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Default May 29, 2017 at 04:39 PM
  #1
Went to the book store today and saw a lot of books about "the secret". I didn't pick it up because I don't like the format of it, but it got me thinking. A few weeks ago I read a study that suggested that "groupthink" is real because they have proved that when you get into a group peoples brainwaves synch up. Their conclusion is that being in that group that has strong beliefs can actually change your mind. Almost suggesting that there is an external power to your mind. I.e., your brainwaves can influence someone elses externally. A real life example of this that I think is staring everyone in the face is US voting maps. Red states all clump together and blue areas are all on the cost. There is a clear geographic component.

I also thought of a book I read a few years back on neuroplacticity. That author also had that theory. But her suggestion was that your mind... can make physical changes in your brain. His theory was that it wasn't from the inside. She had a study that showed OCD people got three ways of dealing with their problem. (1) Drugs; (2) cognitive behavior therapy and (3) nothing. Each was given pet scans. Only the cognitive behavior therapy people had physical changes to their brains. The actual brain looked different in them, as if it had been remodeled.

This is also suggested by buddhism and meditation. If you read those books they always suggest that your mind and brain are different things. And that your mind is able to have external effects on your body. From my point of view I think this could be what prayer is. People believe so firmly in prayer. After all, it works. But is it prayer to a higher deity or is it just a bunch of people sitting around all thinking the same thing that sends out brain waives or something to make it happen?

Think of times that good things have happened because the entire world was sitting around watching and "praying" -- apollo 13, miners trapped under ground, baby jessica? Similarly think about bad things that have happened because people might have all had bad thoughts -- the titanic? Claimed to be "unsinkable" and then sinks on its maiden voyage.

I also feel like there might be something to it because of animals. Not just pets but sometimes wild animals seem to know what I am thinking. I mean have you ever run into like a deer and you stopped because you wanted to look at it and be kind and it just kind of stood there for you. Like it got it. Like it knew what you were sending out and based because it felt safe.

Anyway, I wonder sometimes if this is what is actually happening to me. That I am able to send out vibes from a diseased brain that is holding me back and keeping me down. While if I changed my thoughts and forced a different perspective things would change.
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Default Jun 19, 2017 at 12:56 PM
  #2
I highly recommend a google search of the Backster Effect. Clive Backster invented the lie detector test, and he used his machine to record physiological responses from other living things (plants) and his findings showed that other living organisms respond to the thoughts/intentions of their environment. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, check out "What the Bleep Do We Know" (documentary), watch some Ted Talks about quantum reality, or if you're really open minded and want to get in to some pretty out-there but interesting ideas, check out Spirit Science (YouTube series).
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Default Jun 19, 2017 at 02:04 PM
  #3
You should check out the movie "Waking Life"

A lot of existentialism in that one.
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Default Jun 19, 2017 at 06:12 PM
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I highly recommend a google search of the Backster Effect. Clive Backster invented the lie detector test, and he used his machine to record physiological responses from other living things (plants) and his findings showed that other living organisms respond to the thoughts/intentions of their environment. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, check out "What the Bleep Do We Know" (documentary), watch some Ted Talks about quantum reality, or if you're really open minded and want to get in to some pretty out-there but interesting ideas, check out Spirit Science (YouTube series).
Thanks I will check out all of those.
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Default Jun 21, 2017 at 05:15 PM
  #5
Waking Life is a great suggestion, too, it's one of my favorite movies. But much more of a surreal/artistic rendering rather than a scientific one. Another experiment I thought about (I think it's mentioned in the Documentary I suggested) is Dr. Masaru Emoto's water experiments. He took samples of water from the same source and labeled them with different words/phrases (like "love", or "hate", etc) and then observed that the nature of the words being expressed upon the water had a profound impact on the formation of ice crystals within the water. Definitely worth checking out.
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Default Jun 27, 2017 at 12:30 PM
  #6
As treevoice said "what the bleep do we know" is a very good documentary if you want to dive deeper down into this. And also Dr. Emoto's water experiments, really interesting. But I definitely think you're on to something. And if you really want to take this further I would not suggest that you read "the secret". There's so many better resources out there. A very good book I recommend if you'd like to try and make small changes in your "reality" so to say is Maxwell Maltz "Psycho-Cybernetics", it's so good! And then there's a book called "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart which talks about how we and everything in the universe is connected through a sea of energy, there's lots of research and many experiments in it, I think you'd really like it.

As for animals being able to "read brainwaves" I think it's more that they can both smell us and feel our vibrations. They can sense from our smell if we're calm, scared or angry. I think they can also feel our energy. They're really so much smarter then us when you think about it.

Here's also a very good tedtalk that touches on the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU
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Default Nov 16, 2017 at 04:51 PM
  #7
When I saw this I thought of the age-old question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I think the answer to the philosophical question would be an obvious 'Yes' because a sound is not dependent upon a person to hear it to happen. Something doesn't need to be experienced by you in particular for it to happen in real life. This is like, "If two people were having a conversation in a different room and I didn't hear it, did they make a sound?" The answer is obvious. Philosophers would say different though.

I think that our minds work in overdrive when we want something. We plan it out. We think about ways to make it happen. Other people can help out if we talk to them. My point here is our minds plan action, at least when we want it enough.
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Default Aug 20, 2019 at 07:18 PM
  #8
So I am back again at this post. I didn't get the secret but I had a few people recommend the audiobook of "the power" a sequel to the secret. As I listen to it and read some of the reviews I am torn. Again a bit of a doubting Thomas. The author Rhonda Byrne is a scam artist. I read previous books of hers that basically said nothing. But just because she is a scam artist doesn't mean that what she is saying isn't true. Indeed the law of attraction goes back to ancient cultures. There are a ton of reviews and they are all five stars. A lot of people think it works. But a lot of other people point out it can simply be what we want to happen so we look everyplace to make it true. And truly, if we can manifest our lives than how does that work with people? Like tonight my train broke down. Did that happen because of me or some one of the other 700 passengers.

And a lot of what the book talks about is, for me, just hard to implement. Like "Spock" I don't find feelings helpful. I am not a feeler. I am a thinker. Has always been that way. But this book goes on in terms of manifesting in terms of love. But what is love? That is difficult for me to do period so I can't love everything to make it happen. But I know there are people who live their lives as "feelers" so is that the people who love this book? Also in general it is hard for me to be positive and think on the bright side.

At the same time though my life never really gets better. It isn't bad, just, blah. Average if you will. And if I was to think about how I am as a person I think that is what I am. I am average. I don't love but I have some compassion... I make some people happy... some not... I have fun with my cat sometimes, sometimes I yell at him. Just average... and that is how my life stays, fair to middling.

But another thing that has me thinking about it is that despite taking definitive action that SHOULD have resulted in me having a much different life, I have the life I always thought I would have deep down in my brain. What deep down in the back of my head I thought would happen, happened. And it has been that way my entire life. When I was a young girl in the back of my head I had deep thoughts like, I will not go to the prom, and I didn't... even though.. objectively that was kind of amazing. I was pretty and thin and had a good social group who all did go to the prom. But it just didn't happen for me... and I always thought it was weird that I thought that for most of my young life and it happened... same with the rest of my life, I took action to get advanced degrees but still end up in jobs where I am not really in charge of anything because, I think deep down, I don't think I should be. Same with me joining the condo board.. I am the most advanced person on it, but no one listens to me, because deep down... maybe I don't think they should.

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I think that our minds work in overdrive when we want something. We plan it out. We think about ways to make it happen.
I think no .. what I was talking about is there does seem to be evidence that people can sort of make things happen without action. There is the circumstantial... such as the Titanic hits an iceberg after the cruze line goes on about being unsinkable and hits that iceberg in just the ONLY unlikely way, that would cause it to sink... and there are the studies -- some listed above that have shown conclusively (and usually they did not set out to prove this) that mind action alone can change things - such as the one I talked about with three sets of people all trying to be free of OCD and the only ones that showed a change in their brain's physical make up were the ones that concentrated their minds.
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Default Aug 22, 2019 at 07:37 PM
  #9
If you are a thinker, then read something that's more intellectually substantive. There's really no reason why that book would work. I mean, what are its aims, first of all?

I think a lot of self-help books are like that.

They have no clear aims. They prove nothing. And they are self-congratulatory.

I wouldn't spend too much time thinking about why that book doesn't work. I tried already and it didn't work for me.

If you just think a thought repeatedly and generate said "energy", how exactly does that make what you "want" manifest in reality? How?

That is my main question for that author, and it didn't seem like she had a valid response, unless I'm horribly mistaken.

I mean, if that were the case, wouldn't people with depression be able to "want" their depression away? If that were the case, wouldn't most people do it? Wouldn't everyone do it? Wouldn't people want away medical conditions? Wouldn't people wish away their crimes? I mean the implications are endless, but also are horribly fallacious.

These are just thoughts. I am not trying to criticize you or anything. But this is what I think about that book.
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Default Aug 23, 2019 at 05:42 AM
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If you are a thinker, then read something that's more intellectually substantive. There's really no reason why that book would work. I mean, what are its aims, first of all?
I have read a few already. In fact this is what got me thinking about it working. Perviously I read a book on neuroplacticity of the brain and that thesis was that the scientific reason why your brain changes when you think certain things -- cognitive behavior -- is that there is some physical action that physically changes it not from the inside (actually they proved this with PET scans). So those scientists have now come to believe that there is something emanating from us and that there is a "mind" and a "brain". The mind is something they don't really have any science for. Only circumstantial evidence. But it can control external things, including health. Buddism and mindfulness are based on this idea as well. Your brain is not you... there is a mind that is you and has its own control.

Later in some news articles touching on quantitive science I saw some scientists now believe that the universe was created by this idea of beings (life) shaping the reality around it. Rather than say a great creator.

But I get you, a lot of the way this book interprets it seems like it is what positive people want to hear. TO me there is a whole subset of people who have grown up with mooshy values and they think "love" will solve everything -- so if they hear all you have to do to be happy is love and smile all the time, that is what they wanted to do anyway.

Many people do "think" health conditions away. The books are littered with people being highly motivated to beat cancer and, beating it. Or being in bad car accidents and recovering more than any doctor thought was possible. I also look at the phenomena of couples not dying until one of them does. My mother than stomach cancer and though we didn't know ... I saw signs of it in 2007. But she didn't get stick enough to die (and it went quick) until my dad died in 2010. If your mind, if your will, is not leaving this earth.... did it keep the cancer at bay?

Personally I believe there is something to it but it is much less direct. It is like pushing. There was one episode of the x-files with a baddy who was a pusher. He could push you to do things against your will with his mind. Personally I think it is like 1/10 like that. If you are always thinking something I think it could effect the small reality around you inadvertently.

I downloaded the book for free on audible so it isn't costing me money.
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Default Aug 24, 2019 at 05:17 AM
  #11
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I have read a few already. In fact this is what got me thinking about it working. Perviously I read a book on neuroplacticity of the brain and that thesis was that the scientific reason why your brain changes when you think certain things -- cognitive behavior -- is that there is some physical action that physically changes it not from the inside (actually they proved this with PET scans). So those scientists have now come to believe that there is something emanating from us and that there is a "mind" and a "brain". The mind is something they don't really have any science for. Only circumstantial evidence. But it can control external things, including health. Buddism and mindfulness are based on this idea as well. Your brain is not you... there is a mind that is you and has its own control.

Later in some news articles touching on quantitive science I saw some scientists now believe that the universe was created by this idea of beings (life) shaping the reality around it. Rather than say a great creator.

But I get you, a lot of the way this book interprets it seems like it is what positive people want to hear. TO me there is a whole subset of people who have grown up with mooshy values and they think "love" will solve everything -- so if they hear all you have to do to be happy is love and smile all the time, that is what they wanted to do anyway.

Many people do "think" health conditions away. The books are littered with people being highly motivated to beat cancer and, beating it. Or being in bad car accidents and recovering more than any doctor thought was possible. I also look at the phenomena of couples not dying until one of them does. My mother than stomach cancer and though we didn't know ... I saw signs of it in 2007. But she didn't get stick enough to die (and it went quick) until my dad died in 2010. If your mind, if your will, is not leaving this earth.... did it keep the cancer at bay?

Personally I believe there is something to it but it is much less direct. It is like pushing. There was one episode of the x-files with a baddy who was a pusher. He could push you to do things against your will with his mind. Personally I think it is like 1/10 like that. If you are always thinking something I think it could effect the small reality around you inadvertently.

I downloaded the book for free on audible so it isn't costing me money.
Yeah for sure, just to clarify I have no problem that you read the book, obviously, haha.

But I just feel like sometimes those books are kind of wishy-washy about their theoretical basis.

Honestly, sometimes, they're good to get you thinking about stuff though!
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Default Dec 17, 2019 at 05:02 PM
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Very interesting.
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Default Jan 05, 2020 at 12:49 AM
  #13
I would like to think that the mind can choose a reality. I think it takes meditation and vigilance to do so. If I know that if the Universe contains unlimited potential for me, than I would like to think I can select a possibility and draw it to me. If I'm thinking of a particular thing, like a new sports car, then I will start seeing more sports cars than I used to see. It's only because that is now my way of thinking not because I've manifested more sports cars. I'm tuned into that part of reality. And so I keep feeling inspired to do something to get a sports car. And now when opportunity knocks, I'm prepared to act. I think in a common sense way, we can affect reality via perspective. Positive attitudes are important because they help you believe and have hope. It's like goal setting and working on your plan. I don't know if changing my vibration about something draws more of that to me, but I do think perspective influences a lot.

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Default Jan 05, 2020 at 08:57 AM
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Positive attitudes are important because they help you believe and have hope. It's like goal setting and working on your plan. I don't know if changing my vibration about something draws more of that to me, but I do think perspective influences a lot.
A lot of the "secret" is basically a positive attitude book. I always say even if you don't want to believe in the LOA most of the teachings of the power of attraction will be helpful period because it frees you from normal negativity and that alone, in this very negative world, can bring positive things to you.

I was just thinking the other day of a possible example. When Princess Diana died I was literally in pain thinking about her kids, particularly William. I just wanted them to be happy. I think so many people thought of the kids for years later. Particularly William because he would be king. And it seems, he does have a relatively happy life and is pretty stable. Kate Middleton seems to be the perfect parter for him and I wonder... did we call her forth? Did we make it happen?
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