Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00352)

JRC:

A fine job showing the actual implications of the Heisenberg principle of
indeterminacy, and I take no issue with how you've presented it.  I am one of
those poor Theosophists with a math and science background that has lain
fallow for many years, finding myself hopelessly outdated ...

But the statement that was at the heart of what I was trying to say follows,
as well as your response:

> >MIND is what has a huge impact on matter and the course of
> >evolution.  One can look at these experiments in quantum physics
> >and be very impressed by the fact that HPB knew and discussed
> >this decades before the actual proof came to us Westerners.

JRC:
>      I'd very much like to hear the "proof" that "MIND" has a
> "huge"  impact on matter and the course of evolution.

Wow.  I can think of so many directions to go for this "proof."  First off, I
believe there ARE quantum experiments which show that the OBSERVATION itself
has a "fixing" quality to it, along the lines of the post Bee put up a few
days ago about "measuring."  And I have heard rumors of studies that show
that statistically, the attitudes and predictions the scientist make can
actually RETROACTIVELY effect the outcome of an experiment, in essence
CHANGING THE PAST, or at least what we thought of as "past."  Perhaps I am
wrong on this, you probably know better than I.  But the following list
suggests research on the mind and its PHYSICAL effects quite outside of
quantum mechanics:

1) Psycho-somatic illnesses
2) Bio-feedback studies
3) Psychokinesis studies
4) Spontaneous remission of cancer/etc. following intense meditations or
systems like "A COURSE IN MIRACLES"
5) The "hundredth monkey" effect (i.e. a so-called "critical mass" is
achieved in consciousness which snow-balls into large-scale societal and even
physical transformations)
6) Rupert Sheldrake, Michael Polanyi et. al. and the hypothesis of
"morphogenetic fields" where species-wide consciousness alters the course of
that species' evolution
7) Martial arts and the projection of "chi" by mental effort
8) Mesmerism and hypnosis
9) paranormal phenomena manifested by religious adepts (e.g. Satya Sai Baba's
ash, HPB's Simla tea-cup, etc. etc. etc.)  There's a HUGE list of this kind
of stuff, traditional and current
10) placebo effects in medicine
11) faith healing/spiritual healing
12) psychotherapy and imagery practice

One excellent source, especially for bibliography and documented cases is
Michael Murphy's nearly thousand page tome, THE FUTURE OF THE BODY.

Coupled with the broad mind-based philosophy put forth by HPB in her Secret
Doctrine, with its special and explicit emphasis on the Yogacara/Cittamatra
("mind-only") school of Buddhism, I think there is a fairly substantial case
that HPB and her Teachers believed and taught that mind was the central force
in human evolution, it was for the development of Manas that spirit
incarnated in matter in our series of globes, and that HPB foreshadowed so
much of the mind-body work being done this century.

Indeed, HPB wrote, that perhaps her S.D. was a work not of the 19th, but of
the 20th century, and even here, in our 20th century, the work would be only
"partially vindicated." (in the preface to the Secret Doctine, I think, I
forget exactly what page)

I for one think it is hard to say she spoke untruth here, the results are all
around us.