CHAPTER TWO
Over the course of more than two and a half million trials: R. G. Jahn et al., “Correlations of Random Binary Sequences with Pre-stated Operator Intention: A Review of a 12-Year Program,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 11, no. 3 (1997): 345–67; Dean Radin and Roger Nelson, “Evidence for Consciousness-Related Anomalies in Random Physical Systems,” Foundations of Physics 19, no. 12 (1989): 1499–1514; Lynne McTaggart, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe (New York: HarperCollins, 2002): 116–17.
The late William Braud, a psychologist and the research director: William Braud and Marilyn Schlitz, “A Methodology for the Objective Study of Transpersonal Imagery,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 3, no. 1 (1989): 43–63; W. Braud et al., “Further Studies of Autonomic Detection of Remote Staring: Replication, New Control Procedures and Personality Correlates,” Journal of Parapsychology 57 (1993): 391–409; M. Schlitz and S. La Berge, “Autonomic Detection of Remote Observation: Two Conceptual Replications,” in D. Bierman, ed., Proceedings of Presented Papers: 37th Annual Parapsychological Association Convention (Fairhaven, MA: Parapsychological Association, 1994): 465–78.
During the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s: F. Sicher et al., “A Randomized Double-Blind Study of the Effect of Distant Healing in a Population with Advanced AIDS: Report of a Small Scale Study,” Western Journal of Medicine 168, no. 6 (1998): 356–63. For a full description of the studies, see McTaggart, The Field, 181–96.
The Transcendental Meditation organization, founded by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: M. C. Dillbeck et al., “The Transcendental Meditation Program and Crime Rate Change in a Sample of 48 Cities,” Journal of Crime and Justice 4 (1981): 25–45.
His batch of mediums turned out to have an accuracy rate of 83 percent: G. Schwartz et al., “Accuracy and Replicability of Anomalous After-Death Communication Across Highly Skilled Mediums,” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 65 (2001): 1–25.
Popp gave his discovery the ponderous title of “biophoton emissions”: For a full description of F. Popp’s earlier work, see McTaggart, The Field, 39.
For our trial run, we aimed to replicate the pilot study: For a complete recounting of that first experiment, see Lynne McTaggart, The Intention Experiment (New York: Free Press, 2007), 177.
CHAPTER THREE
And this time, a few scientists had navigated a path of sorts before us: B. R. Grad, “A Telekinetic Effect on Plant Growth,” International Journal of Parapsychology, 5 (1963): 117–33; B. R. Grad, “A Telekinetic Effect on Plant Growth II. Experiments Involving Treating of Saline in Stopped Bottles,”International Journal of Parapsychology 6 (1964): 473–98; S. M. Roney-Dougal and J. Solfvin, “Field Study of Enhancement Effect on Lettuce Seeds: Their Germination Rate, Growth and Health,” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 66 (2002): 129–43; S. M. Roney-Dougal and J. Solfvin. “Field Study of an Enhancement Effect on Lettuce Seeds—Replication Study,”Journal of Parapsychology 67, no. 2 (2003): 279–98.
The quality and rhythms of emissions significantly changed: E. P. A. Van Wijk and R. Van Wijk, “The Development of a Bio-Sensor for the State of Consciousness in a Human Intentional Healing Ritual,” Journal of International Society of Life Information Science 20, no. 2 (2002): 694–702.
It was the Intention Experiment’s first attempt: G. E. Schwartz et al., “Effects of Distant Group Intention on the Growth of Seedlings,” Emerging Paradigms at the Frontiers of Consciousness and UFO Research, Society of Scientific Exploration 27th Annual Meeting, June 25–28, 2008, Boulder, CO.
Once they have connected: Non-locality was considered to be proven by Alain Aspect et al.’s experiments in Paris in 1982. See A. Aspect et al., “Experimental Tests of Bell’s Inequalities Using Time-Varying Analyzers,” Physical Review Letters 49 (1982): 1804–7; and A. Aspect, “Bell’s Inequality Test: More Ideal Than Ever,” Nature 398 (1999): 189–90.
A few studies with crystals and algae have hinted: See Lynne McTaggart, The Bond: Connecting Through the Space Between Us (New York: Free Press, 2011), chapter 1.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kirlian made big claims for this light: S. D. Kirlian and V. K. Kirlian, “Photography and Visual Observation by Means of High-Frequency Currents,” Journal of Scientific and Applied Photography 6 (1964): 397–403.
He’d written five books on the subject: Korotkov’s most important works on the subject were Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography (Paramus, NJ: Backbone Publishing Company, 2002) and Aura and Consciousness—New Stage of Scientific Understanding (St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg division of Russian Ministry of Culture, State Publishing Unit “Kultura,” 1999).
By 2007, the GDV device was widely used as a general diagnosis tool: L. W. Konikiewicz and L. C. Griff, Bioelectrography—A New Method for Detecting Cancer and Body Physiology (Harrisburg, PA: Leonard’s Associates Press, 1982); G. Rein, “Corona Discharge Photography of Human Breast Tumour Biopsies,” Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research 10 (1985): 305–308; K. Korotkov, “Stress Diagnosis and Monitoring with New Computerized ‘Crown-TV’ Device,” Journal of Pathophysiology 5 (1998): 227; K. Korotkov et al., “Assessing Biophysical Energy Transfer Mechanisms in Living Systems: The Basis of Life Processes,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10, no. 1 (2004): 49–57; P. Bundzen et al., “New Technology of the Athletes’ Psycho-Physical Readiness Evaluation Based on the Gas-Discharge Visualisation Method in Comparison with Battery of Tests,” “SIS-99” Proceedings, International Congress, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1999: 19–22; P. V. Bundzen et al., “Psychophysiological Correlates of Athletic Success in Athletes Training for the Olympics,” Human Physiology 31, no. 3 (2005): 316–23; K. Korotkov et al., “Assessing Biophysical Energy Transfer Mechanisms in Living Systems: The Basis of Life Processes,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10, no. 1 (2004): 49–57.
Outside Russia, thousands of medical practitioners were using his machines: Clair A. Francomano, MD, Wayne B. Jonas, MD, and Ronald A. Chez, Proceedings: Measuring the Human Energy Field: State of the Science, The Gerontology Research Center, National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, April 17–18, 2002.
While Korotkov enjoys the notoriety he has achieved with these practical applications: S. Kolmakow et al., “Gas Discharge Visualization Technique and Spectrophotometry in Detection of Field Efffects,” Mechanisms of Adaptive Behavior, Abstracts of International Symposium, St. Petersburg (1999): 79. Also, multiple interviews with K. Korotkov dating from March 2006.
Korotkov wrote a book about his discoveries: (Please see Korotkov, Aura and Consciousness, in first note for page 41 above.)
Two Italian physicists at the Milan Institute for Nuclear Physics: E. Del Giudice, G. Preparata, and G. Vitiello, “Water as a Free Electric Dipole Laser,” Physical Review Letters 61, no. 9 (1988): 1085–88.
As Russian scientists have observed: L. P. Semikhina and V. F. Kiselev, “Effect of Weak Magnetic Fields on the Properties of Water and Ice,” Soviet Physics Journal 31, no. 5, (1988): 351–54, trans. from Zavedenii, Fizika no. 5 (1988): 13–17; S. Sasaki et al., “Changes of Water Conductivity Induced by Non-Inductive Coil,” Society for Mind-Body Science 1 (1992): 23.
and more recently, Luc Montagnier, the Nobel laureate: C. Cardella et al., “Permanent Changes in the Physico-Chemical Properties of Water Following Exposure to Resonant Circuits,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 15, no. 4 (2001): 501–18; L. Montagnier et al. “DNA Waves and Water,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 306, no. 1 (2011): 012007; L. Montagnier et al., “Electromagnetic Signals Are Produced by Aqueous Nanostructures Derived from Bacterial DNA Sequences,” Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences. 1 (2009): 81–90. Also, I. Bono et al., “Emergence of the Coherent Structure of Liquid Water,” Water 4 (2012): 510–32.
His equipment has been able to distinguish the infinitesimal differences: K. Korotkov, “Aura and Consciousness,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 9, no. 1 (2003): 25–37; K. Korotkov et al., “The Research of the Time Dynamics of the Gas Discharge Around Drops of Liquid,” Journal of Applied Physics 95, no. 7 (2004): 3334–38.
Dr. Emoto had become well-known for a series of informal experiments: Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water (New York: Atria Books, 2005).
As outrageous as his work seemed: D. I. Radin et al., “Effect of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation,” Explore 2, no. 5 (September/October 2006): 408–11; D. I. Radin et al., “Water Crystal Replication Study,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 22, no. 4 (2008): 481–93.
They even challenged certain Newtonian laws: The full title of Newton’s major treatise is Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, a name that offers a nod to its philosophical implications, although it is typically referred to reverentially as The Principia.
CHAPTER FIVE
Many researchers still take the lead from Stonehenge’s first archaeologist: W. Stukeley, Stonehenge, a Temple Restor’d to the British Druids. London: Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, 1740. 12, as cited in http://www.voicesfromthedawn.com/stonehenge/
“The whole purpose of Stonehenge is that it was a prehistoric Lourdes”: H. Wilson, “The Healing Stones: Why Was Stonehenge Built?”, February 17, 2011. BBC History website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/healing_stones.shtml; also author’s interview with Timothy Carvill, January 26, 2016.
Arthurian legend of the Round Table: Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedia Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy (New York: TarcherPerigee, 2003), 584–91.
A number of other practices offered some parallels with the psychic internet: Interview with Jan-Klaas Bakker, October 7, 2016.
Many books of the Bible, such as Acts, Ezra, and Jonah: Specifically, those sections Acts 13:1–23, Ezra 8:22–23, and Jonah 3:6–10, as pointed out in Seven Benefits of Praying Together by Dr. Jonathan Oloyede, http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/646259/dd-explore-devotion-sevenbenefitsofprayingtogether-0912.pdf. For material on St. Teresa de Ávila, see Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul (London: HarperOne, 2007): 284.
When studying uses of group prayer in Christianity: C. Spurgeon, “The Church on Its Knees: Unleashing the Power of United Prayer,” as reproduced on http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/the-church-on-its-knees-unleashing-the-power-of-united-prayer.
The Authorized King James version of the Bible: Here and elsewhere in this book, I am referring to R. Carroll and S. Prickett, eds. The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Elsewhere it has been translated to mean “with one mind and with one passion”: C. Spurgeon, “The Church on Its Knees”; for all Greek translations of homothumadon I am indebted to http://biblehub.com/greek/3661.htm.
The nineteenth-century American Presbyterian pastor and biblical scholar Albert Barnes: Here and elsewhere in this chapter I am indebted to http://www.studylight.org/commentaries for such a thorough round-up of the most notable commentary on the Acts and homothumadon; A. Barnes, “Commentary on Acts 1:14,” Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001). http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-1.html.1870.
Praying in this manner may have brought the apostles closer: R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and D. Brown, “Commentary on Acts 1:14.” Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Volume 3, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 16, 2017); http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fju/acts-1.html. 1871–78.
Seventeenth-century English nonconformist theologian Matthew Poole: M. Poole, “Commentary on Acts 1:14.” M. Poole, Annotations upon The Holy Bible: Wherein The Sacred Text Is Inserted, and Various Readings Annexed, Together With the Parallel Scriptures, Arkose Press, 2015. http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/acts-1.html. 1685.
British clergyman, dean of Canterbury, and archdeacon: “Commentary on Acts 1:14.” “Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges.” http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/acts-1.html.
More recently, Peter Pett, a retired Baptist minister and university lecturer: P. Pett, Commentary on Acts 1:4, Peter Pett’s Commentary on the Bible, http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/acts-1.html.
Presbyterian minister and former US Senate chaplain Lloyd Ogilvie: Lloyd John Ogilvie, Drumbeat of Love (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1976), 19–20.
As congregations we cannot be empowered until we are of one mind and heart: Ogilvie, Drumbeat, 20.
If so, one word that appears is kahda: Matthew Black, An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing, 1967), 10.
In Luke (9:1), Jesus gave his apostles “power and authority: Luke (9:1–2) and Matthew (10:1) and (10:8).
In Acts, a “multitude out of the cities”: Acts of the Apostles (5:16).
In his commentary, the eighteenth-century British Methodist biblical scholar Adam Clarke also noted about homothumadon: A. Clark, “Commentary on Acts 2:4,” The Adam Clarke Commentary. http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-2.html.
I thought about the words of Clarke: http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/acts-2.html.
I looked up the biblical Greek word ekklésia: Carroll and. Prickett, Bible, op. cit. For definitions of ekklésia: http://biblehub.com/greek/1577.htm.
When the TM organization rolled out the study: M. C. Dillbeck et al., “The Transcendental Meditation Program and Crime Rate Change in a Sample of 48 Cities,” Journal of Crime and Justice 4 (1981): 25–45.
They’d also been able to show that: J. Hagelin et al., “Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Preventing Violent Crime in Washington, DC: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June–July 1993,” Social Indicators Research 47, no. 2 (1999): 153–201.
The organization had even experimented with attempts to lower conflict in the Middle East: W. Orme-Johnson et al., “International Peace Project in the Middle East: The Effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 32 (1988): 776–812. 69 Despite these first inroads, in 2008 there was still no end in sight: “Sri Lanka’s Return to War: Limiting the Damage,” Asia Report, no. 146 (February 20, 2008): http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/47bc2e5c2.pdf.
CHAPTER SEVEN
On their side, the Tamil Tiger rebels repulsed an army advance: Paul Tighe, “Sri Lanka Battles Tamil Rebels in Land, Air and Sea Attacks,” Bloomberg.com (September 18, 2008): http://ourlanka.com/srilankanews/sri-lanka-battles-tamil-rebels-in-land-air-and-sea-attacks-bloomberg.com.htm.
After all, the Sri Lankan government’s army had increased in size: Sarath Kumara, “Fighting intensifies as Sri Lankan army advances on LTTE stronghold,” September 29, 2008, World Socialist Website, http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/09/sril-s29.html.
CHAPTER EIGHT
It is the moment when, as Saint Teresa de Ávila wrote: T. Butler-Bowdon, 50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom from 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose (London: Nicolas Brealey, 2005), 255; M. Beauregard and D. O’Leary, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul (London: HarperOne, 2007), 191.
The Course in Miracles refers to it: The Course in Miracles, London: Arksana, 1985; 280.
At the end of his life, psychologist Abraham Maslow turned his attention: A. H. Maslow, Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences (Stellar Books, 2014), 33.
Most mystical experiences include a profoundly physical component: Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation (London: Hay House, 2016), 40.
He’d had the sensation of being part of an enormous force field: For a full description of Edgar Mitchell’s epiphany, see Lynne McTaggart, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), 6–7.
In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James described: William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: New American Library, 1958), 67, quoted in Andrew M. Greeley, Ecstasy: A Way of Knowing (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1974), 8–9.
It was Greeley’s view that anyone undergoing this state: A. Greeley, The Sociology of the Paranormal (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1975), as quoted in J. Levin and L. Steele, “The Transcendent Experience: Conceptual, Theoretical, and Epidemiologic Perspectives,” Explore 1, no. 2 (2005): 89–101.
CHAPTER NINE
But Enlightenment is something else: Andrew Newberg, MD, and Mark Robert Waldman, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation (London: Hay House, 2016), 43.
Newberg discovered that feelings of calm, unity, and transcendence: Andrew Newberg, Why God Won’t Go Away (New York: Ballantine, 2001), 103.
“At the moment they experienced a sense of oneness or loss of self”: Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 53.
The person,” wrote Newberg later: Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 52.
Ultimately, the meditators and praying nuns experienced: Newberg, Why God Won’t Go Away, 118–19.
“Normally, there’s a constant dialogue going on”: Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 94.
enlarging it “until it becomes perceived by the mind”: Newberg, Why God Won’t Go Away, 121–22.
He distances himself from the strict materialists: Newberg, Why God Won’t Go Away, 126–27.
Could the altered state have been set off by the music I’d been playing: K. Livingston, “Religious Practice, Brain, and Belief,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 5 (2005): 1–2.
Church members describe the experience as the words: Andrew Newberg, MD, and Mark Robert Waldman, Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth (New York: Free Press, 2006), 195.
As with his earlier studies, Newberg discovered a sudden drop in frontal lobe activity: Why God Won’t Go Away, 200–205.
In her classic book Mysticism Evelyn Underhill writes: Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1912).
From a neurological point of view, as Newberg describes it: Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 91.
CHAPTER TEN
Dr. Andrew Newberg once carried out a survey of more than two thousand people: Andrew Newberg, MD, and Mark Robert Waldman, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation (London: Hay House, 2016), 91.
As Abraham Maslow wrote, this is “the way the world looks”: As quoted in J. Levin and L. Steele, “The Transcendent Experience: Conceptual, Theoretical, and Epidemiologic Perspectives,” Explore 1, no. 2 (2005): 89–101.
Andrew Greeley discovered that people who had undergone a mystical experience: Andrew M. Greeley, Ecstasy: A Way of Knowing (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1974).
Newberg had also discovered evidence that people who experienced: Newberg, Why God, 108; Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 64–65.
In fact, in one study, terminal cancer patients who had undergone: E. C. Kast, “Attenuation of Anticipation: A Therapeutic Use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.” Psychiatry Quarterly 41 (1967): 646–57.
The scientific literature contains many case studies of patients: J. Levin and L. Steele, “The Transcendent Experience.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In the Hindu tradition, the point of yoga (union): J. Levin and L. Steele, “The Transcendent Experience: Conceptual, Theoretical, and Epidemiologic Perspectives,” Explore 1, no. 2 (2005): 89–101.
As noted social commentator Barbara Ehrenreich recounts: Barbara Ehrenreich, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (London: Granta Books, 2007).
Even modern secular group rituals such as those used at a camp: G. Harris, “Healing in Feminist Wicca,” in L. L. Barnes and S. S. Sered, eds, Religion and Healing in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 258–61.
Deborah Glik, a professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of South Carolina: D. C. Glik, “Symbolic, Ritual and Social Dynamics of Spiritual Healing,” Social Science & Medicine, 27 no. 11 (1988): 1197–1206.
Ted Kaptchuk, director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies: Both quotations from T. J. Kaptchuk, “Placebo Studies and Ritual Theory: A Comparative Analysis of Navajo, Acupuncture and Biomedical Healing,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366 (2011): 1849–58.
These kinds of practices are so powerfully effective, he wrote: Kaptchuk, “Placebo Studies.”
So removing people from their day-to-day environment: Robbie Davis-Floyd, “Research Paper on Rituals,” unpublished, citing: Eugene G. d’Aquili et al., The Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979).
Indeed, Kaptchuk claims that placebo effects: Kaptchuk, “Placebo Studies.”
“Once the individuals are gathered together, a sort of electricity”: E. Durkheim, Les Formes Élémentaires de la Vie Religieuse (Paris: F. F. Alcan, 1915), as quoted in R. Fischer et al., “The Fire-Walker’s High: Affect and Physiological Responses in an Extreme Collective Ritual,” PLoS One 9, no. 2 (2014): e88358.
Durkheim also argued that once an individual experienced this state: As noted by J. Haidt et al., “Hive Psychology, Happiness, and Public Policy,” Journal of Legal Studies 37, no. S2 (June 2008): S133–S156.
The scientists concluded that a key ingredient in the association: S. Tewari et al., “Participation in Mass Gatherings Can Benefit Well-Being: Longitudinal and Control Data from a North Indian Hindu Pilgrimage Event,” PLoS One 7, no. 10 (2012), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047291.
Native Maoris report getting a “fire walker’s high”: Fischer et al., “The Fire-Walker’s High.”
Even group events using repetitive sounds like drumming: B. Bittman et al., “Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapy on Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects,” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 7, no. 1 (2001): 38–47.
According to Dr. Stanley Krippner, professor of psychology: S. Krippner in Marilyn Schlitz et al., Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine (Atlanta, GA: Elsevier, 2005), 179.
Cosmic Consciousness spills over into everyday life: F. Travis, “Transcendental Experiences during Meditation Practice,” Annals of New York Academy of Science: Advances in Meditation Research: Neuroscience and Clinical Applications 1307 (2014): 1–8; F. Travis, and J. Shaw, “Focused Attention, Open Monitoring and Automatic Self-Transcending: Categories to Organize Meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese Traditions,” Consciousness and Cognition 19 (2010): 1110–19.
Acting in synchrony, engaging in a common intention statement: P. Reddish et al., “Let’s Dance Together: Synchrony, Shared Intentionality and Cooperation,” PLos One 8, no. 8 (2013), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071182; S. S. Wiltermuth and C. Heath, “Synchrony and Cooperation,” Psychological Science 20, no. 1 (2009): 1–5, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02253.x.
Harvey Whitehouse, a statutory chair of social anthropology at University of Oxford: Q. D. Atkinson and H. Whitehouse, “The Cultural Morphospace of Ritual Form,” Evolution and Human Behavior 32, no. 1 (2011): 50–62.
For instance, in research examining the level of stress: M. P. Aranda,“Relationship Between Religious Involvement and Psychological Well-Being: A Social Justice Perspective,” Health and Social Work 33, no. 1 (2008): 9–21; M. P. Aranda et al., “The Protective Effect of Neighborhood Composition on Increasing Frailty Among Older Mexican Americans: A Barrio Advantage?” Journal of Aging and Health 23, no. 7 (2011): 1189–1217.
In his research on many religious faiths, Jeff Levin has discovered: J. Levin, “How Faith Heals: A Theoretical Model,” Explore 5, no. 2 (2009): 77–96.
Many experts on the mystical experience concur: J. Levin, interview with author, September 2, 2015; Beauregard and O’Leary, The Spiritual Brain, 291.
Maslow says that those undergoing this experience invariably feel: Maslow, Religion, Values, and Peak-Experiences (Stellar Classics, 1964); E. Underhill, Mysticism.
The Indian guru Sri Aurobindo once claimed that “bringing down” the “supermind”: S. Aurobindo and Kamaladevi R. Kunkolienker, “From ‘Mind’ to ‘Supermind’: A Statement of Aurobindonian Approach,” The Paideia Project On-line, Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy (Boston, MA, August 10–15, 1998); https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Mind/MindKunk.htm.
The feeling of perfect integration, symbolized by a giant circle: D. Meintel and G. Mossière, “Reflections on Healing Rituals, Practices and Discourse in Contemporary Religious Groups,” Ethnologies 33, no. 1 (2011): 19–32.
People who can trust others enough to be vulnerable enjoy improvements in immune function: J. W. Pennebaker, “Writing about Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process,” Psychological Science 8 (1997): 162–66; J. W. Pennebaker and M. E. Francis, “Cognitive, Emotional, and Language Processes in Disclosure,” Cognition and Emotion 10, no. 6 (1996): 601–26, as referenced in J. Levin, “How Faith Heals: A Theoretical Model.”
Pennebaker has also studied the social dynamics of opening up: H. Dienstfrey, “Disclosure and Health: An Interview with James W. Pennebaker,” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine 15, no. 3 (1999): 161–63.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A number of laboratory experiments had demonstrated: Carroll B. Nash, “Test of Psychokinetic Control of Bacterial Mutation,” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 78 (1984): 145–52.
Water is a chemical anarchist, behaving like no other liquid in nature: E. Stanley, “Liquid Water: A Very Complex Substance,” Pramana Journal of Physics 53, no. 1 (1999): 53–83.
It is most of what we’re made of (humans are about 70 percent water): London South Bank University has a very good rundown of water’s anarchic behavior: www.lsbu.ac.uk/water.
Rusty and his coauthors had synthesized all current research: R. Roy et al. “The Structure of Liquid Water: Novel Insights from Materials Research: Potential Relevance to Homeopathy,” Materials Research Innovations 9, no. 4 (2005): 1433-075X.
“It is this range of very weak bonds”: Email correspondence with R. Roy, spring 2009.
Canadian studies had shown that when water used to irrigate plants: B. Grad, “Dimensions in ‘Some Biological Effects of the Laying on of Hands’ and Their Implications,” in H. A. Otto and J. W. Knight (eds.), Dimension in Wholistic Healing: New Frontiers in the Treatment of the Whole Person (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979): 199–212.
and Russian research demonstrated when healing is sent to a sample of water: L. N. Pyatnitsky and V. A. Fonkin, “Human Consciousness Influence on Water Structure,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 9, no. 1 (1995): 89.
In deciding on this equipment, Rusty had been inspired: L. Zuyin, Scientific Qigong Exploration (Malvern, PA: Amber Leaf Press, 1997), as reported in R. Roy et al., “The Structure of Liquid Water: Novel Insights.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The slowest-growing plant was watered by the vial: B. Grad, “The ‘Laying on of Hands’: Implications for Psychotherapy, Gentling and the Placebo Effect,” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 61, no. 4 (1967): 286–305.
A statistical analysis on these numbers reached borderline significance: The statistical analysis on our results was (p < 0.07), which reached borderline significance because p < 0.05 is the minimum considered statistically significant.
There was a precedent for using thoughts to affect pH: W. Tiller et al., Conscious Acts of Creation: The Emergence of a New Physics (Walnut Creek, CA: Pavior Publishing, 2001), 175, 216.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ten months later, Lissa published her book: L. Wheeler, Engaging Resilience: Heal the Physical Impact of Emotional Trauma (Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2017).
“Most of the deviations are negative,” he wrote me: Nelson’s Global Consciousness Project provides a full analysis of our results: http://teilhard.global-mind.org/intention.110911-18.html.
Mohandas Gandhi, who believed that all religions “were as dear as one’s close relatives”: M. Gandhi, as quoted by http://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/01definition_of_religion.htm
“We aren’t talking about superficial team-building exercises”: Ruth Braunstein et al., “The Role of Bridging Cultural Practices in Racially and Socioeconomically Diverse Civic Organizations,”American Sociological Review 79, no. 4 (August 2014): 705–25.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In my book The Bond, I write about the discovery by Italian neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolati: V. Gallese et al., “Action Recognition in the Premotor Cortex,” Brain 119, no. 2 (1996): 593–609.
“A brain region that controls the movement of a violinist’s fingers”: M. Ricard et al., “Mind of the Meditator,” Scientific American (November 2014): 39–45.
As I discovered when I wrote about this in The Intention Experiment: McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, 70.
At this speed, the brain waves also begin synchronizing throughout the brain: McTaggart, Intention, 71.
As Davidson’s research with monks demonstrated: A. Lutz et al., “Long-Term Meditators Self-Induce High-Amplitude Gamma Synchrony during Mental Practice,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 101, no. 46 (2004): 16369–73.
After just a single week of carrying out compassionate meditation: S. Leiberg et al., “Short-Term Compassion Training Increases Prosocial Behavior in a Newly Developed Prosocial Game,” PLoS One 6, no. 3 (2011), DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0017798.
Repeatedly the brains of his listeners begin to evidence a “resonance response”: Interview with M. Beauregard, October 14, 2015.
Robert Cialdini, a psychologist formerly at the University of Arizona: R. B. Cialdini et al., “Reinterpreting the Empathy-Altruism Relationship: When One into One Equals Oneness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73, no. 93 (1997): 481–94.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
During the following eight years, he remained symptom-free: George is a pseudonym, but his story was documented by Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University and published in her book Testing Prayer: Science and Healing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012).
Although his healing had not been as immediate or dramatic: R. Clark, Changed in a Moment (Mechanicsburg, PA: Apostolic Network of Global Awakening, 2010).
“It seems, then, as if praying is more effective than being prayed for”: S. O’Laoire, “An Experimental Study of the Effects of Distant, Intercessory Prayer on Self-Esteem, Anxiety and Depression,” Alternative Therapies on Health and Medicine 3, no. 6 (1997): 19–53.
At the end of this study, he discovered that his volunteers were: K. Pellimer, “Environmental Volunteering and Health Outcomes over a 20-Year Period,” Gerontologist 50 (2010): 594–602.
When faced with each new stressful event, those who’d decided not to lend a hand: M. J. Poulin and E. A. Holman, “Helping Hands, Healthy Body? Oxytocin Receptor Gene and Prosocial Behavior Interact to Buffer the Association between Stress and Physical Health,” Hormones and Behavior 63, no. 3 (2013): 510–17; M. J. Poulin, “Volunteering Predicts Health among Those Who Value Others: Two National Studies,” Health Psychology 33, no. 2 (2014): 120–29; M. Poulin et al., “Giving to Others and the Association between Stress and Mortality,” American Journal of Public Health 103, no. 9 (2013): 1649–55.
As Father O’Laoire had discovered, directing your attention: N. Mor and J. Winquist, “Self-Focused Attention and Negative Affect: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin 128, no. 4 (2002): 638–62.
in one study of older Americans, those who gave: W. M. Brown et al., “Altruism Relates to Health in an Ethnically Diverse Sample of Older Adults,” Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 60, no. 3 (May 2005): P143–52.
And of all the religious coping behaviors relating to better mental health: H. G. Koenig, “Religious Coping and Health Status in Medically Ill Hospitalized Older Adults,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 186 (1998): 513–21.
Research from Stanford University in California of senior residents: D. Oman et al., “Volunteerism and Mortality among the Community-Dwelling Elderly,” Journal of Health Psychology 4, no. 3 (1999): 301–16.
In fact, those willing to give of their time or money: The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, “Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey,” Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, August 2000; https://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/communitysurvey/docs/survey_instrument.pdf.
When people who volunteer are surveyed: A. Luks, “Helper’s High: Volunteering Makes People Feel Good, Physically and Emotionally,” Psychology Today (October 1988).
Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at University of California at Berkeley: Dacher Keltner, Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life (New York: W. W. Norton, 2009).
A closer look at the results revealed something even more fascinating: Keltner, Born to Be Good, 232–5.
After that simple exercise, as a battery of tests revealed: C. Hutcherson et al., “Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness,” Emotions (October 2008): 720–28.
David Hamilton, the former medical researcher and author: see David Hamilton, Why Kindness Is Good for You (London: Hay House, 2010).
However, these cytokines were reduced markedly: M. Clodi et al., “Oxytocin Alleviates the Neuroendocrine and Cytokine Response to Bacterial Endotoxin in Healthy Men,” American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism 295, no. 3 (2008): E686–91; also Hamilton, Kindness, 90.
Oxytocin even plays a key role in turning undifferentiated stem cells: Hamilton, Kindness, 108.
“When Burners give of themselves and work in healing”: F. Gauthier, “Les HeeBeeGeeBee Healers au Festival Burning Man. Trois Récits de Guérison,” Ethnologies 33, no. 1 (2011): 191–217.
If you have to choose one path over the other: B. L. Fredrickson et al., “A Functional Genomic Perspective on Human Well-Being,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 110, no. 33 (2013): 13684–89.
Scientists from Boston College discovered this: P. Arnstein et al., “From Chronic Pain Patient to Peer: Benefits and Risks of Volunteering,” Pain Management in Nursing 3, no. 3 (2002): 94–103.
Those who regularly assemble in churches to pray together: H. G. Koenig et al., “The Relationship between Religious Activities and Blood Pressure in Older Adults,” International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 28 (1998): 189–213.
enjoy far stronger immune systems: H. G. Koenig et al., “Attendance at Religious Services, Interleukin-6, and Other Biological Parameters of Immune Function in Older Adults,” International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 27 (1997): 233–50.
spend far fewer days in the hospital: H. G. Koenig and D. B. Larson, “Use of Hospital Services, Religious Attendance, and Religious Affiliation,” Southern Medical Journal 91 (1998): 925–32.
and are a third less likely to die, even when all other factors are controlled: D. Oman and D. Reed, “Religion and Mortality among the Community-Dwelling Elderly,” American Journal of Public Health 88 (1998): 1469–75.
Scientists believe that those who are now age twenty: R. Hummer et al., “Religious Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality,” Demography 36 (1999): 273–85.
One study found that those living in a religious kibbutz: J. D. Kark et al., “Does Religious Observance Promote Health? Mortality in Secular vs Religious Kibbutzim in Israel,” American Journal of Public Health 86 (1996): 341–46.
An elevated IL level is a marker of one of the degenerative diseases: H. G. Koenig et al., “Attendance at Religious Services.”
Although those studies achieved statistical significance, they paled: C. G. Brown et al., “Study of the Therapeutical Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique,” Southern Medical Journal 103 (2010): 864–69.
Hell is not other people. Hell is thinking there are other people: Bryan Hubbard, The Untrue Story of You (London: Hay House, 2014).
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“When a person chooses to seek Enlightenment through a specific practice”: Andrew Newberg, MD, and Mark Robert Waldman, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation (London: Hay House, 2016), 91.
With those subjects, and indeed in most instances of contemplative prayer: Newberg and Waldman, Enlightenment, 120.
Entire areas of the two brains create synchronized patterns: U. Lindenberger et al., “Brains Swinging in Concert: Cortical Phase Synchronization While Playing Guitar,” BMC Neuroscience 10, no. 22 (2009): doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-10-22.
The same team went on to study guitarists who were improvising: V. Müller et al., “Intra- and Inter-Brain Synchronization during Musical Improvisation on the Guitar,” PLoS One 8, no. 9 (2013): e73852.
Other scientists at the University of Lancaster in the United Kingdom: E. Filho, “The Juggling Paradigm: A Novel Social Neuroscience Approach to Identify Neuropsychophysiological Markers of Team Mental Models,” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2015): 799.
“Changes in the functional state of the human body”: K. Korotkov, “Electrophotonic Analysis of Complex Parameters of the Environment and Psycho-Emotional State of a Person,” WISE Journal 4, no. 3 (2015): 49–56.
French anthropologist Laurent Denizeau: L. Denizeau, “Soirées miracles et guérisons,” Ethnologies 33, no. 1 (2011): 75–93.
In that sense, illness is not only a personal trial: My thanks to Jean Hudon, who works with my French publisher Ariane, for helping with the translation of this passage.