THE ENERGY WHICH PATTERNS RANDOMNESS
by Richard Alan Miller ©1974
Within the field of parapsychology
there exists the growing belief that we are now on the verge of discovering
a "new force" in nature. This "new force" is generally
unrecognized by conventional science, but throughout history accounts of
a strange luminous energy run like a silver thread through ancient occult
and spiritual traditions. It has become called many names: animal magnetism,
orgone, mana, prana, life force and the like (see appendix for complete
list). I believe that an important key to understanding this new force or
"energy," in reference to our present technology and sociology,
resides in the study of these ancient and spiritual traditions.
One of man's most persistent and revealing preoccupations has been his attempt to fashion for himself an adequate conceptual model of the Universe. We can trace the beginning of our development in science to the imaginative minds of the great Greek thinkers. Physical theory is usually built on observable and measurable phenomena. It concerns itself with the uniformity of behavior underlying the apparent irregularities and then expresses itself in the language of number and geometry.
Plato (427-347 B.C.), however, held that physical laws can be found from directly intuitive principles, the aim being to explain specific phenomena in the context of a philosophic system. The truth of a principle was not measured, as it is today, by its usefulness in every conceivable known or predicted physical system. As Plato states in his Phaedo:
"This was the method I adopted: I first assumed some principle, which I judged to be the strongest, and then I affirmed as true whatever seemed to agree with this, whether relating to the cause or to anything else; and that which disagreed I regarded as untrue."
The Greeks thought that metaphysics was easier than physics, and tended to deduce scientific principles from a priori conception of the nature of things. Metaphysics was the discipline which studied principles of knowledge or of being in terms of intuitive, self-evident concepts, concepts of direct "everyday" experience and analogies. Thus, physical theory to the Greeks was intelligible only in the context of a prior specific metaphysical theory.
It was not until the 16th and 17th centuries, after the great struggle of falling bodies, that these doctrines were abandoned in favor of the experimental sciences. The apparent reasons for the careful separation of metaphysics from scientific thought are purely practical; namely, we can agree about science....after due debate....whereas in metaphysics debate usually accentuates disagreement. These characteristics of science and metaphysics were unrecognized in the early days of civilized thought.
It should be noted at this time an example of an important human trait which colors all scientific work and which even the greatest thinkers can never hope to overcome entirely....we all tend to deny the importance of facts or observations not in accord with our convictions and pre-conceptions. We sometimes ignore them altogether, even though, from another point of view, they stand before our very eyes. Even the most general and modern scientific theory does not hope or even seriously attempt to accommodate every single detain of a specific case.
One is always forced to idealize the observations before attempting a match between "facts" and theory....not only because there are usually unavoidable experimental uncertainties in observations, but because conceptual schemes are consciously designed to apply to selected observations rather than to the totality or raw experience. As a consequence, the history of science is studded with cases in which it turned out too late that the neglected part of a phenomenon was actually its most significant aspect.
Today we define "energy" in modern textbooks as the "ability to do work." When a force acts against resistance to produce motion in a body, the force is said to do the work. Work is measured by the product of the force acting and the distance moved against the resistance. To complete this mess, a definition for force is needed. Force is usually now defined as "that which changes the state of rest or motion in matter, measured by the rate of change of momentum. In more general and simplified terms, "energy" is the ability to do "something" or overcome some "resistance."
Today's classical sciences has four generally recognized forms of energy. There are electromagnetic (EM), nuclear binding (short distances), neutron decay or weak energy (the force which holds the neutron together), and gravity. There are many different areas where these types of "energies" are observed but when new observations are made which do not include any of the above energies, these observations are usually either ignored or considered in error.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century the discovery of x-rays and other "invisible" radiation prompted doctors to wonder whether the concept of a "life energy" might not be a valid way of approaching health and healing. The phenomena known as "the laying on of hands" is perhaps the most common example of some force other than electromagnetic fields somehow interacting and causing changes in biological processes. Historically, the process of healing by the imposition of hands was first mentioned in Ebers Papyrus, 1552 B.C. Today we still have excellent examples of this "new energy," causing much re-evaluation on our whole concept of energy in general.
It is impossible to give a satisfactory definition of this new force but several examples where this concept is used might be useful. The most classic was that of Franz Anton Mesmer, M.D. (1773-1815).
After acquiring his Ph.D. in Philosophy, Mesmer studied Medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1766. His thesis topic: "The Influence of the Planets in the Cure of Disease." Mesmer drew freely upon the magnetic fluid theory reported by such alchemist-physicians of the preceding two centuries such as Paracelsus, Van Helmont and Robert Fludd. The fluid, which supposedly permeated all space, was said to sympathetically link all beings, inanimate objects and the stars:
"Ye grant that material nature doth daily draw down forces by its magnetism from the Superior Orbs....and that the heavens do in exchange invisibly allure something from the inferior bodies, that there may be a free and mutual passage and a harmonious concord of the members of the universe.
"How, by relation of natural things unto one another, they do, after a corporal contact or touch is made between them, operate wonderfully, and that by a magnetically concent and Spiritual Continuity....by a mutual operation at an unknown distance." (1)
Mesmer condensed his theories into 27 major postulates, the knowledge of which would constitute a new departure in Physics and universal means of healing and preserving men. Mesmer termed this new force "Animal Magnetism." A study of his theory of Animal Magnetism yields a notion very similar to that of mana held by the Malanesians.
Originally a Polynesian concept of spiritual power, mana is considered invisible, imponderable and yet powerful. Mana is derived from the divine ancestors and enters to some degree into all beings and things descended from them. The nearer this descendant is to the source, the more powerful the content of mana. A Polynesian chief who was chosen because of his close kinship with the Gods would have a greater degree of mana than a commoner. It was viewed as a type of aura pervading all objects, living or not-living.
Psychoanalysis Wilhelm Reich, M.D., addressed himself extensively to the problems related to mana and animism. He discovered what he termed the primal biological energy of the body. He termed this new energy Orgone and states that there are a number of phenomena which are "completely at variance with the theory of electromagnetic energies." His discovery led to a series of experiments and theories of orgone biophysics, the point he was trying to make was that this orgone was a new force which has not yet been described by classical physics. Reich's concept of a mass-free "primal orgone energy ocean" is akin to both the mana notion and to Mesmer's animal magnetism:
"The animist Kepler who formulated the planetary harmonic law is after centuries correct with his 'vis Animalis' which moves the planets. The same energy which governs the movement of animals and the growth of all living substances also actually moves the heavenly bodies." (2)
Reich's concept of life energy and its function is strikingly similar to those used by the various lay healers. Orgone was inimical to disease and therapeutic in itself. Diseases such as cancer were thought to exist only in an energy-depleted individual. The infusion of orgone meant normal functioning.
Baron K. von Reichenbach, a German industrialist and inventor of paraffin and creosote, made voluminous research into the problem of the vital force or Odic force, the energy which gave life. Vital force, mana and orgone were apparently the same energy, some fluid which pervaded space and was somehow transmitted from on object or person to another. The infusion meant healing and normal health. His experiments were performed on "sensitives" or those who exhibited exaggerated nervous sensitivities and were prone to nervous diseases.
J. Buchanan, M.D.
(1854) published his Neurological System of Anthropology in which he describes
an energy which was continually radiated from the human body. His view
was that this "nervous matter" was the fountain of conscious
life, and that it had a "special residence in the nerves." 
It
is precisely this concept of a nervous energy that the Western medical
science are having trouble coping with in the study of Acupuncture. Acupuncture,
with its stimulations of meridian points, is based on the existence of
a mana-like force called "Chi" or universal energy. It is for
this reason that Acupuncture has been left for so long to languish in
the realms of the occult.
If science can, in fact, demonstrate the existence of a force described in Acupuncture and as postulated by various researchers, it will then provide a clue to what transpires biophysically in the process of faith healing. It may well be that the processes and concepts which are necessary to the understanding of faith healing, as well as other paraphysical phenomena, depend on going beyond the limited categories provided by our culture.
Having learned of a practicing healer in the Seattle area, I decided to visit his rural home for a first-hand experience of this type of healing. This healer provided me with a working knowledge of his philosophy of healing and a demonstrating of how it was done. His belief is that there is a basic energy which permeates the entire universe. The healer, by the use of his hands and other means, can direct this energy from his body to one who is deficient in vital force or life energy, which is a manifestation of this energy.
The healer is also one who believes that there is a basic polarity to the human body but that it can be changed at will, especially by a magnetic operator such as himself. He proceeded to demonstrate his art by having me lay on a Physician's table while he worked. The room had a number of gadgets (known in the literature as Psionic devices) but these were not used during the demonstration. There was no special ceremony or preparation necessary. He simply proceeded to "diagnose" me with a pendulum which registered "emanations" from my body as he passed it up along my spinal column. Where the pendulum swung around in a slow, tight orbit he pronounced "low in vitality" and prone to disease. Where the oscillations were fast and described a large circumference, it was an indication of a healthy organ and freely flowing in vital force.
He then stood across the room and began to back away from me until his pendulum stopped swinging. This he explained was the limit of my "aura" of force field of my body. Apparently each individual has a different range for their force field. Most healers he said have quite large fields about their bodies and therefore are able to create more effect in other people coming within that field.
After this, he proceeded to make passes down the length of my body, between 6 and 8 inches away, explaining that the contact with my skin was unnecessary. The needed force radiated sufficiently far from his fingers to accomplish the desired act. The only discernible feelings of any kind that I experienced was a slight chill which ran down my spine. He then re diagnosed me and declared that my vitality level was higher than it was before. I did feel better and I am a skeptic.
Christian faith healers present yet another approach to contact healing. Oral Roberts technique involves preaching until he feels the "power of God" come over him. He then knows that God is ready to heal through him. Roberts defines the necessary condition as a point of contact which is usually his right hand. For Roberts, God is a being of miraculous power omnipotent and all prevailing, in whom there is unlimited supply of power available.
A very important point is now made: All through he stressed the value of the unrelenting demand upon God, instant obedience to His will and "the power of pent up emotions placed into the act of believing, God supposedly prefers to heal skeptics instead of the faithful at times." (4)
People who do get healed experience effects such as ice cold shocks, electricity, intense heat or the overwhelming sense of peace and joy which is often interpreted as Christ's presence. The sense of religious ecstasy experienced by many is also termed the presence of the Holy Spirit.
All of the lay healers and faith healers mention thus far have several important things in common:
(1) All of them postulate a universal source of power as the repository from which they draw their power or energy.
(2) All of them use a contact from of healing. The energy is somehow transmitted from them to another via movements with the body.
(3) They all attract a significant number of terminal cases.
(4) Faith, although stressed as important and desirable, is not absolutely necessary.
(5) All of the healers characteristically have the same or similar physiological sensations in those they treat.
(6) All of the healers require the use of the extrasensory faculties to communicate information and diagnoses to their consciousness.
The Greek healer
Hippocrates, revered as the Father of Medicine, is reported to have said
that disease does not appear purely as a malady (pathos) but is significantly
accompanied by an exertion (ponos) by the body itself to restore the disturbed
equilibrium of its functions. This inherent healing power is known as
the Vis Medicatrix Naturae. What we have here is a first statement of
this new form of energy, previously unrecognized by modern science. It
is an inertia of a pattern. The harmonious pattern of behavior assures
it's own continuance.
Experimentation to collect measurable are at present impossible. The problem is that this new force apparently does not use the language of the material sense but rather, relates to metaphysical concepts used before the emergence of the Scientific Method. We at present do not have any models, of wide belief, which unite the mind with the physical world. Rather, most all current beliefs are oriented around the concept that the human body is nothing more than a machine. We see this in terms of chemical therapy to the interaction of electromagnetic fields on biological/cellular processes. Everything going on in the body is explained from a strictly physical plane point-of-view.
A fundamental tenet of true medicine regards all disease as resulting from detanglements of this vital energy, which in turn produces the clinical symptoms recognized by the ordinary senses. Medicine then seeks to cure these physical aberrations by restoring the vital harmony. The healer is projecting a harmonious pattern to re balance the energy system of the patient. Unfortunately, in the present material age, this concept is regarded as an abstract idea. There is, however, nothing abstract about the healers. They do heal, manipulating "energies" not of a physical character: as we yet understand, but somehow intuitively correct from Plato's point of view.
Alternative systems or models are not being explored and discussed in the paraphysical literature in an attempt to explain these now repeatable phenomena. One model not being considered is that of Northrup and Burr, (5) Yale 1935, titled the Electrodynamic Theories of Life where they postulate the interaction electromagnetic fields with biological processes. A good review of that material in reference to today can be found in The Holographic Concept of Reality. (6) The DNA are considered grains of holographic projections of three-dimensional energy fields which direct the flow of materials and direct the structuring of the creature. I do not believe my model is this "new force" described in this paper, although the full implications are just now being explored.
Jack Sarfatti suggests that the nature of random events, the random behavior of particles in sub-quantum Brownian motion, is the sum of the observer-participators. The need for a physical model tying consciousness to the laws of Physics are never-ending. Sarfatti has suggested the possibility of some form of bio-gravitational field which is somehow connected with organic room-temperature super-conductors that may be found in biological systems. (7)
Charles Muses postulates that enzymes can selectively filter biological noise into discrete harmonics which facilitate particular chemical transactions. His work, as well as Sarfatti's, is very interesting and excites my intellect but I am wondering whether the whole concept of the Scientific Method is the correct approach.
Lawrence LeShan, in his classic book The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist, (8), formulated four ways in which "reality" is perceived in a clairvoyant state which differs from ordinary reality:
(1) The unity of things, rather than their individual aspects.
(2) Time is experienced as if past, present and future were one rather than a duration or serial.
(3) Value judgments as to the goodness or evil of any event are not considered.
(4) Information is gained not by seeing but by knowing one's unity with all things.
He maintains that whether one travels without or journeys within, whether one goes as a Physicist or mystic, the same unitive experience is seen. Throughout history this single pattern persists within all occult teaching: There is something beyond, Space, Time and Good/Evil "realities."
In a recent field trip to the Pacific coast in the state of Washington, I encountered several "Red Feather" shamans. These are individuals who can walk on fire. How they do this is up for grabs. I am reasonably sure that if I were to wire temperature measuring instrumentation to their bodies, I would find some point(s) on their body radiating heat at enormous rates. My model would be something like electrophoresis, superconductivity mechanisms within the cell. I would probably also find that these radiation points probably would correlate to Chakra points or some other metaphysical concept which is still around.
The point is that the Indian shaman who is walking on fire never heard of electrophoresis, or probably Physics, for that matter. He does it by altering his perception of "reality" through techniques of song and dance: a trance. In this state, time has no meaning (as LeShan indicates) so he really is not on the coals, and his feet are not burned. A shaman may be described as a psychically unstable person who has received a call to the religious life. As a result of this call, the man usually goes through a period of solitude or "retreat" where he then emerges with the power, real or assumed, of passing at will into a state of mental dissociation.
In that condition he is not thought, like the Pythia or the modern medium, to be possessed by an alien spirit; but his own soul is thought to leave the body and travel to distant parts, most often to the "Spirit world." He has, in essence, the capability of bilocation. From these experiences, he derives the skill in divination, religious poetry and magical medicine. He becomes the repository of supernatural wisdom. He is, in fact, in control of this "new force" in nature.
This leads to
what Don Juan calls the sorcerers' explanation. "The nagual is the
unspeakable." (9) In my own words, reality is that which cannot be
known. From studies by Ornstein to the latest theories in Physics, it
is apparent that our physical senses are not receptors of information.
They are, at best, only filters which have been genetically and socially
programmed from birth. What we see and think is the real world is, in
fact, a mass hallucination. Consensus opinion generally establish our
"laws." As that consensus changes, so do the laws of Physics.
This process occurs about every 40 years now.
Paradigms are super-laws tied to consensus. They are the basic assumptions made in which all other observations and "laws" are based. One paradigm is our concept of Time. In fact, time is nothing more than a duration of consciousness. Everything you are reading right now is going to affect what you do and think tomorrow. From an information theory point of view, tomorrow is occurring right now and you are not yet consciously aware of it. But the shaman is, as he does not relate to the space-time co-ordinates. He can "see" into both the past and future as if it were "now," whatever that means.
Once you set up a give set of co-ordinates for viewing reality, you automatically set up it limitations. Any model, whether it be physical or metaphysical will ultimately yield a distortion of information. The science used by the Western world today has many limitations because of our choice or paradigms. Among them would be Plato's emphasis on reason to the near exclusion of feeling, Aristotle's division of philosophy into science and metaphysics, and St. Augustine's separation of the "body" from the "mind."
These divisions run counter to the reports of this "new force" which has existed throughout history. If we are to truly understand how to apply this new force into our everyday lives, it will be necessary for us to choose new models for the way we approach reality. Another major roadblock in our choices or paradigms will be that this new model, if it can be developed, will be required to take everything that we presently know and understand and make it a special case of something more fundamental. This again is different than Plato's approach.
Since most all
of our present scientific theories and "laws" are based on force
and energy concepts, a more fundamental co-ordinate system for viewing
reality would be Information Theory. It is information which directs energy.
If one wished to blow up a mountain, one would do it by pushing a button
which was in some way informationally linked to detonate a nuclear bomb.
The energy released was an act of information, so directed as to control
when, where and how the bomb went off. Therefore, the act of pushing the
button is somehow linked with the nuclear energy on an information level.
I an now going to try and explain chaos. Entropy is a term used in Physics to describe the usability of energy. If we are in a room where no heat can enter or escape, we say that the energy in the room is constant. If all the heat is over at the heater, we can do work with that energy such as boil water. We consequently say that the entropy in that room is low. As time increases, that energy at the heater will tend to spread itself out more uniformly in the room. Since we are now less able to do work with that constant energy, like boil water, we say that the entropy of the room has increased. Entropy, then is a measure of disorder or chaos. Entropy can also be thought of as a measure or grouping of information representing energies.
We say that the entropy of the Universe is increasing. Originally, a system of stars are highly ordered in that all their energy was located at discrete points in space. As time went on, these points of energy radiated their energy into space to make space more homogeneous in energy. Thus, the usability of that energy decreases and the Universe increases in entropy or disorder.
Man can be thought of as a "negative universe." Consider this point. Everything you eat, everything you think or see becomes you. You take a wide disordered array of foods and they get organized into a complex or enzymes and proteins. In like manner, your thoughts also become organized. As the Universe becomes more disordered, man becomes more ordered. Therefore, if you wished to view reality from an ego type "I" point of view, where your physical body was where you stopped and the Universe began, then the main purpose for existence is for the assimilation of information. This, of course, is only one co-ordinate system for viewing reality.
Today we know that the individual does not stop at the physical body's surface. Electromagnetic influences and Lunar movement do alter behavior patterns to such a degree that we now do agree, in part, that man is somehow integrated with the rest of the Universe. In fact, one could even say that man is not becoming more ordered any more than the Universe is becoming disordered. They are simply one way of relating to reality.
We now come to what I shall call the Omega Principle: There is no such thing as absolute order. Order is found in the connectivity of two events. The structural similarities are expressed in our present culture as energy. A signal of information is sent across the space/time co-ordinate system for a re patterning of a zone. An observer sees this re patterning as a manifestation of energy.
Space is connected topologically. It is mapped in such a way that every point in space is directly connected with every other point. Social energy develops what I will call consensus reality. All geometry, whether it be a group of people or objects or events, contains information topologically. The manipulation of forms and geometry affect space and time. The concept of the Omega Principle is this, the whole trip of what "reality" is at this point is totally random, up for grabs by the largest and loudest group of people.
As Merlin put it to Arthur in a book by T.H. White: "Anything not specifically forbidden is mandatory."(10) Once you set up a specific way of looking at reality, then there are only certain information paths connecting energy to space and time. It is therefore impossible to give a satisfactory definition of this "new force" in nature because the concept is diffuse to our present sciences. However, the Polynesians used the mana to describe something which was perfectly understandable to them and that they could use. It did not need any exacting scientific definition from their point of view, its existence was an undisputed fact and its manipulation an everyday occurrence.
A major theorem in Information Theory sums it up by stating: If you have enough information to ask a coherent question, then you have enough information to answer it. With this in mind, it has occurred to me that science today is probably just another religion. One which is particularly effective in manipulating physical reality.
Magic is the manipulation of organic realities as science manipulates physical realities. The ultimate goal for this generation then will probably be the blending of magic with science. The Omega Principle then is that there exists a Life energy which manifest itself as a pattern. I therefore offer the following postulates for this "new force" in nature:
(1) There is an all-pervasive ocean or medium of potential. Everything is simply connected.
(2) There are randomly-acting infinitesimals. These randomly acting infinitesimals are seen by consensus as patterns.
(3) There are patterns which exist and continue.(4) There is the possibility of interaction of any two points.(5) There is a possibility of interaction between patterns.
This "new force" then is the energy which patterns randomness. Magic can be thought of as the science of patterning. As Aleister Crowley states it in his classic text Magick in Theory and Practice: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." (11) This is the embodiment of fundamental truth. Our next journey, then will be to understand the "energy" of Will.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/NOTES:
(1) Horton, Gerald, Introduction to Concepts and Theories in Physical Sciences. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Cambridge, MA, c1953.
(2) Podmore, Frank, From Mesmer to Christian Science. New Hyde Park, NY, c1963.
(3) Reich, Wilhelm, Selected Writings. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, c1970.
(4) Roberts, Oral, If You Need Healing Do These Things. Tulsa, OK, c1952.
(5) Burr, H.S., and Northrup, F.S.C., "The Electrodynamic Theory of Life," Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol.10, c1935.
(6) Miller, R.A., Dickson, D. and Webb, B., "The Holographic Concept of Reality," Paper presented in Prague, Cz, 1`973. To be published in Psychoenergetic Systems, Vol.II, S. Krippner, ed., Gordon and Breach, London, England, c1975.
(7) Sarfatti, J., "Imlications of MetaPhysics for Psychoenergetic Systems," Psychoenergetic Systems, Vol.I, S. Krippner, ed., Gordon and Breach, London, England, c1974.
(8) LeShan, L., The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist. Ballantine, NY, c1974.
(9) Castaneda, C., Tales of Power. Simon and Schuster, NY, c1974.
(10) White, T.H., The Once and Future King. Berkeley Medallion, NY, c1958.
(11) Crowley, A., Magick, Weiser, NY, c1973.
APPENDIX I:
| Culture |
Omega
Force Equivalent
|
|
Sufis
|
Baraka
|
| Ancient Yogis | Prana |
| Polynesian/Huna | Mana (Life Energy) |
| Hippocrates | Vis Medicatrix Naturae (Healing Force of Nature) |
| Paracelsus | Mumia |
| van Helmont | Magnale Magnum |
| Galen, Kepler | Facltuas Formatrix |
| Mesmer | Animal Magnetism |
| Reichenbach | Odic (Odyllic) Force (Universal Energy) |
| Luigi Galvani | Life Force |
| Charles Littlefield | Vital Magnetism |
| Wilhelm Reich | Orgone |
| J.B. Rhine et.al. | Psi Faculty |
| Soviet Science | Bioplasmic Energy |
| Peruvians | Huaca |
| Iroquois Indians | Orenda (Spirit Force) |
| Sioux Indians | Wakonda, Wakan |
| Eskimos | Sila |
| Hindus | Akasa |
| Robert Fludd | Spiritus |
| Bullwer-Lytton | Vril |
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