomena.
The Role of Subtle Energies
Based upon contemporary research regarding brain functioning and neurophysiology,
Wilber considers matter (mass) and energy – or matter-energy –
to be two of the exterior, physical forms53
of consciousness (prehension). As life evolves, the states or forms
of matter-energy reflect each level of consciousness and become more
complex. Wilber views matter-energy as intra-physical: not beyond matter
(meta-physical), but interior to it, not above nature (super-natural),
but within it. According to this model, matter-energy exists at all
levels of evolution.54
What a number of researchers refer to as subtle energy (“prana”),
therefore, can be found at all levels. Wilber distinguishes three types
of energy: gross, subtle55
and causal, each corresponding to certain states and stages of consciousness.
Wilber proposes four hypotheses, which he believes will clear up much
of the conceptual confusion and culturally conditioned thinking regarding
subtle energies, in both the wisdom traditions and science:
1. Increasing evolution brings increasing complexity of gross exterior
form.
2. Increasing complexity of form is correlated with increasing interior
consciousness.
3. Increasing complexity of gross form is correlated with increasing
subtlety of exterior energies (energy patterns or fields).56
4. Complexity of gross form is necessary for the expression or manifestation
[not the existence] of higher consciousness and subtler energy.57
Wilber believes that the “real test case of any theory of subtle
energies is whether it can adequately explicate the chakras.”58
I will discuss this issue in the “Practice, Development and Character”
section, below.
Researchers have been attempting to understand the nature of the subtle
energies (such as electromagnetic fields or photon emissions)59
harnessed by non-conventional healers. The explanatory mechanism for
this type of healing is still unclear.
Field Effects
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
There is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn’t make any sense.
- Jelaluddin Rumi
A number of researchers have argued that individuals and groups can
influence each other outside of modalities of communication that use
the five senses, through some form of field effect.60
This is not a wild or unfounded suggestion: magnetic, electrical and
gravitational fields are all “invisible, yet capable of bringing
about effects at a distance.”61
In biology, the concept of morphogenetic fields, underlying the form
of a growing organism, is widely accepted, yet scientists don’t
“yet know what these fields are or how they work.”62
Successful sports-team members refer to a “sixth sense”,
empathy, and an ability to “anticipate the moves of the other”63
; or to a “click of communality,” an almost audible shift
whereby sports participants “react as a…unit, rather than
as an aggregate of individuals.”64
In my consulting experience, I have found that, if the members of a
group or team have established a sense of trust, a warm emotional connection,
and an inspiring, shared purpose, they can perform tasks fluidly, efficiently
and in a highly coordinated state, with minimal verbal communication
or visual contact.65
Under his hypothesis of formative causation, Rupert Sheldrake has postulated
that morphogenetic fields are part of a larger family of fields called
morphic fields.66
Morphogenetic fields are a new kind of field, unrecognized so far by
physics, and are “not just a way of talking about standard mechanistic
processes.”67
They evolve, have a history, contain an inherent memory, are created
by morphic resonance (a nonlocal influence of like upon like, a transfer
of information or an activity pattern, across space and time.) They
are regions of influence, located in and around the self-organizing
systems that they organize into “spatiotemporal patterns of vibratory
or rhythmic activity.”68
They work probabilistically, imparting characteristic properties, wholeness
and order upon the “inherent indeterminism of their systems”
and make them “more than the sum of its parts.”69
Sheldrake suggests that attention creates perceptual fields, which connect
us to what we look at; that mental fields may help explain tele-prehension
and the experience we have of “extended mind”; and that
a social field “organizes and coordinates the behavior of individuals
within a social group, for example, the way individual birds fly within
a flock.”70
Sheldrake has suggested that morphic resonance (“resonant connections”)
might enable us to perceive each other’s images, thoughts, impressions,
or feelings, even if thousands of miles apart. Such a phenomenon “may
be similar to, if not identical with…telepathy.”71
Sheldrake and his colleagues have conducted a number of experiments,
which so far seem to indicate that his hypothesis is valid.72
Sheldrake believes that attention and intention are the means by which
our minds reach out and connect with other members of social groups.73
In fact, the research that I describe in this paper generally examines
the role of attention and intention in creating or utilizing mental
fields to tele-prehend.
Sheldrake’s work is congruent with Wilber’s model and
his hypothesis 3 (above), according to which the subtlety of fields
increases as material bodies (or morphic forms) become more complex
and the degree of consciousness grows. Wilber suggests the following
schema:74
1. “Gross energies surround their associated material bodies
in physical fields.”75
Corresponding level of consciousness: sensorimotor or material.
2. The etheric energy field, according to the wisdom traditions,
surrounds the physical fields as a more expansive sphere. Vital consciousness.
“Dreaming” state of consciousness may begin.
3. The astral (powerful emotional) energy field, in addition to enveloping
the two prior fields, passes through the acupuncture meridians of
living organisms. Emotional-sexual (emotional-pranic) consciousness.
Subtle body-energy begins.
4. Psychic (thought) field 1 is caused by sustained mental activity,
according to the wisdom traditions. Mental level of consciousness.
5. Psychic or thought field 2. Higher mental consciousness.
6. The causal field emerged after development of the complex neocortex.
Overmental (nearly formless) consciousness. Causal (very subtle) body-energy.
Formless state of consciousness.
7. Nondual. Supermental consciousness.
The more complex the form, the greater number of energy fields around
it. Wilber believes that these seven, major levels of matter-energy
approximately correlate with the qualities that the wisdom traditions
have associated with the seven chakras. His synthesis is extremely valuable,
in terms of simplifying what is often a bewildering array of seemingly
different terms used by researchers and the wisdom traditions.
To give a sense of how part of Wilber’s schema can be related
to existing scientific knowledge, the family of gross-energy, for example,
contains genus gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak
nuclear energy fields. The genus electromagnetic contains species cosmic
rays, gamma rays, x-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves, etc.
The taxonomy of his schema is extremely helpful, in terms of framing
research on subtle energies and the fields of collective consciousness.
The local aspects of these energy fields, according to Wilber, are
the areas of highest density or of greatest probability of being detected.
Many can be detected physically with certain instruments76
and can be perceived by highly respected psychics and non-conventional
healers.77
Even the most basic types of fields, such as electromagnetic fields,
seem to be able to influence objects at a distance, with no observable
material traveling between them.
Is There A Field Created by “Group Mind”?
I mentioned earlier that theorists and researchers have sometimes speculated
that collective consciousness reflects the existence of “group
mind”. Just as we colloquially say, “We are of one mind,”
is there a unified mind associated with any coherent collective? As
an individual has a mind, does a group have one, too? At this point
in time, we don’t know.
From a theoretical perspective, Wilber does not believe that the members
of a collective are “like” or “are” an individual
or an organism – viewpoints that are called the “organic”
model, in the former instance, or the “organismic” model,
in the latter case.78
An individual has a center of prehension, which controls and coordinates
the parts.79
But in a collective, members are not parts, or subholons, completely
subservient to the control and direction of the group or a “Super-I.”
Rather, they are co-creative partners, who choose to come together as
an association or network because they feel that their interiors (individual
values, intentionality, etc.) resonate mutually and empathetically.
They then together fashion and agree upon a set of goals, norms,
etc., through which they can act in coordination.80
Wilber believes that many proponents of system theory, eco-philosophy,
the Web of Life,81
and Gaia as a superorganism, adopt either an organic or organismic model,
which reduces the interior of the collective to an exterior system or
form and eliminates the freedom and rights of the members. In this sense,
Wilber argues that a group mind does not exist.
However, Wilber does believe that the internal and defining aspects
of a collective holon or network – the sum total of its interior
intersections (shared, cultural-pattern feeling-meanings) and exterior
intersections (shared social-behavioral rules) -- are carried in the
sum total of its members, including in a morphic field, in (not as)
the group’s collective prehensions, and in the members’
genetic inheritance. He calls this “solidarity”:82
the cultural backgrounds, the interior culture, and the intersubjective
dimensions of the Kosmic habits of the collective holon; and the interior
feel correlated with the collective, exterior morphic energy fields,
ecosystems and social systems.83
If we therefore do not see group mind as a conscious entity that controls
or dictates the thinking and behavior of the members of a self-aware
collective (in contrast to the control and extreme influence exerted
by the leader of a cult or a mob), perhaps we can postulate the creation
of a group field that represents the conscious and reflective interaction,
consensus and shared intentions of the members of a collective –
the influence and power of which may wax or wane, based upon a number
of dynamic factors. This perspective fits my experience of collective
wisdom. Although at times group members seem to simultaneously access
the consciousness of Spirit within them (Wilber’s second mechanism
of tele-prehension, above), at other times they seem to access –
through their explicit and implicit interactions – the wisdom
that arises from considering and embracing the diversity and wholeness
of their individual perspectives. The interplay of their hearts and
minds perhaps creates a group field. Some of the rare research on group
effects that I will cite below suggests that groups may create fields
that are more powerful and influential than individual fields.
Nonlocal Field Effects
According to the Vedanta-Vajrayana model presented briefly above, which
Wilber has incorporated with refinements into his model, subtle matter-energy
(bodymind) can exist without gross matter-energy (bodymind), and the
causal bodymind can exist without either.84
When you dream during sleep, or during some nonordinary waking states
– such as out-of-the-body experiences (or ‘astral travel’)
-- you “reside primarily as a subtle bodymind”, according
to Wilber. When you are in “dreamless-formless sleep”, or
in formless meditative states, or have a near-death experience, you
reside as a causal bodymind.85
If true, this may explain how certain nonlocal field effects can occur,
since certain energy fields would no longer be tied to a particular
form. For example, in the psi research that I report in this paper,
distance did not diminish the accuracy of results.86
Although more research is needed, it appears so far that electromagnetic
field effects, including those associated with the heart, may operate
within relatively circumscribed regions. Fields associated with consciousness,
especially mental activity, do not appear to be bounded by space or
time.
Wilber believes that the above assertions are “open to a fair
amount of empirical and phenomenological testing” of their validity.
The subtle energies, in Wilber’s model, are “postulated
as real, concrete, detectable, often measurable.”87
Research Regarding Nonlocal Effects
88
I will now review the research regarding field effects.
Insect and Animal Coordination and Nonsensory
Communication. Sheldrake considers animal
societies to be social morphic units, which “provides a way of
understanding the coordination of the behavior of individual organisms
within the social unit: the colony, school, flock, herd, pack, group,
or pair".89
For example, he and other researchers have concluded that the behavior
of the members of termite colonies are coordinated by social fields,
which contain the blueprints for the construction of the colony, and
pass through physical barriers.90
Experiments have indicated that neither sense-mediated communication,
nor an electrical field, can likely explain how termites, after the
nest they are building is cut in half and separated by a steel plate,
can still go on to create structures and tunnels that are perfectly
aligned.91
Consequently, Sheldrake has concluded that in termite colonies:
the individual insects are coordinated by social fields, which contain
the blueprints for the construction of the colony…. To make
models without taking such fields into account is rather like trying
to explain the behavior of iron filings around a magnet [while] ignoring
the field, as if the pattern somehow "emerged" from programs
within the individual iron particles.92
The highly respected biologist, Edwin Wilson, has similarly argued
that "The total simulation of construction of complex nests from
a knowledge of the summed behaviors of the individual [social] insects
has not been accomplished and stands as a challenge to both biologists
and mathematicians.”93
In the case of termite nests, the workers first make columns, then
bend them toward each other at some point and join them at a midpoint
between the two columns. Termites are blind, so they cannot make this
happen through visual alignment. Researchers have concluded that the
coordination does not happen through movement back and forth between
the columns, to get an alignment through measurement, nor does it seem
that sound plays a part.94
And, as Sheldrake points out,
Smell can hardly account for the overall plan of the nest or the
relationship of the individual insects to it. They seem to "know"
what kind of structure is required; they seem to be responding to
a kind of invisible plan. As Wilson phrased the question, "Who
has the blueprint of the nest?" I suggest that this plan is embodied
in the organizing field of the colony. This field is not inside the
individual insects; rather, they are inside the collective field.
Just as a magnetic field can pass through material structures, so
[must] the colony field. This ability...would enable the field to
organize separated groups of termites even in the absence of normal
sensory communication between them.95
Gunther Becker suggested that a "biofield," an alternating
low-energy electric field produced by the termites themselves, could
account for the coordination. The effect fell off as the distance between
the groups was increased.96
But Sheldrake, in accordance with Wilber’s model, concluded that
"such fields are unlikely to be able to provide the blueprint for
the termite nest. How could a specific pattern be established in the
electromagnetic field to begin with?"97
Sheldrake suggests that a set of experiments conducted by Eugene Marais
may indicate that "another, more mysterious kind of field seems
likely to be involved as well."98
Marais separated termite mounds into two halves and inserted a steel
plate, which was a few feet wider and higher than the termitary, into
the breach of each mound, thereby preventing all sensory and electrical
means of communication. Despite this, the termites still built a similar
arch on either side of the plate, which were aligned.99
Sheldrake commented:
The repair activity seemed to be coordinated by some overall organizing
structure, which Marais attributed to the group soul, and I prefer
to think of as a morphic field…. Unlike the field investigated
by Becker, it was not blocked by a metal plate, and was therefore
unlikely to be electrical in nature.100
However, it "would be difficult to prove that no sounds could
have gone...around the barrier."101
So Sheldrake has proposed a research protocol that would control for
this and other variables. Unfortunately, no one has attempted to replicate
Marais' experiment.
Sheldrake and others have demonstrated that psi capacities are widely
distributed in the animal kingdom.102
In a series of experiments, he showed how certain pets sensed when their
owners decided to return home from work or an excursion, even when they
varied the time from day to day.103
Sheldrake argues that humans have partly lost or neglected the psi
capacities that animals demonstrate, and that, as Wilber claims, they
are not paranormal or supernatural abilities.104
Biophoton Emissions.
Fritz-Albert Popp has detected “biophoton emissions”
from living organisms. Photons are electromagnetic light waves with
very high intensity.105
Popp discovered in his experiments that bacteria, sunflowers, fleas
and fish “sucked up” the light emitted by other living organisms
in their environment. He concluded that this exchange of photons, or
wave resonance, was a form of communication, even a means for living
organisms to influence the health of each other. This may especially
be the case when healers use their hands in touch or near-the-body healing.106
From his study of illnesses, Popp hypothesized that illness results
from incoherence, in the form of either too little or too much light.
“Perfect coherence is an optimum state just between chaos and
order.” Popp also believed that biophoton exchange might explain
“how schools of fish or flocks of birds create perfect and instantaneous
coordination.”107
Stuart Hameroff also found that living tissue emits photons.108
In addition, he discovered that microtubules inside cells109
conduct photons. In collaboration with other researchers,110
he realized that microtubules help create coherence of waves (“superradiance”)
in the body. This allows photons to “communicate with other photons
throughout the body, causing collective cooperation of subatomic particles
in microtubules throughout the brain.”111
Superradiance may account for the tendency of the brain toward EEG synchronization,
and may provide another basis for field effects between living organisms.112
(See Correlated Consciousness, below.)
Cardioelectromagnetic Communication:
Heart To Brain. Emerson once
gave metaphoric expression to something researchers are now beginning
to measure.
The heart in thee is the heart of all; not a valve, not a wall,
not an intersection is there anywhere in nature, but one blood rolls
uninterruptedly an endless circulation through all [humanity], as
the water of the globe is all one sea, and, truly seen, its tide is
one. It is one light, which beams out of a thousand stars. It is one
soul, which animates all people.113
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
A relatively new arena of research is called energy cardiology114
or cardioelectromagnetic communication.115
The heart’s electrical field is measured with an electrocardiogram
(ECG). The magnetic component of the heart’s field is “not
impeded by tissues and can be measured several feet away from the body.”116
Under certain conditions, the heart’s electromagnetic waves synchronize
with the brain waves (measured by the electroencephalogram or EEG) of
oneself or other human and non-human animals.117
For example, heart-focused attention is correlated with greater synchronization
of heart and brain.118
Sustained positive emotions, such as appreciation, love, or compassion,
are associated with highly ordered or coherent patterns in the heart
rhythms…and a shift in autonomic balance toward increased parasympathetic
activity.119
This “physiological coherence” is the state of “more
ordered and harmonious interactions among the body’s systems.”120
Cross-coherence occurs when “two or more of the body’s oscillatory
systems, such as respiration and heart rhythms, become entrained and
oscillate at the same frequency.”121
When individuals were taught how to use a positive-emotion refocusing
technique to generate appreciation, cross-coherence significantly increased.
It was expressed as a higher ratio of alpha rhythms in the brain (measured
by the EEG) that was synchronized with the heartbeat (measured by the
ECG).122
Increased physiological coherence is correlated with a number of health
and mental health benefits.123
In the converse, experimental evidence suggests that certain prolonged
negative psychological states can facilitate the progression of cancer
and increase risk for physical illness and early death.124
As I report elsewhere in this paper, a number of studies have found
that subtle energies used by healers are correlated with increased wound
healing rates,125
lowered pain,126
increased hemoglobin levels,127
conformational changes of DNA and water structure,128
and changes in psychological states.129
Rollin McCraty has argued that the effect of electromagnetic or “energetic”
communication may ultimately be found to be a mechanism in healing of
this type. Even though these benefits have to do with individual effects,
the research I present below suggests that perhaps people can influence
each other’s physiological coherence and thereby help others improve
their physical and mental health.
When waves are synchronized and overlapping, their combined amplitude
is greater than the individual amplitudes. The information that they
carry gets stronger and complete information about the other wave is
exchanged. Waves have an almost unlimited capacity for storing information.130
This reality may help explain not only the experience of deep knowing
in tele-prehension, but also the healing effects generated by healers
who enter rapport with their clients when conducting non-conventional
methods.
Several researchers have studied entrainment, or physiological synchronization,
between people during moments of empathy. In one experiment at HeartMath,
two participants faced each other at a distance of five feet and practiced
an emotion-restructuring exercise that has been shown to produce sustained
states of internal physiological coherence.131
The alpha brain waves of one subject (measured via an EEG)
became precisely synchronized with the R-waves (peak of the waves reflected
in an ECG) carried by the magnetic field from the heart of the other
subject. “These data show that it is possible for the magnetic
signals radiated by the heart of one individual to influence the brain
rhythms of another at conversational distances…. The degree of
coherence in the receiver’s heart rhythms appears to determine
whether his/her brain waves synchronize to the other person’s
heart.”132
Similar results have been obtained by other researchers133
and in other experiments conducted by HeartMath.134
For example, Linda Russek and Gary Schwartz found that people who more
regularly experience positive emotions such as love and care are better
receivers of others’ magnetic-field signals.135
Based on the results of these and other experiments, the researchers
at HeartMath concluded:
The nervous system acts as an antenna, which is tuned to and responds
to the magnetic fields produced by the hearts of other individuals.
This cardioelectromagnetic communication is an innate ability that
heightens awareness and mediates important aspects of true empathy
and sensitivity to others. It can be enhanced, resulting in a much
deeper level of non-verbal communication, understanding, and connection
between people…. [It] has the potential to promote the healing
process. From an electrophysiological perspective, it appears that
sensitivity to information contained in the fields generated by others
is related to the ability to be emotionally and physiologically coherent.
During coherence, internal systems are more stable, function more
efficiently, and radiate electromagnetic fields containing a more
coherent structure.136
Besides this heart-to-brain communication, the hearts of different
individuals have been found to influence each other (heart-to-heart
communication).
Cardioelectromagnetic Communication:
Heart To Heart. Although the number of subjects
is still too small to reliably generalize, researchers at HeartMath
have found that the heart rates of people who have a close living or
working relationship, and who generate feelings of appreciation for
each other while sitting four feet apart (and being blind to the data),
can become entrained. This entrainment apparently also occurs during
sleep, between couples that have been in long-term, stable and loving
relationships. Their heart rhythms can converge and can simultaneously
change in the same direction.137
Another study found that the heart rates of married couples, who were
skilled at empathizing, became synchronized and tracked each other during
empathetic interactions.138
Despite some methodological problems, several studies have suggested
that entrainment may also occur during empathetic interactions between
therapists and clients.139
These results regarding cardioelectromagnetic communication indicate
the importance of relationship-centered approaches to not only clinical
and professional care, but also to team and organizational development.
Based upon training thousands of people to maintain coherence during
conversation, HeartMath researchers have concluded:
It is a common experience that they become more attuned to other
people and are able to detect and understand the deeper meaning behind
spoken words…, even when the other person may not be clear….
Intuitive listening helps people to feel fully heard and promotes
greater rapport and empathy between people.140
The proposed interpersonal communication mechanisms may in part explain
the effects of service and care that emphasize the relational aspects
of human interaction in professional settings. For example, see Parker
Palmer’s work regarding “teacher formation” and research
related to relationship-centered care (RCC), including the Fetzer’s
Institute’s program.141
Correlated or Shared Consciousness:
Brain-To-Brain Communication. Despite the
typical methodological issues that need to be worked out in any new
area of research, a number of experiments142
has indicated that tele-prehension of thoughts, images, emotions, intuitions
and physical sensations between persons is facilitated when people are
bound by close emotional ties and empathy (e.g., “bonded couples”
or monozygotic twins), are in an altered state of consciousness, or
meditate together,143
although this effect occurs in other situations, too.144
The respective EEG brain wave patterns of pairs become highly synchronized
or coherent. EEG alpha rhythms or visually evoked potentials (measured
by a functional MRI machine) created in one person can produce the same
effects in another, even when members of a pair are separated in sound-attenuated
or electromagnetically shielded rooms.145
In addition, in several experiments, individual interhemispheric synchronization
occurred (a phenomena that happens during meditation) when paired participants
tried to sense each other’s presence while in separate rooms.
Moreover, the individual with the greatest synchronization tended to
influence the other member of the pair.146
Ervin Laszlo has attributed this phenomenon to field effects.147
Karl Pribram has theorized that our brain perceives objects not primarily
through language or images, but by resonating or getting in synch with
them. “To know the world is literally to be on its wavelength.”148
Remote Viewing.
A common statement from those who experience collective consciousness
is that they feel as if they can see through each other’s eyes.
Research has indicated that this may, in fact, be true, as one mode
of tele-prehension. Mystics, intuitives and psychic healers have all
spoken of another kind of sight.
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight….
Close both eyes
To see with the other eye.
- Jelaluddin Rumi
A number of experiments have tested remote viewing and found statistically
significant results, well beyond chance levels.149
In a well-designed, double-blind experiment, an independent researcher
prepares target sites. A target is then selected randomly. One person,
the recipient, proceeds to the designated site. Through focused attention,
a second participant, the viewer, describes the details of the site
that the beacon is viewing. Independent judges determine whether the
target was correctly described and/or identified.
For example, Jahn and Dunne conducted 336 rigorous trials, with 48
ordinary recipients and remote viewing distances ranging from five to
6,000 miles. Almost 2/3rds of the results exceeded chance levels, with
odds against chance of one billion to one. As in other tele-prehension
experiments, those recipient-viewer pairs who had an emotional or physiological
bond obtained the best results.150
A government panel, including two Nobel laureates and other distinguished
researchers chosen for their skeptic views, reviewed 23 years of experimental
data. All agreed the research was impeccable.151
A second review by a team that included Dr. Ray Hyman, a noted skeptic,
concluded that the results far exceeded chance.152
Hal Putoff and Russell Targ concluded that the most important success
factor appeared to be a “relaxed, even playful, atmosphere, which
avoided causing anxiety.”153
If viewers interpreted or analyzed the scene, they would invariably
guess wrong. Expectation or imagining seemed to have a similar effect.154
The unconscious aspect of the mind and the right hemisphere of the brain
seemed to be in use155
– indicating receptivity, rather than conscious control. Meta-analyses
indicate that results are more significant when the viewers are in altered
states of consciousness.156
These variables match many of the identified success factors in other
forms of tele-prehension, and are similar to factors reported by meditators
and those in creative states.
Through experiments involving screened rooms, Putoff, Dunne and Jahn
concluded that electromagnetic waves could not explain the remote viewing.157
This supports the idea that another type of field, perhaps created by
focused mental attention, may be at work.
Another form of mental focus, intention, may create an even more powerful
field. I will describe experiments regarding the effects of intention
upon other living systems in the following sections.
Nonlocal, Intentional Influence.
A large number of studies have examined the ability of people
to influence other living beings in remote settings. In a series of
experiments, for example, influencers changed the direction of knife
fish, got gerbils to run faster on activity wheels, and slowed the rate
of hemolysis (bursting of cell walls) in red blood cells.158
In 16 remote staring trials, starees showed significantly greater electrodermal
activity (EDA) while being stared at (59%, versus 50% chance), indicating
that they had unconsciously felt the attention of the starers.159
These results have been replicated a number of times.160
A meta-analysis reported a significant effect size in experiments where
the receiver’s skin conductance was targeted.161
Remote intention has been shown to have a significant calming effect
on a group of highly nervous people,162
and to help participants focus their attention, especially those whose
attention tended to wander.163
In some cases during these studies, telepathy occurred.164
A number of these findings have been replicated, including intention’s
effect upon healing.165
A meta-analysis has shown that intention can affect a wide range of
living organisms, including their healing. Moreover, studies have demonstrated
that a group can significantly influence the eye or gross motor movements,
breathing and brain rhythms of a different group. Although the effects
were small in scale, ordinary people, who were trying remote influence
for the first time, consistently produced them. The EDA studies succeeded
47% of the time166
and the studies in general had the intended effect 37% of the time,
in contrast to an expected 5% chance success rate.167
Distance seemed irrelevant, with effects extending even into outer space,
during a space mission.168
The greatest influence occurred when the subjects greatly needed the
intended effect, which indicates that healing interactions may be particularly
effective. Finally, as with other forms of tele-prehension, strength
of effect correlated with how much the influencer related to the subject,
increasing as the subjects changed from animals, to human cells, to
other people. This finding is consistent with Wilber’s assertion
that humans share a greater number of fields (and subtler fields) with
each other, than they share with animals, for example, thereby increasing
the means and strength of influence.
Ganzfeld (whole field) experiments eliminate sensory input by placing
participants in soundproof rooms, covering their eyes, etc. These experiments,
including studies of telepathy, have produced the strongest results,
with 82% significantly better than chance.169
A meta-analysis of all ganzfeld experiments showed odds against chance
of ten billion to one.170
After reviewing a number of studies involving telepathy and psychokinesis
(influencing objects at a distance), Braud identified the factors, which
make remote influence more likely:
1. Relaxation and alert receptivity via meditation, biofeedback,
etc. Gentle wishing, rather than intense willing or striving was most
effective.171
2. Reduced activity or sensory input.
3. Dreaming or internal states or feelings that create connection.
4. Right-brain functioning.
5. Belief in success.
6. Viewing life as interconnected and believing that extrasensory
communication is possible.172
Meditation involves many of these factors. During the highest state
of meditation, siddhis (psychic events) may occur: seeing everywhere
at once, unity with the object of focus, and psychokinesis.173
The correlation with meditative states may help explain the effects
of meditation reported in a later section of this paper.
Distant Healing Intention.
More than 80% of Americans believe that their “thoughts
can cause healing for another person at a distance,”174
as do 75% of family practitioners.175
Two-thirds of more than 150 controlled studies of distant healing intention
(DHI) over the past 40 years have indicated that distance healing can
result in statistically significant healing effects.176
Of the more than 50 of these experiments, that were rated to be of excellent
methodological quality, 74% yielded statistically significant results.177
Meta-analyses of these studies “provide strong evidence that DHI
is related to predictable changes in a distant person’s physiological
state.”178
The DHI healer uses intention as the essential healing modality, rather
than conventional chemical, mechanical or energetic interventions, which
are avoided by means of spatial, temporal, and/or sensory shielding.
Specific forms of treatment typically include intercessory prayer, non-directed
prayer, energy healing, shamanic healing, non-contact therapeutic touch
and spiritual healing. Most healers use a process of relaxation, enhanced
concentration and visualization.179
Comprehensive, excellent surveys of the literature, including possible
field effects, evaluations of the efficacy of distance healing, and
limitations have been conducted by Larry Dossey, Daniel Benor, Marilyn
Schlitz, William Braud, Elizabeth Targ, Dean Radin and others.180
Despite impressive results with some fairly well designed studies,
which used clearly defined, randomized, double-blind protocols,181
Elizabeth Targ found that many of the studies, published through 1994,
had failed to control for one or more variables other than subtle-energy
and/or distance healing, or the treatment and control groups had not
been appropriately matched. So she and Fred Sicher designed a double-blind
experiment, using healers who utilized all types of healing techniques,
who believed that their healing efforts were going to work, and who
had had years of successful experience in distance healing. Over 10
weeks, for six days per week and an hour per day, each healer held an
intention for the well being of a patient with end-stage AIDS. Each
healer treated a new client each week, so that every healer treated
every client, in turn. This ensured that overall healing, rather than
a particular technique, was studied. During the six-month trial, 40%
of the control group died. But the 10 patients who received distance
healing survived and became healthier. A team of scientists concluded
that the treatment had worked.
But the control group was 10 years older, on average, compared to
the treatment group, which might have accounted for the deaths. So Targ
and Sicher repeated the study with 40 patients, controlling for all
factors, including age and positive thinking (in each group, 50% guessed
after three months that they were being prayed for; belief did not correlate
with results). The treatment group, over six months, was healthier in
every way: fewer hospitalizations (three vs. 12), hospital days, and
new AIDS-defining illnesses (two vs. 12); significantly lower disease
severity and doctor visits; significantly improved mood; and, overall,
significantly better medical outcomes on six of 11 measures. Fifty statistical
tests determined that no other variables accounted for the results.182
These results were confirmed by a 12-month study of traditional forms
of intercessory prayer (mostly Christian or non-denominational) for
cardiac patients. Teams of intercessors, who were not gifted healers,
but simply believed that God responds to prayer, prayed for one patient
over 28 days, thinking the first name of the patient. Intercessors did
not receive feedback regarding results. Neither the medical staff, nor
the patients, was aware of the study. Symptoms for the prayer group
decreased by 10% more than the control group; and they had fewer adverse
medical events, shorter hospital stays, and a number of other superior
indicators. As in the Targ/Sicher study, not the prayer method, but,
rather, holding a healing intention, was what mattered.183
In all the well designed studies Targ had reviewed, it was this last
factor that seemed common: effective distance healers used intention,
combined with a request and surrender to a healing force greater than
themselves (“the spirit world, a religious figure, the collective
consciousness, light, or love”184).
Ultimately, healing influence may be drawing upon the life force and
consciousness of Spirit itself, with us acting as the receptive and
open vehicles for the physical manifestation of wholeness.185
Radin conducted a study of two groups that used DHI. The effect size
for changes in electrodermal activity of the target was almost twice
as large as previous meta-analytic estimates involving individual attention.
“This suggests that groups may enhance DHI effects.”186
Other studies of distance healing, using group meditative practice
and focusing upon social effects, are reported below.
Social and Cultural Healing.
Only two of the 150 studies covered by the surveys mentioned
above involved distance healing by groups.187
It is not possible to conclude from such a small number of studies whether
individual of group healing efforts are more successful.188
But the research I describe below may indicate that Jung may have sensed
the power of collective healing, a power which indigenous and Eastern
traditions have not forgotten:
Our personal psychology is just a thin skin, a ripple
on the ocean of collective psychology. The powerful factor, the factor
which changes our whole life, which changes the surface of our known
world, which makes history, is collective psychology, which moves
according to laws entirely different from those of our [individual]
consciousness.
- Carl Jung189
Groups of Transcendental Meditation (TM) practitioners
have had significant impact upon the well being and physical and mental
health of surrounding geographic communities. Mainstream scientists
have tended to dismiss the TM research out of hand, primarily because
of questions about the TM organization’s alleged “promotion
of the personal interests”190
of its founder, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, or because of skepticism
that believers or practitioners could conduct unbiased research, or
because TM researchers occasionally claim that TM is more effective
than other techniques.191
Yet, 50 very rigorous, socially focused, scientific studies, which have
“controlled for alternative explanations,”192
have been conducted over more than 30 years. Many of the experiments
have been published in well respected, peer-reviewed scientific journals.
The results have been impressive, in terms of improved quality of life
and health and decreased crime rate, accidents, war, etc. I cite some
of these studies below.
The Maharishi originally hypothesized that if 1% of the population193
in a geographic area practiced TM, the coherent calm and stress reduction
created by the group’s meditation would, via what he called the
“Unified Field”, lower conflict and other forms of social
disruption in that area. (If a group practiced the more advanced TM-Sidhi
program, he hypothesized that only the square root of 1% of the population
would be needed.) According to his hypothesis, individual stress increases
collective stress on all levels of collective consciousness (family,
community, city, state, national and world), and vice versa.194
But a meditating group’s coherence – defined as “working
together for mutual support, achievement and fulfillment”195
– is more powerful than the incoherence of the larger system within
which it is located. It can therefore bring order to the whole. The
incoherent members of the larger system tend to move “randomly”,
working against each other and therefore canceling each other’s
actions and efforts. This effect has been compared to the laser, where
a “relatively few in-phase, coherent photons stimulate the whole
system to become coherent,”196
or to the heart, where the pacemaker cells – about 1% of the total
cells – cause all the heart’s cells to beat rhythmically.
A 1993 study found that, when 4,000 people meditated together, violent
crime in Washington, D.C., declined 23% over the course of the experiment,
in contrast to its rising in the months before and after. The results
were shown not to be due to other variables, such as weather, the police,
or anti-crime campaigns. The predicted effect had been posited with
and independent review board, which had participated in the study design
and monitored its conduct.197
A similar effect was shown in a study of 24 U.S. cities, in which 1%
of the urban population regularly practiced TM. A follow-up study demonstrated
that the 24 cities saw drops of 22% in crime and 89% in the crime trend,
compared to increases of 2% and 53%, respectively, in the control cities.198
During a two-month period in 1983 in Israel, on days when a TM-Sidhi
group equaling the square root of 1% of the surrounding population meditated,
independently published data showed that war-related deaths in Lebanon
dropped 76%, and conflict, traffic fatalities, fires and crime decreased.
In Israel, the national mood increased, as measured by a blinded content
analysis of the emotional tone of the lead, front-page picture story
in the Jerusalem Post, and the stock market increased. Other potential
causal variables were controlled for.199
Predictions regarding war-reduction in Lebanon
and increased quality of life in Israel had been posited with two independent
project review board of scientists before the experiments began. The
study was subsequently repeated seven times, with statistically significant
effects.200
Research in five conflict-ridden locations around the globe,201
in the U.S.,202
and worldwide (via TM-Sidhi assemblies of 7,000 practitioners, equal
to the square root of 1% of the world’s population in the mid-1980s)
produced similar effects.203
According to David Orme-Johnson, one of the regular researchers of
TM, the experience of “transcendental consciousness” has
been shown to result in increased individual coherence, “as indicated
by improved health, creativity, intelligence and social behavior,”204
in more than 600 studies conducted by 200 universities in 30 countries.
Several studies regarding TM showed that interhemispheric coordination
and the number of areas in the cortex perceiving information increased.205
These results are similar to those reported in the section on cardioelectromagnetic
communication (above) and in the general literature on the physical
and mental health benefits of meditation and contemplation.206
The sociological studies cited in this section measure social health
in a broad sense; and the research on individual health benefits may
be extrapolated to the social arena. Other studies have examined the
effect of group TM practice on aggregate, more typical measures of individual
physical and mental health. For example, eight studies have shown that
group TM meditation is significantly associated with improved physical
and mental health among others outside the TM group.207
After controlling for a number of factors, meta-analyses of TM studies
have found it to be “more effective than the clinically derived
approaches that are modeled after it” in reducing anxiety,208
improving psychological health,209
and reducing tobacco, alcohol and drug use.210
More than 500 studies have reported stress-reducing ef
