Can thought, intention, and emotion influence the physical world? Many people believe that they can, but scientific models for testing and quantifying this idea often fall short. Classical physics has been very successful at understanding the physical nature of the universe, yet this world-view assumes that reality is limited to matter.

This leaves classical physics ill-equipped to measure or quantify non-physical phenomena. This has led to a movement towards post-material science. If you experience intuition and other non-physical phenomena, you will be excited to learn that science is beginning to validate this realm. You will be inspired to explore the quantum ways that you are connected with the entire universe

Spiritual practices like meditation, qigong, and yoga were considered forms of science long before Newton inspired classical physics. Quantum Physics flirts with realms of mystery that were traditionally reserved for mystics. There is no need to be on the sidelines as an observer because there are a few very interesting research projects happening in the interstices between science and spirituality which we will explore below.

Today we have an unprecedented opportunity to participate in this historic process that integrates physics, consciousness, and group meditation.

Why Post Material Science?

Classical Newtonian Physics is primarily focused on the material world, yet consciousness studies are one of the cutting edges of scientific research. This calls for a new paradigm that allows mind, consciousness, and non-material phenomena to be accepted into the equation of reality, while finding adequate means to study and quantify them.

A leading group of well-respected scientists came together in 2014 and presented a Manifesto for Post-Materialistic Science as a solution to the limitations of classical physics. As with any new field of inquiry, it is not without controversy, and is upsetting to some members of the scientific status quo.

“Major advances in science — revolutions, even — follow the collapse of outworn paradigms, whose overthrow is forced by the accumulation of empirical evidence that violates the paradigm.” –Dave Pruett, Former NASA researcher; Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, James Madison University

How Science Arrived at the Doorstep of Spirituality

The first echoes of the need for a new paradigm that addresses the non-physical realty came from Einstein in the early 1930’s. In his research, he observed something so bizarre that he could barely believe what he was seeing. He called it “spooky action at a distance”, which later became two of the main concepts studied in the quantum information sciences, known as entanglement and non locality. 

Entanglement occurs when two particles are so deeply linked (by a quantum field) that one particle can instantaneously (meaning faster than the speed of light!) influence the other even at great distances non-locally. This implies that the physical distance between the particles is irrelevant, thus a quantum leap in our idea of what is possible.

“The shift from materialistic science to post-materialistic science may be of vital importance to the evolution of human civilization. It may be even more pivotal than the transition from geocentrism to heliocentrism.”

A Manifesto for Post-Materialistic Science

Though this phenomena is not fully understood, it is accepted in quantum mechanics. Maybe you have experienced a moment where you randomly thought of a loved one that you hadn’t thought about in a long time, then the phone rings and you pick it up to hear their voice? These sorts of “synchronicities” happen often for many people, yet may be hard to prove exactly why or how they happen. Quantum physics is at the very beginning of exploring this phenomena that is has usually been called coincidence…until now.

“Without the spiritual world the material world is a disheartening enigma.” – Joseph Joubert

Research Science Meets Meditation, Human Intention, and Consciousness

Bill Tiller, Fellow to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and Chairman Emeritus of Stanford University’s Department of Materials Science, spent 34 years in academia after 9 years as an advisory physicist with the Westinghouse Research Laboratories. He has published over 250 conventional scientific papers, 3 books and several patents. As a renowned scientist, he is also a strong advocate for meditation, non-physical science, and spirituality. He has coined the term Psychoenergetic Science to describe his work that combines consciousness and science.

“For the last four hundred years, an unstated assumption of science is that human intention cannot affect what we call ‘physical reality.’ Our experimental research of the past decade shows that, for today’s world and under the right conditions, this assumption is no longer correct. We humans are much more than we think we are and Psychoenergetic Science continues to expand the proof of it.” – Dr. Bill Tiller

Tiller is convinced that intention can influence physical substances and he hasdeveloped a crystalline-based silicon technology that can capture and store an intention directed by a group of meditators. This energetic intention resonates at a frequency that can be recorded or broadcast to achieve a designated effect in people. 

Early research with this technology in his lab at Stanford, as well as labs in London and Berlin, indicates the ability of directed human intention to increase or lower the pH of water by 1 point, the growing of larvae at a 30% increased rate, and the killing of bacteria at a 30% increased rate. This implies some sort of non-physical, non-local connection between intention and these physical substances.

Addressing Scepticism

As with any new field of study there will be successes and failures. Scientists are vulnerable to the weaknesses that we all experience. Denial of facts, confirmation bias, resistance to new ideas, etc. are issues that scientists from the old and the emerging paradigm will need to address. Vigorous research can be expensive and funding can be hard to find for theories that are unconventional.

So yes, there will be skeptics and there will also be new discoveries that topple long-held beliefs about humans, the universe, and what is possible. Just as Einstein was baffled and skeptical of his own observations of entanglement, we are all liable to have our preconceived notions challenged and overturned by this emerging field of non-material science.

What About Love?

We all exist within a larger field of energy, a quantum field. Perhaps love, intention, and emotion are entwined within this mysterious field? We have the ability to access various internal states of consciousness through meditation and mindfulness, we can alter our social relationships, and potentially we can shift things on a global scale. This process begins within, is deepened with personal practice, and is celebrated in the larger community that is engaging in these ancient practices.

We may finally start to see scientific validation for the unseen realms that many of us feel intuitively. Hopefully we will also begin to experience quantum shifts in the world around us as we deepen our understanding. We are not alone, and the boundaries where we begin or end as physical, emotional, and electrical beings is constantly being redefined by science. Unity consciousness may be a scientific law waiting to be discovered…