by William Lee Rand
A team of researchers headed by Roger Nelson of Princeton University has been conducting an experiment to measure the effects of focused global consciousness on random events. They have had some very interesting results.
Called the Global Consciousness Project, their experiment involves the use of 37 computers located around the world using random number generators to flip virtual coins. The experiment has been going on since 1998. Each computer flips 200 virtual coins at a time and the results of all computers are compared. The results are usually completely random with the virtual coin tosses come up heads or tails 50% of the time. However, when a global event takes place that focuses the attention of billions of people, the randomness of the coin tosses changes and they tend to go significantly more one way than another. In other words they become more coherent or non-random. This took place on September 11 when so many people worldwide were focused on the events of the World Trade Center disaster. This produced the strongest effect so far, but other events have coincided with changes in randomness too, including: each New Years Eve, the papal visti to Israel, the first hour of NATO bombing in Yugoslavia, a variety of global meditations, several major earthquakes, the funeral for Princess Diana and last years sinking of Russia’s Kursk submarine. This seems to indicate that consciousness has an effect on other wise random events.
This is a profound scientific discovery as it tends to validate the basis of Reiki and other forms of spiritual healing. Of course anyone who has sent distant Reiki knows this is true from personal experience, but it is important that science is discovering ways to measure these effects. As more attention is focused on scientific studies of this type, they are bound to motivate larger groups of people to use Reiki and other kinds of healing. It is also possible that a better understanding of healing and prayer will develop. This is an important indication that a paradym shift is taking place which will usher in the age of consciousness which I have previously written about in The Spirit of Reiki. Any scientific method that demonstrates a measureable connection between the mind and events in the physical world is revolutionary in nature and worthy of further study . The Global Consciousness Project will continue.
The Global Consciousness Project: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
