Free Will Versus Fate

 

Quantum

HEALTH

34 Quantum Health

 

Quantum

HEALTH

Quantum Health 35

Who among us hasn't grappled with the question

of free will versus fate? Can we really have what

we want, as the so-called Law of Attraction

suggests? If so, then a lot of us are asking, as an

old American commercial advertisement once did,

"Where's the beef?" whatever the "beef" is for us

individually-true love, radiant health, financial

security, world peace. . . .

The majority of conventional scientists and

skeptics shake their heads, dismissing the

question as metaphysical talk or writing books

about scientific illiteracy, bemoaning how

superstitious the public has become in the face

of the deep uncertainties and chaos of the

twenty-first century. However, a growing number

of scientists are taking the question of free will

versus fate (indeterminism versus determinism)

seriously. And even more are willing to finally

allow consciousness into the discussion of what

the nature of the universe is and what impact

consciousness may have on reality (meaning the

manifest world of matter).

So I'd like to mull over selected aspects of the

debate about the Law of Attraction. In the

process, I hope to encourage your own deeper

thinking about how the worlds of science,

psychology and spirit might intersect and

affect your relationship to the universe. Let's

agree upfront that there is plenty of room for

debate-this is all speculation, since we don't

know what the ultimate nature of the universe is.

However, it doesn't appear to be a great machine.

It appears to be more like a great mind or an

interactive web of relationships. We humans may

be primary movers and shakers via the influence

of our consciousness. So let's take a look at a

few aspects of the Law of Attraction and sort out

what may be at play behind these "secrets" of a

possibly participatory universe.

"

The troublesome aspect of the Law of Attraction is

how often it appears to fail

"

Joan Parisi Wilcox

Author of Masters

of the Living Energy:

The Mystical World

of the Q'ero of Peru,

Ayahuasca:The Visionary

and Healing Powers of

the Vine of the Soul, and

co-author of Decoding

the Human Body-Field:

The New Science of

Information as Medicine

You and the

Universe

By Joan Parisi Wilcox

 

I've barely scratched the surface of some of the

"rules" of the Law of Attraction, but you get the

picture.

The troublesome aspect of the Law of Attraction

is how often it appears to fail. The world is full of

disease, poverty, war, natural disasters, crime, and

a whole lot of other things we all claim we don't

want. So why are they such a pervasive aspect of

human reality? Of course, that question is one of

the perennial questions, and many wise men and

women have had a lot to say about it, so I won't

go into this here. However, there are some more

manageable aspects of the "appears not to work"

problem that are worth looking at briefly, if only

to extend our thinking about what may underlie

the ancient belief that "we are not in the world,

the world is in us."

Digging Deeper into the Law of

Attraction

Let's look at three aspects of the Law of

Attraction in particular. I'll start with the less

weighty question: Is it enough to simply want

something? This question grows out of the

bullet point (left) that says anything is possible

and everything is available, and only we set the

limits of what we get. This is where psychology

comes into play. If there is one aspect of human

psychology that gets short shrift in the Law of

Attraction literature it is that you might not even

know what you really want!

The fact is that most of us are run by our

subconscious programs, and until we align our

deepest subconscious beliefs with our conscious

desires, we won't be sending harmonious

messages out to the universe. In any conflict

between your subconscious and conscious

minds, you can be sure that your subconscious

will win. That's why we don't stay on our

diets, forgive those who have hurt us, easily

overcome dysfunctional family patterns, heal

ourselves from disease, et cetera. Programs such

as PSYCH-K, the Belief-Change Process, neuro-

linguistic programming and others all help us

assess our subconscious beliefs and shift them.

Until we merge our "two minds" to create

one harmonious resonance pattern, we can't

really expect much pay off from all our positive

affirmations, focused intentions, prayers and the

like.

What Is the Law of Attraction?

Most of the champions of the popular

understanding of the Law of Attraction

espouse some or all of the beliefs listed

below, which is a compilation that is

representative, not exhaustive, of their beliefs

and claims.

• The universe is inherently conscious or

has some form of responsive information-

field activity.

• Human consciousness is a field of

information and energy that can resonate

with the universal field and so affect it.

• Like attracts like. What we attract to

us is determined by the conscious and

unconscious thoughts and intentions

that we broadcast to the universe,

matching resonance pattern with

resonance pattern.

• Shift your focused awareness, and you

shift what you manifest.

• Anything is possible and everything is

available. The only limits are those you

place upon yourself.

• Feelings and emotions increase the

"magnetic" pull of attraction, so the

more negative you feel, the more

negativity you draw into your life;

conversely, the happier and more

optimistic you are, the more positive will

be your manifestations.

• Putting action behind your intentions

intensifies the attraction and the speed at

which manifestation may occur.

• Those occurrences you label as "bad"

or even "tragic" may actually be blessings

in disguise and can be opportunities if

you choose to see them that way. At the

very least, you are responsible for how

you react to whatever happens to you or

around you.

• There are no accidents.

Nothing is truly random.

 

In addition to directing your attention and asking

for what you want, a second consideration is

that you also have to believe that what you are

asking for is available and then accept it when

it arrives. It's amazing how many of us think we

want something and then when we can have

it, we reject it. This schism too is attributable

to a misalignment between our conscious and

subconscious programming.

Let me provide a personal example. There was a

time when I was "asking the universe" for a way

to get to Peru to conduct interviews for a book.

I didn't have the money for the expensive plane

ticket. A friend heard about my desire, called me

and offered her frequent flyer miles. I immediately

said "Thank you very much, that is so kind of

you, but I couldn't possibly. . . ." I was robotically

playing out an old family pattern of not imposing

on others, of not taking too much, of having

to do it myself. However, within moments of

hanging up the phone, I was able to muster the

self-awareness to recognise my subconsciously

controlled rote response. I quickly called my friend

back and said, "Thank you so much. Let's book

the flight for Friday." You probably have a story

like this of your own. The point is that if we don't

get what we want, sometimes the universe is

not at fault. There's the asking and then there's

the receiving, and they are two very different

psychological states of mind.

A third aspect the Law of Attraction, and perhaps

one of the most controversial, is the idea that

there are no accidents and nothing is random.

This belief is troublesome especially in healing

because it infers that we cause our diseases

and misfortunes ourselves, and if we don't heal

ourselves, it's our failure. Also inferred in this

aspect of the Law of Attraction is the idea that we

each have a destiny-that there is a plan for each

of our lives. In some respects these two aspects of

the Law of Attraction are yoked-you can't have

one without the other. In other respects, they are

contradictory. So what gives? This is a huge topic,

so we'll take only a cursory look at how we might

resolve the contradiction.

Despite what many reporters of near-death

experiences tell us, and what many gurus, saints

and shamans have espoused about each of us

having an individual life plan that we are here

in the physical to remember and follow, the

universal plan may have a few kinks in it. The

universal plan, if there is one, appears to make

room for an infinite number of contingencies,

which is tantamount to saying that there really is

nothing called "fate." To be fair, there are a lot of

nuances in how people talk about free will versus

fate (indeterminism versus determinism). Fate, or

pure determinism, is classical Newtonian science.

If we knew the initial state of every particle in

the universe, we would be able to know with

precision the unfolding story of the universe,

down to the smallest detail in the plot line.

Inherent in quantum mechanics, however, is the

Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, which says that

probability is inherent in the universe. At the level

of the vacuum or zero-point field, virtual particles

pop in and out of existence for stunningly brief

periods of time and entirely at random. This

activity creates a frothy, teeming field of energy

and information that is the deepest, most

fundamental nature of the universe.

So, according this interpretation of quantum

mechanics, probability, which we can call

randomness for the sake of convenience, is a rule

of the cosmic game, especially if the universe is

really an enormous holographic information field,

as many physicists have come to think. So there

are accidents (probability, randomness) in nature.

And there are many good reasons why we want

randomness to be a characteristic of the universe.

Not the least of those reasons is that randomness

allows for creativity. Creativity arises from novelty,

which you can't have without at least a little bit

of randomness. Since using free will is nothing if

not a creative act, it follows that randomness also

allows for free will, which most of us believe we

have and wouldn't want to give up.

That said, I am aware of the chess analogy that

is often used to explain how both fate and

randomness might be at play in the universe and

our lives. It goes something like this: In the game

of chess, the end point or goal is always check

mate. But there are an infinite number of moves

that can get you there. This analogy basically

says, "There's a general plan for your life, but

how you carry it out in all its detail is up to you."

Or "The universe is teleological, but exactly how

it will get where it's going is anyone's guess."

There's a lot of wiggle room in such a belief. Yet,

 

the bottom line is that you can't have free will

without randomness or probability as an inherent

aspect of nature and life, and along with it comes

"accidents," which are beyond our control no

matter how focused our awareness or intention.

When it comes to health, especially mind-body

medicine, accident versus accountability is a

hot topic. Can we heighten our self-healing

capabilities using our mind? Are the diseases we

get partly determined by our emotions, thoughts

and beliefs? Or is our health profile determined

only by our genes? It turns out that "bad genes"

factor into only about five to ten percent of cases

of the diseases that kill most of us, such as heart

disease and cancer, so something other than pure

genetic determinism appears to be at work. Each

of our 23,500 genes can make tens of thousands

of proteins-and proteins are the workhorses

of the body-although the average is about five

different proteins. Still, that level of malleability

in gene expression leaves a lot of room for

variability. The new biology, especially epigenetics,

is telling us that our environment directly

influences the expression of our genes. Our

thoughts, as part of our internal environment,

may do so as well. Our lifestyles, emotional states,

relationships, social networks, and other such

"soft factors" also play major roles in determining

the state of our health. So our mind may indeed

have a direct impact on our health.

That said, the body is an intricate dynamic entity,

as mesmerising in its complexity as the universe.

Correlations are difficult to determine, never mind

causes and effects. So, even as I use my mind

to maintain good health and "intend" what I

want in life, I try to remember that randomness

and probability are essential features of nature

when I hear of a child or a Buddhist master dying

of cancer, a friend killed in a car accident, or a

tsunami wiping out dozens of coastal villages. . . .

The Vast, Interconnected Universe

Scientists and philosophers alike say that revealed

truth is beautiful and simple, especially in the

mathematical expression of the laws of the

nature. But to me, there's not much that is

simple about the Law of Attraction. We each

are sending out personal resonance patterns

(the information and energy resonances of our

thoughts, intentions, etc.) to which the universe

can respond, yet we are relational creatures, so

our individual lives are not really so individual.

We are enmeshed in a web of relationships with

other conscious beings, each of whom is sending

out his or her own resonance patterns, some of

which strengthen our own patterns and some of

which dampen them. Our collective global reality

is even more complex, with a mind-boggling

number of messages being broadcast. It is a given

then that when you intend something, what you

get back might not look like what you think it

should. It's sort of like when you mix blue paint

and yellow paint. You don't get a pot of paint

with merged but distinct blue and yellow areas.

You get green paint.

Still, for all its apparent complexity and

acknowledging all the unknowns surrounding

the nature of the universe and the Law of

Attraction, I choose to favour the notion of a

participatory universe - and not only for personal

reasons. Frontier science suggests as much.

The newest research across the board - from

genetics to neurophysiology to psychology to the

paranormal to physics - suggests that our minds

may influence matter in ways we once never

thought possible. Mind affecting matter may

be a lot more complex an interaction than the

popular champions of the Law of Attract admit,

but at the very least, as a worldview, believing

in a participatory universe - of which the Law of

Attraction is a part - helps us to heighten our

sense of self while also acknowledging that we

are part of a grand web of being. It asks that we

take greater responsibility for the condition of

our own lives and the state of the world. It helps

us ask the right kind of questions about where

we are and where we are headed, and to find a

personal stake in the unfolding of our collective

future. As German writer Johann Goethe once

penned, "Let everyone sweep in front of his own

door and the whole world will be clean." Digging

deeper into the nuances of the Law of Attraction

may be an effective way for millions of us to

clean our inner and outer houses, and so make a

positive impact on the unfolding of our lives and

perhaps even the evolution of the universe.

Quantum

HEALTH

34 Quantum Health

 

Quantum

HEALTH

Quantum Health 35

Who among us hasn't grappled with the question

of free will versus fate? Can we really have what

we want, as the so-called Law of Attraction

suggests? If so, then a lot of us are asking, as an

old American commercial advertisement once did,

"Where's the beef?" whatever the "beef" is for us

individually-true love, radiant health, financial

security, world peace. . . .

The majority of conventional scientists and

skeptics shake their heads, dismissing the

question as metaphysical talk or writing books

about scientific illiteracy, bemoaning how

superstitious the public has become in the face

of the deep uncertainties and chaos of the

twenty-first century. However, a growing number

of scientists are taking the question of free will

versus fate (indeterminism versus determinism)

seriously. And even more are willing to finally

allow consciousness into the discussion of what

the nature of the universe is and what impact

consciousness may have on reality (meaning the

manifest world of matter).

So I'd like to mull over selected aspects of the

debate about the Law of Attraction. In the

process, I hope to encourage your own deeper

thinking about how the worlds of science,

psychology and spirit might intersect and

affect your relationship to the universe. Let's

agree upfront that there is plenty of room for

debate-this is all speculation, since we don't

know what the ultimate nature of the universe is.

However, it doesn't appear to be a great machine.

It appears to be more like a great mind or an

interactive web of relationships. We humans may

be primary movers and shakers via the influence

of our consciousness. So let's take a look at a

few aspects of the Law of Attraction and sort out

what may be at play behind these "secrets" of a

possibly participatory universe.

"

The troublesome aspect of the Law of Attraction is

how often it appears to fail

"

Joan Parisi Wilcox

Author of Masters

of the Living Energy:

The Mystical World

of the Q'ero of Peru,

Ayahuasca:The Visionary

and Healing Powers of

the Vine of the Soul, and

co-author of Decoding

the Human Body-Field:

The New Science of

Information as Medicine

You and the

Universe

By Joan Parisi Wilcox

 

I've barely scratched the surface of some of the

"rules" of the Law of Attraction, but you get the

picture.

The troublesome aspect of the Law of Attraction

is how often it appears to fail. The world is full of

disease, poverty, war, natural disasters, crime, and

a whole lot of other things we all claim we don't

want. So why are they such a pervasive aspect of

human reality? Of course, that question is one of

the perennial questions, and many wise men and

women have had a lot to say about it, so I won't

go into this here. However, there are some more

manageable aspects of the "appears not to work"

problem that are worth looking at briefly, if only

to extend our thinking about what may underlie

the ancient belief that "we are not in the world,

the world is in us."

Digging Deeper into the Law of

Attraction

Let's look at three aspects of the Law of

Attraction in particular. I'll start with the less

weighty question: Is it enough to simply want

something? This question grows out of the

bullet point (left) that says anything is possible

and everything is available, and only we set the

limits of what we get. This is where psychology

comes into play. If there is one aspect of human

psychology that gets short shrift in the Law of

Attraction literature it is that you might not even

know what you really want!

The fact is that most of us are run by our

subconscious programs, and until we align our

deepest subconscious beliefs with our conscious

desires, we won't be sending harmonious

messages out to the universe. In any conflict

between your subconscious and conscious

minds, you can be sure that your subconscious

will win. That's why we don't stay on our

diets, forgive those who have hurt us, easily

overcome dysfunctional family patterns, heal

ourselves from disease, et cetera. Programs such

as PSYCH-K, the Belief-Change Process, neuro-

linguistic programming and others all help us

assess our subconscious beliefs and shift them.

Until we merge our "two minds" to create

one harmonious resonance pattern, we can't

really expect much pay off from all our positive

affirmations, focused intentions, prayers and the

like.

What Is the Law of Attraction?

Most of the champions of the popular

understanding of the Law of Attraction

espouse some or all of the beliefs listed

below, which is a compilation that is

representative, not exhaustive, of their beliefs

and claims.

• The universe is inherently conscious or

has some form of responsive information-

field activity.

• Human consciousness is a field of

information and energy that can resonate

with the universal field and so affect it.

• Like attracts like. What we attract to

us is determined by the conscious and

unconscious thoughts and intentions

that we broadcast to the universe,

matching resonance pattern with

resonance pattern.

• Shift your focused awareness, and you

shift what you manifest.

• Anything is possible and everything is

available. The only limits are those you

place upon yourself.

• Feelings and emotions increase the

"magnetic" pull of attraction, so the

more negative you feel, the more

negativity you draw into your life;

conversely, the happier and more

optimistic you are, the more positive will

be your manifestations.

• Putting action behind your intentions

intensifies the attraction and the speed at

which manifestation may occur.

• Those occurrences you label as "bad"

or even "tragic" may actually be blessings

in disguise and can be opportunities if

you choose to see them that way. At the

very least, you are responsible for how

you react to whatever happens to you or

around you.

• There are no accidents.

Nothing is truly random.

 

In addition to directing your attention and asking

for what you want, a second consideration is

that you also have to believe that what you are

asking for is available and then accept it when

it arrives. It's amazing how many of us think we

want something and then when we can have

it, we reject it. This schism too is attributable

to a misalignment between our conscious and

subconscious programming.

Let me provide a personal example. There was a

time when I was "asking the universe" for a way

to get to Peru to conduct interviews for a book.

I didn't have the money for the expensive plane

ticket. A friend heard about my desire, called me

and offered her frequent flyer miles. I immediately

said "Thank you very much, that is so kind of

you, but I couldn't possibly. . . ." I was robotically

playing out an old family pattern of not imposing

on others, of not taking too much, of having

to do it myself. However, within moments of

hanging up the phone, I was able to muster the

self-awareness to recognise my subconsciously

controlled rote response. I quickly called my friend

back and said, "Thank you so much. Let's book

the flight for Friday." You probably have a story

like this of your own. The point is that if we don't

get what we want, sometimes the universe is

not at fault. There's the asking and then there's

the receiving, and they are two very different

psychological states of mind.

A third aspect the Law of Attraction, and perhaps

one of the most controversial, is the idea that

there are no accidents and nothing is random.

This belief is troublesome especially in healing

because it infers that we cause our diseases

and misfortunes ourselves, and if we don't heal

ourselves, it's our failure. Also inferred in this

aspect of the Law of Attraction is the idea that we

each have a destiny-that there is a plan for each

of our lives. In some respects these two aspects of

the Law of Attraction are yoked-you can't have

one without the other. In other respects, they are

contradictory. So what gives? This is a huge topic,

so we'll take only a cursory look at how we might

resolve the contradiction.

Despite what many reporters of near-death

experiences tell us, and what many gurus, saints

and shamans have espoused about each of us

having an individual life plan that we are here

in the physical to remember and follow, the

universal plan may have a few kinks in it. The

universal plan, if there is one, appears to make

room for an infinite number of contingencies,

which is tantamount to saying that there really is

nothing called "fate." To be fair, there are a lot of

nuances in how people talk about free will versus

fate (indeterminism versus determinism). Fate, or

pure determinism, is classical Newtonian science.

If we knew the initial state of every particle in

the universe, we would be able to know with

precision the unfolding story of the universe,

down to the smallest detail in the plot line.

Inherent in quantum mechanics, however, is the

Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, which says that

probability is inherent in the universe. At the level

of the vacuum or zero-point field, virtual particles

pop in and out of existence for stunningly brief

periods of time and entirely at random. This

activity creates a frothy, teeming field of energy

and information that is the deepest, most

fundamental nature of the universe.

So, according this interpretation of quantum

mechanics, probability, which we can call

randomness for the sake of convenience, is a rule

of the cosmic game, especially if the universe is

really an enormous holographic information field,

as many physicists have come to think. So there

are accidents (probability, randomness) in nature.

And there are many good reasons why we want

randomness to be a characteristic of the universe.

Not the least of those reasons is that randomness

allows for creativity. Creativity arises from novelty,

which you can't have without at least a little bit

of randomness. Since using free will is nothing if

not a creative act, it follows that randomness also

allows for free will, which most of us believe we

have and wouldn't want to give up.

That said, I am aware of the chess analogy that

is often used to explain how both fate and

randomness might be at play in the universe and

our lives. It goes something like this: In the game

of chess, the end point or goal is always check

mate. But there are an infinite number of moves

that can get you there. This analogy basically

says, "There's a general plan for your life, but

how you carry it out in all its detail is up to you."

Or "The universe is teleological, but exactly how

it will get where it's going is anyone's guess."

There's a lot of wiggle room in such a belief. Yet,

 

the bottom line is that you can't have free will

without randomness or probability as an inherent

aspect of nature and life, and along with it comes

"accidents," which are beyond our control no

matter how focused our awareness or intention.

When it comes to health, especially mind-body

medicine, accident versus accountability is a

hot topic. Can we heighten our self-healing

capabilities using our mind? Are the diseases we

get partly determined by our emotions, thoughts

and beliefs? Or is our health profile determined

only by our genes? It turns out that "bad genes"

factor into only about five to ten percent of cases

of the diseases that kill most of us, such as heart

disease and cancer, so something other than pure

genetic determinism appears to be at work. Each

of our 23,500 genes can make tens of thousands

of proteins-and proteins are the workhorses

of the body-although the average is about five

different proteins. Still, that level of malleability

in gene expression leaves a lot of room for

variability. The new biology, especially epigenetics,

is telling us that our environment directly

influences the expression of our genes. Our

thoughts, as part of our internal environment,

may do so as well. Our lifestyles, emotional states,

relationships, social networks, and other such

"soft factors" also play major roles in determining

the state of our health. So our mind may indeed

have a direct impact on our health.

That said, the body is an intricate dynamic entity,

as mesmerising in its complexity as the universe.

Correlations are difficult to determine, never mind

causes and effects. So, even as I use my mind

to maintain good health and "intend" what I

want in life, I try to remember that randomness

and probability are essential features of nature

when I hear of a child or a Buddhist master dying

of cancer, a friend killed in a car accident, or a

tsunami wiping out dozens of coastal villages. . . .

The Vast, Interconnected Universe

Scientists and philosophers alike say that revealed

truth is beautiful and simple, especially in the

mathematical expression of the laws of the

nature. But to me, there's not much that is

simple about the Law of Attraction. We each

are sending out personal resonance patterns

(the information and energy resonances of our

thoughts, intentions, etc.) to which the universe

can respond, yet we are relational creatures, so

our individual lives are not really so individual.

We are enmeshed in a web of relationships with

other conscious beings, each of whom is sending

out his or her own resonance patterns, some of

which strengthen our own patterns and some of

which dampen them. Our collective global reality

is even more complex, with a mind-boggling

number of messages being broadcast. It is a given

then that when you intend something, what you

get back might not look like what you think it

should. It's sort of like when you mix blue paint

and yellow paint. You don't get a pot of paint

with merged but distinct blue and yellow areas.

You get green paint.

Still, for all its apparent complexity and

acknowledging all the unknowns surrounding

the nature of the universe and the Law of

Attraction, I choose to favour the notion of a

participatory universe - and not only for personal

reasons. Frontier science suggests as much.

The newest research across the board - from

genetics to neurophysiology to psychology to the

paranormal to physics - suggests that our minds

may influence matter in ways we once never

thought possible. Mind affecting matter may

be a lot more complex an interaction than the

popular champions of the Law of Attract admit,

but at the very least, as a worldview, believing

in a participatory universe - of which the Law of

Attraction is a part - helps us to heighten our

sense of self while also acknowledging that we

are part of a grand web of being. It asks that we

take greater responsibility for the condition of

our own lives and the state of the world. It helps

us ask the right kind of questions about where

we are and where we are headed, and to find a

personal stake in the unfolding of our collective

future. As German writer Johann Goethe once

penned, "Let everyone sweep in front of his own

door and the whole world will be clean." Digging

deeper into the nuances of the Law of Attraction

may be an effective way for millions of us to

clean our inner and outer houses, and so make a

positive impact on the unfolding of our lives and

perhaps even the evolution of the universe.