The Consciousness of Influencing Physical Reality

The Relationship between Consciousness & Physical Reality

What is the relationship between consciousness and physical reality?

There is a broad spectrum of perspectives on this, with many viewpoints in between.

At one end, which we could describe as the materialist end, the physical world is viewed as primary, solid, real with consciousness seen as a by-product of the existence of the physical world.

At the other end of the spectrum, which we could call the resonance end, everything in the physical world is an expression of consciousness.

Let’s return to the materialist end of the spectrum and see if we can inch our way along it.

Consciousness requires a medium

Although they may have never consciously thought about it, most people believe (or assume) that consciousness must travel through a physical medium to affect the physical world. For example, if you want to move a rock, build a house, meet new people etc, it will be necessary for you to take physical action and move your physical body in a way that is obvious from the outside – because, as all materialists know, these things do not happen by themselves. (The fact that the theory of The Big Bang suggests the entire universe came into being by itself, is simply an anomaly to the materialist viewpoint!)

In this view, consciousness simply gives you the idea of what you could do. The doing – the making it happen – has to come from the physical body.

Imagining a desired outcome

However, within the last few decades we have seen an increasing number of people who use the power of their minds to visualise and imagine a desired outcome before they commence physical activity. The physical activity is still required, but the mental preparation somehow seems to make the outcome more likely.

I regularly employ a similar process myself whereby I project my awareness into the desired future outcome and feel what it will be like. From my own personal experience I can say that this practice produces a sense of knowing that the outcome will happen. And yet this knowing has no attachment, which means it really doesn’t matter if it doesn’t happen.

So we are beginning to see a more widespread acceptance within society that mental and emotional preparation for a physical activity can greatly enhance the quality and outcome of the physical act.

But can we move any further along the spectrum to highlight the importance of consciousness in the creation of our physical experiences?

Moving objects without touching them

Whatever we do in this physical world, we are always acting through or with our physical bodies. Even if you could detach your consciousness from your body and use that consciousness to affect physical reality, you would only be able to share that experience with others after you had come back into your body. (Starting this paragraph has opened a can of worms, which I will return to another time…)

If consciousness could affect physical reality without the medium of a physical body, we would not only need a new understanding of what consciousness is, but we would also be challenged to recognise such as a phenomena.

For example, if an aspect of consciousness acting without a physical body altered something in your physical experience, how would you know?

So, bringing this discussion back to some semblance of solid ground, we have already looked at the viewpoint in which physical activity that can be observed from the outside is required to effect change in the physical world. For example, if you move a physical object, other people present will be able to see you move your body to create a force that moves the object. You wouldn’t necessarily need to touch the object but you would need to perform some kind of external physical movement.

Without touching the object, you could open a window to create a draft that moves it, or you could bring a magnet into proximity with a metal object in order to move it.

So, there are various ways of moving physical objects without touching them.

But could you bring about a physical act without moving your body externally?

Affecting the physical world through presence alone

We could come up with examples of how someone sitting still and not speaking could affect the behaviour of other people present. For example, if I sit with my eyes closed, refuse to speak to you and concentrate on negative thoughts about you, it’s quite likely you would leave the room. But most people would agree that it was your decision to leave. My behaviour may have influenced your decision, but it did not physically compel you to leave.

I can think of two areas of study that have received significant attention over the years: using the power of the mind to heal illness and using the power of consciousness to attract or manifest material wealth.

Prayer, superstition, witchcraft. Aligning with parallel realities. Changing our understanding of reality.