CHAPTER 10
POWERFUL RESONANCE: A SECRET MEANS OF TRANSFERRING ENERGY AND INFORMATION
The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought to light the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was based. —NIELS BOHR
The Secret of Resonance
Resonance is not a new concept in physics, but it has only recently begun to be considered in biology and medicine. Within biology’s focus on the composite of particles that form the chemical aspect of biology, resonance plays almost no role at all. Biologists and medical doctors are relatively unfamiliar with resonance and its charming characteristics.
When the focus is shifted to waves, in particular to the field aspect of biology, it becomes apparent that resonance plays a key role in many living processes. In fact, many mysterious phenomena in living systems can only be understood in light of the characteristics of resonance. Further development of our understanding of the wave aspect and the resonance effect in living processes would enable a completely new appreciation of how intriguing living processes can be.
As resonance is an established concept in acoustics and in music, this field can provide us with some fundamental insights into the peculiar characteristics of resonance, to illustrate the role that electromagnetic waves can play in living systems.
Figure 10.1. A child applies the resonance effect in order to swing high with little effort.
Accumulating Energy
The first characteristic of resonance to consider is that it enables energy to slowly and imperceptibly accumulate by increments. The underlying mechanism of resonance can be understood by considering how a child plays on a swing. The first push or pull does not move the swing much. However, large movements can ultimately be achieved with the repeated application of a small force.
The secret to successfully accumulating energy from the repeated application of small amounts of force is that the frequency with which they are exerted should be the same as the natural frequency of the swing—the frequency it will oscillate at if there are no forces driving it or slowing it down—and in the same direction as its movement. Children intuitively learn how to harness this resonance through experience.
The accumulation of energy brought about by resonance sometimes poses a danger. Soldiers are required to “break step” when crossing a bridge to avoid the possibility of their marching frequency matching the bridge’s natural frequency, thereby damaging or destroying the bridge (fig. 10.2). Even when precautions are taken, bridge failure can occur. In 1850 the 335-foot-long Angers Bridge in France collapsed while a battalion of soldiers was marching across, killing 226 of them. They had arrived during a powerful storm, and the wind had caused the bridge to sway. In an effort to keep their balance on the swaying bridge, they may have inadvertently stepped with the same frequency that the bridge was swaying at, resulting in the collapse.
A more recent example of this phenomenon, sometimes called a resonance catastrophe, was captured on film in 1940 when the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State failed. In this case, the wind caused the bridge to oscillate at one of its natural frequencies, leading to its collapse.
Figure 10.2. Resonance catastrophe: the consequence of the accumulation of small amounts of energy.
Resonance catastrophe also poses a serious danger in airplanes and rockets. If a source of mechanical vibration in an airplane or rocket is the same as the vehicle’s natural frequency, serious and even catastrophic damage can occur. Two crashes involving the Lockheed L-188 Electra, in September 1959 and March 1960, were caused by weak engine mounts producing a vibration that matched the natural frequency of the wings, causing them to tear off in mid-flight.1 These crashes serve to illustrate how powerful the accumulation of energy through resonance can be. While the energy of the individual waves in the human body is very small, the possibility of danger inside the human body remains. What would be the effect of a resonance catastrophe occurring inside the mind-body system?
Transferring Energy
The combination of waves and the resonance effect allows energy to be subtly transferred from one body to another. This can occur over very long distances, even millions of miles, and through a vacuum. We can understand this characteristic of resonance by considering the acoustic interaction between two tuning forks (fig. 10.3). The precondition for resonance between the two is that they must have precisely the same natural frequency.
Suppose that tuning fork 1 is vibrating with a large amount of energy. Its vibrating energy will gradually dissipate as it pushes and pulls the air molecules surrounding it to produce acoustic waves. Tuning fork 2, which was initially silent, receives a sound signal from tuning fork 1. The pressure variations that accompany the movement of molecules in the sound wave will cause the fork to be pushed and pulled with the same frequency as tuning fork 1. As tuning fork 2 has the same natural frequency as tuning fork 1, its vibrations will continue to increase and become noticeable.
Figure 10.3. Energy incrementally transferred between tuning forks.
The mechanism outlined above allows for some of the energy in tuning fork 1 to be transferred to tuning fork 2. Eventually, all the energy in tuning fork 1 will dissipate, and it will stop vibrating. At this point, however, tuning fork 2 will have absorbed its maximum amount of energy from tuning fork 1 and will be vibrating at its maximum amplitude. This is the mechanism by which homeopathic remedies are believed to work.
At this point, the process will change direction, and the energy from the now vibrating tuning fork 2 will start to transfer back to tuning fork 1. This is another interesting phenomenon of resonance that has further implications.
Electromagnetic Waves
The preceding discussion has only looked at resonance in mechanical waves, specifically acoustic waves. The principles of resonance also apply to electromagnetic waves, allowing them to transfer energy in the same fashion. However, there are several differences between acoustic waves and electromagnetic waves, and some unique characteristics of electromagnetic waves make them more effective at transferring energy and information.
Direction of Medium Movement
The first difference lies in the direction of movement of the medium of the waves. Acoustic waves are longitudinal, while electromagnetic waves are transverse. In longitudinal waves, particles vibrate in a direction parallel to the direction that the wave is traveling. The medium can be considered to be alternating backward and forward. Conversely, the medium of a transverse wave moves in a direction perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling. For a wave traveling forward, the medium can be seen as alternating left and right or up and down. Therefore, transverse waves possess a polarization plane, which is perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling, while longitudinal waves do not. The polarization plane is the direction of oscillation. For example, if you imagine a rope being moved up and down to produce a wave, the polarization plane would be vertical. For electromagnetic waves, the situation is even more complicated. An electromagnetic wave is composed of two transverse waves, an electric wave and a magnetic wave, that are perpendicular to one another (fig. 10.4).
Figure 10.4. An electromagnetic wave: the E axis shows the electrical field while the H axis shows the magnetic field.
Visible light, an electromagnetic wave, is transverse in nature and has a polarization plane. Experts in optics have harnessed these characteristics for a variety of practical applications. One example is an instrument that uses light to measure sugar concentration in water. Sugar molecules rotate the plane of polarization, so the greater the concentration of sugar, the more the plane is rotated.
Figure 10.4 shows an electromagnetic wave’s two transverse waves: the electrical wave on the E axis and the magnetic wave on the H axis. They are traveling together, and their planes of polarization are perpendicular to one another. This means that electromagnetic waves are capable of carrying more information, thereby conveying more subtlety. If we employ the analogy of music, if it were possible to create music with electromagnetic waves, the sound created would be much richer.
Speed of Wave Propagation
Electromagnetic waves are also considerably faster than acoustic waves. Acoustic waves travel at a speed of 650 to 1,000 feet per second in air and about 5,000 feet per second in metal, while electromagnetic waves travel at a speed of 1 billion feet per second. It is possible to appreciate the scale of the difference by considering the following example. If you sat in the middle seat of the front row of a theater for a broadcast concert, you might think you are the first person to hear the music. However, someone sitting next to their radio at home will hear it before you. The microphone is much closer to the singer than you are, and the whole process of transforming the acoustic waves of the music into electromagnetic waves, broadcasting them via radio to the listener’s home, and the radio transforming the electromagnetic waves back into acoustic waves will take less time than it takes the acoustic waves to travel the distance to your seat.
Vacuum as a Medium
The final and perhaps greatest difference between electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves is that they use completely different media. The medium for the acoustic wave is air, which is composed of molecules. An acoustic wave moves through the combined oscillations of a multitude of air molecules. Visualizing such a mechanism is relatively straightforward if we imagine molecules as small solid balls. Acoustic wave couldn’t exist without air molecules or some other material medium. In other words, acoustic waves cannot exist in a vacuum. In contrast, electromagnetic waves not only exist in vacuums, they travel around the world and across the vastness of the universe in vacuums. In other words, the vacuum is the medium for the electromagnetic wave. It is what enables them to transfer energy and information.
It is conceptually challenging, even for physicists, to accept the counterintuitive notion that the vacuum, which means nothingness, could play the role of medium in propagating waves. It is why scientists, near the end of the nineteenth century, started to search for the medium that was nothingness. They called the assumed medium “ether” and tried to study its structure and its coefficient of elasticity, and to measure its speed of movement. They failed to measure the speed of the ether and found that the speed of light, the electromagnetic wave, is somehow always the same in a vacuum, completely independent of the speed of the assumed ether. The strong characteristic of the ether, namely the constant speed of electromagnetic waves, is the fundamental axiom of Einstein’s theory of relativity. In fact, the theory of relativity was only a by-product of research on the medium of electromagnetic waves. The theory of relativity is more than a hundred years old, and the original goal, to find the medium, is still not achieved—physicists have forgotten that the theory of relativity stemmed from this research, and the original question remains open.
Physicists are aware that the so-called ether is, perhaps, only vacuum, and so vacuum is the medium of electromagnetic waves. The vacuum is also the essence of the universe. Electromagnetic waves are only ripples in the vacuum, and particles are only wave packets, not the solid balls we once imagined. In other words, everything in the universe is a vacuum fluctuation, nothing more. The latest understanding of physics of the vacuum corresponds to the fundamental belief of Buddhism that “nothing is everything and everything is nothing.” When high-energy physicist Fritjof Capra pointed out that the development of modern physics parallels Eastern mysticism and the basic principle of Buddhism, many conventional physicists found it highly provocative.
The widely accepted scientific theory of the Big Bang also describes the universe as starting from an explosion that was a vacuum fluctuation. In the philosophy of ancient India, the world began with a sound. In light of our understanding of physics, this sound can be interpreted as an electromagnetic vibration rather than an acoustic wave; this Indian philosophy could be regarded as an ancient version of the Big Bang theory.
In the Bible’s Book of Genesis, we find that the creation of light, namely electromagnetic waves or vacuum fluctuation, happened long before the creation of the sun, stars, earth, and moon. It also means that the creation of electromagnetic waves was much earlier than solid molecules. In other words, the process of the Big Bang is a new and detailed version of the first part of Genesis.
However, I digress. The beginning of the world is not the subject of this book. What can be established is that for all the depth and complexity that acoustic music possesses, electromagnetic waves are capable of weaving a far more complex and nuanced harmony. Our bodies and other living organisms already exhibit electromagnetic music that is much richer and more charming than what is heard in concert halls. If we designate the music of concert halls as “physical” or “material” music, we might call the electromagnetic music in living systems “ethereal music” or “spirit music,” since the medium of this music is the ether, the vacuum, or nothingness. Unlike acoustic music, which is limited to the atmosphere of our planet, electromagnetic music exists not only in living creatures but throughout the universe. This correlates with the idea that “heaven and human beings are united,” fundamental to Classical Chinese Medicine and other holistic health systems.
Transferring Information by Means of Waves and Resonance
Nowadays, the term information is fashionable. Many even refer to the current era as the “information age.” Information technology has been the leading industry in the last twenty years and will continue to be important in the foreseeable future.
Given this focus on information, it is quite ironic that no one can definitively state what information is. The founder of information theory, American mathematician Claude E. Shannon (1916–2001), defined information as the “degree of surprise.”2 Cofounder Norbert Wiener (1894–1964), also a mathematician, stated, “Information is neither material nor energy. Information is information.”3 These two definitions, unfortunately, do not provide any clear explanation of the essence of information, and the situation has not been clarified in recent times. In fact, information is even more intangible than energy or the vacuum.
Practically, it is possible to avoid contemplating the essential nature of information and instead think of information as messages, or signals, that can be written with a pen on paper. That said, the paper and the words are only the carriers, or the medium, of information, not the information itself. Accordingly, many other media, including a variety of different waves, can perform the role of information carrier.
In radio broadcasting, the fundamental frequency of the radio wave is referred to as the carrier wave. This is subsequently modulated by a signal that transforms it into a modulated carrier wave that is broadcast into the environment, as shown at the top of figure 10.5. Radio receivers then pick up this modulated wave and remove the carrier wave, leaving only the original signal. This procedure, shown at the bottom of figure 10.5, is called filtering.
Vocal communication employs essentially the same technique. The acoustic waves generated by the throat serve as the carrier waves, which are then modulated by the tongue, teeth, and lips to create the modulated waves we call language, which transfers information to others. The listener performs the procedure of demodulation—they receive the signals with their ears and filter out the carrier wave with the brain to understand the information in the language.
Modulation is not the only method to send information with waves. For example, there is no procedure of modulation in Morse code or in contemporary digital communication. In these cases, models based on two alternative values—“yes” or “no,” dot or dash, 0 or 1—are sufficient for effective communication. The role of this form of communication in living systems, within the body or between bodies, can also be considered.
Selecting Information by Means of Resonance
In postal communication, the sender denotes the corresponding receiver using a written address on the envelope. Similarly, chemical communication in living systems employs specific chemical configurations on membrane of macromolecules, such as antibodies and hormones, to encode the address. In fixed-line phone communication, the sender and receiver are connected through wires. Nerve fibers perform the same role in the body.
Wireless communication relies on a feature of resonance to enable the sender to find the appropriate receiver. The sender and its receiver make use of the similarity or identity of their natural frequencies to ensure that the receiver is attuned to the sender’s frequency. In light of this, it is instructive to reexamine the fundamental principle of homeopathic remedies: similarity, which corresponds to the resonance effect in waves.
From the discussion of resonance at the beginning of the chapter it is apparent that, in the case of acoustics, in order for tuning fork 1 to be able to transfer energy to tuning fork 2 (fig. 10.3), they must possess exactly the same fundamental frequency. This is usually achieved by making the two forks structurally identical. The same principle applies in electromagnetic wave communication, although the sender and the receiver can have completely different appearances. The upper part of figure 10.6 shows the considerable size difference between the antennae of a sender and a receiver. Nevertheless, their internal oscillating circuits, shown at the bottom of figure 10.6, which govern their electromagnetic natural frequency, are identical.
Figure 10.6. Oscillating circuits (bottom) of a sender (left) and receiver (right).
In terms of physics, a mechanical oscillator like a tuning fork and an electronic oscillating circuit work according to similar principles. Both require the sender and receiver to have identical natural frequencies, a precondition for resonance and the key to wireless communication.
Multi-Resonance Communication
Wireless communication is one of the wonders of the modern era. Mobile phones allow us to converse with our families and friends from virtually anywhere in the world. What we currently take for granted is a privilege, a technological wonder that even emperors and kings of earlier eras would be unable even to imagine.
While the contribution made by modern electronics to our lives is already profound, the marvels produced have only harnessed a small part of the possibilities offered by resonance and wireless communication. For the most part, current mobile communication technologies make use of a single frequency, which represents only the simplest situation: single-resonance communication.
Multi-resonance communication means that both sender and receiver simultaneously employ multiple frequencies for wireless communication. This enables them to transfer much more energy and information than single-resonance communication. The recent development of mobile broadband is an example of multi-resonance put into effect. Multi-resonance communication can transfer significantly more complex information with much weaker signals than single-resonance. Also, as discussed below, it offers a possible mechanism for remote communication between minds.
In terms of multi-resonance communication, our bodies and those of many living creatures are more advanced than modern technology. Some of the phenomena in alternative forms of medicine, which exist beyond the framework of molecular biology, might be attributable to multi-resonance communication.
A Possible Mechanism of Homeopathy
According to British physicist Cyril W. Smith, there are many tiny “coherence regions” in water that allow information from the homeopathic remedy to be stored in the form of tiny standing waves.4 The mechanism of homeopathy can be likened to the resonance between tuning forks described in figure 10.3, with the coherence region corresponding to tuning fork 2, which is able to absorb energy from tuning fork 1. Tuning fork 1 can be regarded as the pathogenic information infecting the patient. In a similar way, the homeopathy remedy can remove the harmful information from the patient. While the interaction between the tuning forks is only single-resonance and very simple compared to the complex multi-resonance interaction between a homeopathic remedy and a patient, the underlying principles are the same.
The coherence regions that Smith proposes are small sections of water. They contain an immense number of infinitesimally small oscillators, operating like tiny tuning forks, which serve to store vibrating information. This internal complexity gives it the ability to store incredibly complicated information. The tiny vibration amplitudes of these small oscillators result in very slow decay speeds for the oscillations. This allows homeopathy remedies to be stored at room temperature for years. However, for reasons that are not completely understood, temperatures above 158 degrees Fahrenheit damage the coherence regions.
The Possibility of Remote Communication through the Mind
Before undertaking any discussion about the possibility of remote mind communication, I have to confess my reluctance to voice my opinion publicly on this matter for more than fifteen years before the publication of this book. In other words, this represents the first time I have gone on record with my speculation on the matter.
From the viewpoint of theoretical physics, an interaction is occurring between minds because of the huge number of oscillators sending and receiving electromagnetic waves in each person’s mind. However, as technology has not been able to create a sender or receiver with anywhere near as many oscillators, mainstream science does not believe that our minds are capable of organizing all these interactions into meaningful communication.
China has been experiencing a large-scale movement called Qigong. The name Qigong is a broad term describing an array of practices involving meditation and meditative movement that often involve some religious aspects, and some practitioners claim abilities in foretelling the future and in remote mind communication. In my opinion, any movement of such size will involve a number of charlatans, and the opinion of a university physics professor in support of the concept of remote mind communication could be employed to provide the appearance of scientific support to their propaganda. I have been deeply concerned about my words being used to this end.
It must be emphasized that the possibility of the existence of remote communication through the mind is still in the realm of theoretical reasoning, not at the stage of experimental application. The requisite precondition—that all natural frequencies in both the sender and receiver be identical—is tremendously difficult to achieve.
Near the end of World War II, vast numbers of German soldiers died in Russia. Many of their mothers knew the exact date when their sons died, and subsequent death notices confirmed the information they had received by “intuition” or the so-called “sixth sense.” From the viewpoint of multi-resonance, it is understandable that there must be many identical oscillating circuits between a mother and her son—circuits that give them some special ability to communicate with very weak signals.
Experiments with ultra-weak luminescence show that during the death of a living system, the strength of bioluminescence increases several thousand times. The strength of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the dying soldiers could conceivably have increased several thousand times. This would have made it easier for their mothers to receive the signals.
In a simplified scenario, scientists at Stanford University and Princeton University have performed experiments over several decades that demonstrate that the human mind has the ability to influence random number generators in computers.5
What Is Belief?
The differences between Eastern and Western thought are now quite well known. Part of this difference is evident in how each system poses questions about the same thing. The typical Western question is, “What is reality?” This is a great question, and the spirit behind it led to modern science in the West. I was comprehensively educated with this spirit and its accompanying questions since childhood, even though I am Eastern.
Given this scientific background, thirty years ago, when people asked me, “Do you believe in Qigong?” I was irritated, even angry—I considered it an irrational question. At the time I thought the appropriate question was, “Do you think Qigong is real or not?”
However, I later discovered that the question “What do you believe?” is much more fundamental than “What is reality?” It is impossible for human beings to get the real picture of reality. What we usually refer to as “reality” is only a construct formed by our mind, rather than by reality itself. As Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838–1916) pointed out, our image of reality is only an analysis and synthesis of perceptions rather than actual reality.6 Even so, the question about belief is not useful for the development of science, at least not in its early stages.
Approximately one hundred years ago a group of physicists, including Mach, Heisenberg, Bohr, and Schrödinger, found that it is impossible for human beings to observe the true nature of reality. What we can achieve is only analysis and organization of our feelings, and consistent interpretation of experimental results and our feelings. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the wave-particle duality of light. Depending on the design of the experiment, light will behave as either waves or particles. Belief plays a key role in the process of analyzing and organizing our experiences and feelings. In the words of Heisenberg, “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our mode of questioning.”7 Even in the time of the New Testament, Paul said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”8 Two thousand years later, arguably the same understanding was achieved again and stated more clearly by Heisenberg.
Perhaps discussing such a fundamental problem in physics lies beyond the scope of this book. However, every psychologist and meditation therapist knows that belief, or faith, plays a key role in therapy. The importance of belief in medical practice necessitates discussion about its nature. Growing numbers of medical doctors have lobbied for increased research into the placebo effect, because as many as 25 percent of patients taking placebos have positive health responses.
It is possible to consider belief as a kind of resonance, or in terms of electronics, a kind of tuning procedure. Take the traditional television set as an example: if you set your television to channel 1, your set firmly believes only channel 1. It receives all the information from channel 1 while simultaneously rejecting any information from the other channels. In other words, channel 1 is the faith of your television set. If you then switch to channel 2, your television becomes a convert to the channel 2 faith. At this point, all information being beamed on channel 2 is received, while anything broadcast on any other channel, including information from its original beliefs, channel 1, is rejected.
The power of belief in is evident throughout the history of humanity. It has had the power to unite groups as well as to lead them to war. Similarly, in medicine and health care, varying beliefs and faiths can lead our minds and bodies into turmoil or into a state of coherence and harmony. Two thousand years ago, the classic Chinese medical text, the Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine, pointed to defective mental states as the source of all diseases. In modern times, however, this lesson eludes us.