Proof that thoughts create our reality

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Pam Grout (E-Squared); Lisa Garr (KPFK.org/TheAwareShow.com)

Look inside E-Squared (amazon.com)

Hay House author Pam Grout has a new book, E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality. 

Grout talked about these nine simple experiments on the Aware Show and Coast to Coast with guest host Dave Shrader. Anyone can do these tests to prove for themselves that reality really is malleable, consciousness trumps matter, and we shape our lives with our minds. Each testable experiment can be done with little time and even less money, but what they demonstrate is enormous: Spiritual principles are as dependable as gravity.

Pam Grout goes beyond theory to 100% proof.

One experiment involves planting two seeds side by side and sending mental energy to one -- either in the form of intense thinking, prayer, emotions, or visualizations -- to see what visible effects this has. The two seedlings are physically treated in an identical manner. One is left to grow naturally. But what effect will our thoughts have on the other?

 

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books, including the best-seller E-Squared, three plays, a television series, and two iPhone apps. She writes for People, Cnngo.com, Huffington Post, and her travel blog, georgeclooneyslepthere.com. Discover more about her and her out-of-the-box take on life at pamgrout.com.

(Pure Pollino, Jan. 7, 2014) E-squared author Pam Grout talks about the DIY experiments that prove our thoughts create our reality. This book is an essential guide to achieve a deeper sense of purpose and connection to the universe. Pure Pollino Tues./Thurs., 11:00 am/PST on UBNRadio.com. Grout starts at Minute 17:30.

 

Goodwin

(Inspire Me Today Radio/Gail Lynne Goodwin) Grout is a world traveler, a loving mother, a best-selling author, a millionaire, and an inspiring witness to everyone she meets. Actually, only four of these are true so far, but that line is an affirmation she started using 20 years ago before she ever had a child, before she became a travel writer, or an author and, for that matter, before she even liked herself all that much. Evidently affirmations work, because now she can proudly say that all but one are true. Guess which one is yet to manifest.

 

Shaping Reality?

(C2C) Writer Pam Grout devised simple experiments to demonstrate that reality can be changed. She has previous personal success using intention to improve life, and now there is experimental proof to establish the concept. One basic experiment involves the principle that "there is an invisible energy force that has your back, basically." She advises readers to give this "force" a 48-hour ultimatum to provide evidence of itself. Then "keep your mind open" awaiting a sign. Grout notes that the experiment allows the experimenter to begin opening his or her mind to seeing the possibility behind the principles that shape our reality.

Seeing is believing: divest old conditioning!

Face reality? Create reality. (It's already happening!) So start consciously creating reality. E-Squared could best be described as a lab manual with simple experiments to PROVE once and for all that reality is flexible, adjusting to our thoughts. Consciousness matters more than matter. We are creating our lives with our mind, attention, and ideas. 

Neuro Summit II

Rather than taking this maxim on faith, Grout invites us to conduct nine 48-hour experiments to prove there really is a positive, loving force in the universe. Yes, we can prove it objectively.

 

The experiments, each free and finished in 48 hours, demonstrate that spiritual principles are tangible and as consistent as Newton’s laws of motion. For years, we’ve been hoping and praying that spiritual principles are true. Now, we can know. E-Squared proves the following:

1. There is an invisible energy force or field of infinite possibilities.
2. We impact the field and draw from it according to our beliefs and expectations. 
3. We, too, are a field of energy. 
4. Whatever we focus on expands.  
5. Our connection to the field provides accurate and unlimited guidance.
6. Our thoughts and consciousness impact matter. 
7. Our thoughts and consciousness provide the scaffolding for our physical body.
8. We are connected to everything and everyone else in the universe.
9. The universe is limitless, abundant, and strangely accommodating.

Christian Pastor Vollmar converts to atheism

Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Billy Hallowell (TheBlaze.com, Feb. 11, 2014)

In this video, I am "coming out of closet." I no longer believe in God. I am an atheist now. This video, in American Sign Language with subtitles, explains my journey to doubt.

‘Jesus Christ Was…’: Deaf Pastor Who Revealed He’s an Atheist Has a Big Message for Christians

C'mon, you've got to believe in yourself.

Pastor Justin Vollmar’s revelation that he’s now an atheist captured a plethora of attention Monday. So far the ex-preacher said that reaction has been “explosive,” with Christians lamenting his de-conversion and atheists expressing their excitement over his so-called “coming out.”

 

The former Christian leader, who has spent the past few years releasing sign-language videos explaining Biblical concepts, has now penned an op-ed for CNN offering an in-depth recap of his journey into non-belief.

 

In sharing his testimony Vollmar also noted that he wants to help Christians “break free from their traditions and superstitions.”

 

(AT) Monty Python's Flying Circus on questioning religion

Annie Laurie Gaylord (ffrf.org)

He detailed joining the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist sect at age 18 and his eventual transition to the belief that there is no God. Among the details Vollmar said his faith was first shaken when he was not treated well while serving in a pastoral role after college.

 

“I was a pastor in Silver Spring, Maryland, working 60 hours a week for little pay. My senior pastor was a harsh taskmaster, scolding me and always pushing me to work harder,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, he earned $80,000 a year and played golf two times a week. I lived in poverty and did not see my children much. I got burned out.” More

 

• Nudist pastor reveals how his church worships Jesus in one of the most uncommon ways imaginable
• Alabama politician’s new school prayer proposal uses Congress as justification
• Atheists launch "Godless" media outlet
• See the threatening Notes notes pasted on a New Mexico Jewish deli

TED: Doubt versus Belief (audio)

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; NPR/TED Staff (NPR.org, 11-24-13); SCPR.org

Believers and Doubters

Why do some of us believe in something greater than ourselves, while others of us do not? Can our doubts bring our beliefs into sharper focus? Or what is the difference between belief and faith? TED speakers, courtesy of Guy Raz and National Public Radio, offer personal perspectives on belief from all ends of the spectrum, from ardent atheists to the devout faithful.

Devil vs. Super Devil ("Family Guy")

First, the daughter of the Christian televangelist Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, speaking for her elderly father on the difference between (rational) belief and (emotional) faith. Lesley Hazleton asks, Is doubt essential to faith? Former Catholic and SNL comedienne Julia Sweeny explores the journey, How does a person go from believer to atheist? Then Alain de Botton asks, What can atheism learn from religion? Finally, Indian Hindu intellectual Devdutt Pattanaik wants to know, Are there any universal beliefs and truths? LISTEN

• Contribute your story to The Moth radio hour (PRX)

Kimberly Reed (themoth.org, 11-12-13)

A high school quarterback leaves Montana as a promising son and returns years later to reveal a shocking secret; a boy from Sierra Leone describes his transformation from innocent child to cold-hearted soldier; a teenage girl discovers how to control her errant parrot; and a construction worker discovers the up-side of his girlfriend’s one-year prison sentence. LISTEN

Storytelling with a Beat

(SnapJudgment.org) American life is much richer and diverse than we usually get to hear on NPR. Host Glynn Washington is doing something, bringing us Snap Judgment's amazing array of stories with extras only available to the podcast audience and the story-behind-the-stories on Facebook.

 

This American Life

(512: House Rules, 11-22-13) Where we live is important. It can dictate the quality of the schools and hospitals we have access to, as well as things we will experience -- like cancer rates, unemployment statistics, or whether the city repairs roads in our neighborhood. On this week's show, stories about "destiny by geography." Much of this story is told to Nancy Updike by ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose series on the Fair Housing laws in modern America -- with more stories, research, and interviews — is here.

 

More comedy, more stories:

• WITS: Margaret Cho with Josh Ritter
• RadioLab (startling stories)
• Science Friday (top science news)
• BBC Newshour (a UK look at America)
• BBC World Service (a UK look at the world)
• The World (a BBC-American look)
  
• The Story
• Fresh Air (interviews by Terry Gross)
• Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (news as comedy)
• Ask Me Another (northern comedy)
• Car Talk (Harvard and MIT car fixers)
• Off-Ramp (local Los Angeles stories)
• A Prairie Home Companion (Garrison Keillor)
• The Splendid Table (foodie gluttony)
• On the Media (incisive look into the medium)
• Latino USA (news with a Latin twist)
• On Being (formerly "Speaking of Faith")
• Take Two Evenings (California stories)
• Bullseye

Devotion in Buddhism: Faith Mind Verses

Dhr. Seven, Roshi Jeff Albrizze, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Sengcan (Sosan Zenji), Third Zen Patriarch in China; Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, Devotion in Buddhism; Tulsi from Sweden

Devotion (saddha) is rampant in Theravada Thailand (Katherine Neumann/fotopedia.com)

Zen zero in part symbolizing emptiness or shunyata, impersonality (etsystatic.com)

 

Mahayana novices (wellhappypeaceful.com)

The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If one wishes to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what we like against what we dislike is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

 

(childfocusedsolutions.com)

The Way is perfect like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Live neither in the entanglements of outer things nor in the inner feeling of emptiness. Be serene in the oneness of things, and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves. When we try to stop activity to achieve passivity, our very effort fills us with activity. As long as we remain in one extreme or the other, we will never know Oneness.

O Zen empty spot, there is nothing you are...

Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial. To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is [also] to miss their reality. The more we talk and think about it, the further astray we wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing we will not be able to know. To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss the source. At the moment of inner enlightenment, there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness. The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance. Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions.

Devotion in Chinatown, the Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple (Goderic Tia/flickr)

 

Devotion in [Theravada] Buddhism

Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

Theravada candles, Burma (Nadia Isakova/flickr)

The Buddha repeatedly discouraged any excessive veneration paid to him personally.

He knew that an excess of purely emotional devotion can obstruct or disturb the development of a balanced character and may thus become a serious obstacle to progress on the path to liberation.

 

The history of religion has since proved him right, as illustrated by the extravagances of emotional mysticism East and West.

 

The sutras or conventional discourses relate the story of one monk, Ven. Vakkali, who full of devotion and love for the Buddha, was ever desiring to behold the Teacher physically. The Buddha told him: "What shall it profit you to see this impure body? One who sees the Dharma sees me."

 

The Buddha reclining into final nirvana, Vietnamese monument (Wisdom Quarterly)

 

Shortly before the Buddha passed into final nirvana, he said: "If a monastic or devout layperson lives in accordance with the Dharma, is well conducted in life, walks in line with the Dharma -- it is that person who rightly [and most highly] honors, reveres, venerates, and holds sacred the Enlightened One (Tathagata) with the worthiest kind of honor."

 

A true and deep understanding of the Dharma, together with conduct that conforms to that understanding -- these are vastly superior to any external act of homage or mere emotional devotion. That is the instruction conveyed by these two teachings of the Buddha.

 

Vajrayana puja (BuddhaWeekly.com)

It would be a mistake to conclude that the Buddha disparaged a reverential and devotional attitude of mind when it is the natural outflow of a correct understanding and a deep admiration of what is great and noble.

It would also be a grievous error to believe that the "seeing of the Dharma" (spoken of in the first saying) is identical with a mere intellectual appreciation and purely conceptual grasp of the doctrine.

(childfocusedsolutions.com)

Such a one-sided and abstract approach to the very concrete message of the Buddha all too often leads to intellectual smugness. In its barrenness it will certainly not be a substitute for the strong and enlivening impulse imparted by a deep-felt devotion to what is known to be great, noble, and exemplary.

Devotion, being a facet and natural accompaniment of confidence (saddha, conviction, trust), is a necessary factor in the "balance of faculties" (indriya-samata) required for final liberation.

Devotion (GeordieDiary2012/flickr)

Confidence, in all its aspects, including the devotional, is needed to resolve any stagnation and other shortcomings resulting from a one-sided development of intellectual faculties. Such development often tends to turn around in circles endlessly, without being able to effect a breakthrough.

 

Here, devotion, confidence, and faith -- all aspects of the Pali term saddha -- may be able to give quick and effective help. More

• Faith in Buddhism
• Pujas (devotions) in Buddhism
• Great Tibetan Buddhist Books
• Doubt and Uncertainty Prevent Enlightenment

Vajrayana: 100,000 Prostrations

Himalayan Buddhism or Vajrayana ("Diamond or Thunderbolt Vehicle") in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Northern India, and Mongolia has a particularly devotional and magic-oriented approach to developing the Mahayana path or "Great Way."

This is in evidence on treks to Mt. Kailash (see below) in Tibet as well as at the Buddha's "Great Enlightenment" (Maha Bodhi) shrine in Bodh Gaya, Bihar state, India.
 

Tibet (Wonderlane/flickr)

Tibetan devotees armed with a board and protective hand paddles stand and bow, prostrating 100,000 times. The arduous effort clears the mind, purifies (at least temporarily) the heart, and strengthens resolve to follow the adamantine way.

A great deal of reverence may go to special gurus, Himalayan shamans, Bon wizards/sorcerers, and famous writers like Jetsun Milarepa (The Hundred Thousands Songs of Realization) and the various Dalai Lamas and the incarnations of a variety of rinpoches.
 

 

What are prostrations and why bow?

Tulsi from Sweden (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

Tulsi from Sweden explains Buddhist bowing

A prostration is a gesture that overtly proclaims: "A state of being vastly greater than my present self exists. I truly admire and seek that condition. Here is a symbol of it before me. Thus do I signify utmost honor and respect, both for the goal itself and all those who precede me to it."
 
Why bow? Buddhism is a practice not a faith. It is almost like a second career. Buddhists learn very specialized skills, including the use of many tools. The largest classification of these tools are lumped together under the term "meditation." For the most part these tools are rather subtle, delicate, and specific in their purpose, like an array of precise surgical instruments.
 
Introspective methods scope out certain problem areas of the mind/heart. Skillfully employed these can map out every tiny grain and sliver of delusion yet remaining. They must be dealt with, each according to its kind. Some may have to be rooted out by use of one tool or another. Others we might choose to dissolve in place. The more skillful operator even has a few rare and wonderful tools to transform them into something beneficial. Of all these tools available, each just right for a certain task.
 

Another use for shiny smooth wood monastery floors -- sleigh riding!

What if the problem is really big? What if instead of a minor negative karmic propensity, the problem needing to be addressed is an iron-hard knot of ego? It might be carved away with a magnifying glass and a scalpel. But that might take rather long, and all the while it might be growing... In such a case, why not go at it with tongs and hammer: hold it fast, take deliberate aim, and pound away with measured strength until it softens into a state of useful malleability? Is there a tool for that? Of course.
 
Tools have a secondary function also. Ego is clever and hides. Prostration helps flush it out. All I ever have to do is a few, and up it pops, virtually shouting: "Hey, hey, hey! What's all this? It's humiliating. Don't do this! People are watching. Stop it right now!" At that instant one may come to know right where ego is. How many hours might one have to sit for this kind of report? Having lured ego from its lair, we are a shade or two less vulnerable to its assaults and deceptions.
 
Ego would rather that we not know it exists. It much prefers to masquerade as "self" instead. When we make it show itself, the veil is lifted. We can stare it right in the face. We are by no means one and the same, which is very good to know. Prostration is bait that ego simply cannot resist. It is one of its weaknesses, which makes it an easy way to attack it, over and over and over again.

Tibetan Buddhist devotees traveling, doing prostrations every few steps all along the way, to the 2002 Kalachakra initiation -- from Werner Herzog's film "Wheel of Time" (Rad der Zeit).