Connectivity and Healing: Some Hypotheses About the Phenomenon and How to Study It
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Connectivity and Healing: Some Hypotheses
About the Phenomenon and How to Study It
Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PhD
Most physicians are willing to admit that extraordi- fully completed treatment for thyroid cancer 10 years pre-
nary improvements sometimes occur in patients' condi- viously, and had been pronounced cured. I met her on
tions, despite expectations to the contrary. Few will refuse referral from her internist for help with stress-related
to accept the occasional disappearance of tumors, patients symptoms. Those symptoms sounded suspiciously like
who are expected to die imminently yet outlive their seizures. An EEG confirmed this and an MRI showed a
physicians, and other medical miracles. The dominant temporal lobe tumor. Within one week, she underwent
medical paradigm classifies these occurrences as "sponta- surgery and a glioblastoma multiforme was removed.
neous remissions" since our treatments were not expected Most patients with this diagnosis die within 11 months of
to be so successful. A non-dominant minority within aca- diagnosis. Bethany is still alive 8 years later. How do we
demic medicine accepts the hypothesis that these events explain this?
occur through a process that is called "healing" in ordi- Bethany underwent the standard chemotherapy and
nary language. Surveys of family physicians show that radiation therapy The best estimates at the time were that
more than half believe faith can cure, and that divine these treatments would prolong her life by 4%—not a
intervention is possible in human disease.' These believers very dramatic increase. Some of her friends suggested she
are not common in academic medical centers, where would be better off skipping these difficult therapies.
skepticism is the norm. Beyond the usual chaplaincy serv- Bethany disagreed, believing that they would have
ice, spirituality has largely been banished from extraordinary benefit for her. To his credit, her neuro-
"respectable" healthcare. oncologist never disagreed with her optimism. In addi-
As practicing physicians, we have seen events that tion, she joined our weekly healing circle. We performed
could also be called "spontaneous healing."^ We have met some extra visualization and energy healing sessions.
cancer patients whose tumors have mysteriously Bethany also attended the sweat lodges and healing cere-
regressed, allowing them to survive against impossible monies of the local Native American community, along
odds. We have encountered patients in the emergency with several others of us.
room whom we never expected to survive, only to see In Bethany's version of her story, she reinvented her
them thrive years later. Those of us who have worked on hfe as she surrounded herself with people who believed
the frontlines of medicine know amazing things happen that she would be well. She left a stressful job that she
that lie beyond biomedical explanation. hated; she left a relationship that was going nowhere; she
In this essay, I hope to propose some potential created a new, sustainable life and a reason why she
explanatory hypotheses for the amazing and the miracu- should live. Bethany continues to avoid pessimists. She
lous, and to suggest a method for its study This is espe- surrounds herself with loving friends and family, believing
cially important because these phenomena do not avail that she needs that level of positive culture.
themselves to randomized clinical trials, our usual method How do we explain Bethany's story? How unusual is
of testing treatments. I will suggest that the reason for this it? Our "skeptic" friends avoid discussing her case since
is that we are observing systemic transformations—events the pathology reports and laboratory findings cannot be
of self-reorganization that occur at far-from-equilibrium
conditions, outside of the range of the ordinary events
that clinical trials are designed to study.
The following case will organize our consideration of
unchallenged assumptions within modern medicine that
hinder our consideration of healing:
Bethany was a 36-year old woman who had success-
12 ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Connectivity and Healingchallenged. Nor, however, can her continued existence be in multiply-different patients and situations, as long
questioned. She lives and breathes. The medical model as they all have the same diagnosis.
limits itself with its insistence that the cure of all states of • Explanations for changes in clinical status are to be
discomfort must be linked to the precise identification of sought among extemal agents.
the pathological mechanism.^ Proper treatment has a
mechanism of action that directly corresponds to this The alternative ideas I wish to propose read like this:
pathological mechanism. Bethany's "cure" cannot be
directly linked to any treatment. It defies explanation on • Human disease and illness, and its progression or dis-
that level, as do most of the stories of miraculous healing appearance, is context dependent—it depends upon
that I have collected. the network of relationships into which the particular
Biological and genetic hypotheses for Bethany's individual is embedded, and it depends upon cultur-
improvement fall flat. Bethany's outcome is so far from the al and social factors yet to be determined. Disease is
mean for the population of all patients with glioblastoma not purely biological or genetic. It does not have a
that it would be merely an act of faith to claim that it was natural history, but rather a biopsychosocial, histori-
genetic or that the chemotherapy/radiation therapy some- cal, cultural, and geophysical history.
how worked amazingly better upon her than almost all • Systems (Endnote 1) are self-healing (self-correct-
others, though this explanation is certainly possible. Nor' ing), demonstrate emergent properties (Endnote 2),
do 1 hke psychological or even "New Age" explanations and are capable of developing unique, novel out-
for healing, for they are also constructed post hoc, as an comes that are not relevant or applicable to any
effort to explain something that has already happened. To other system. Even biological treatments, with their
date, these explanations have not shown predictive power. powerful mechanisms of action, also have informa-
Eor example, people who measure high on the "fighting tional components in which they stimulate self-
spirit" construct do not necessarily hve longer than people healing and system reorganization.
who measure "low" on this construct. Bethany's story is • Dramatic biological change (healing) is associated
unique to her; it is idiosyncratic even. What baffles con- with an internal reorganization of the system of the
ventional medicine in its attempt to explain healing is the person and systems surrounding the person.
possibility suggested by this essay that no one thing or com- Information transfer that facilitates this reorganiza-
bination oj things healed her. This new story says that tion may be more important that the provision of
Bethany was part of a transformative effort that involved external agents.
her and others in ways that were a priori unpredictable.
Bethany's own explanation is completely different These ideas or hypotheses set the stage for a radically
from that of another man I know who still works in the different research agenda for the study of healing. This
Department of the Interior and is a 9-year survivor of agenda looks at coherence and connectivity in asking how
glioblastoma. The stories are so different that an argument are we linked? How do we affect each other? A potentially
would ensue if these two individuals were to meet—at radical shift is our asking these questions not just about
least as long as we keep the conventional paradigm of sta- psychology or sociology, but about biology. Erom this
ble causes with fixed and measurable effects. Loren's story point of view, the separation of disciplines and specialties
is about removal of mercury fillings and other toxic met- cultivated by universities, journals, and medical centers is
als, coupled with his passion to share the idea with other illusory. Separations are acts of perception and not facts of
people with cancer that they too can live like he did. How nature. We exist in an indivisible whole.
do we scientifically study such disparate explanations for The thrust of these hypotheses is to move us away
the same phenomenon? Do we need a different approach from medicine as a natural science (certain heresy) and
than ordinary science? toward medicine as a systems science—one that integrates
There are some fundamental assumptions within multiple perspectives and levels (explanatory pluralism)
modern medicine that hinder the study of healing. We and one that draws its inspiration more from quantum
need to address and challenge these assumptions: physics than from classical mechanics. This new medicine
can embrace the self-healing and emergent properties of
• Disease has a natural history, independent of the what Prigogine calls "far from equilibrium" systems.'' We.
person and network of social relations in which the could describe this turn in the road as systems medicine,
person is embedded. Disease has a mechanism of or even narrative medicine or quantum medicine, or we
action that is consistent and reliable, and independ- could simply say that this is what medicine needs to do,
ent of individuality or context. and abandon the quest of finding new and catchy names
• Processes must be replicable to be believable. A to describe what is happening.
given treatment should dependably work the same The core of our research moves from the search for
Connectivity and Healing ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 13"powerful healers" among the more alternative tional fields." It provides the first foundations for an
researchers, or for "powerful techniques," to the search for understanding of how the intent of a community can pro-
an understanding of how systems make dramatic changes duce biological effects, of how embeddedness in a healing
of state, from one attractor basin (Endnote 3) to another. environment can be associated with sudden, dramatic
This concept as described by Prigogine strikes me as so shifts in physiology. Eirst, we must understand the phe-
crucial for our understanding of healing that it must be a nomenon as it is emerging in physics and in systems sci-
pivot point. Prigogine and other systems researchers have ence, remembering that our explanations are just
used three-dimensional topological metaphors to describe simplified stories for something yet beyond our capacity
the behavior of systems. Systems maintain equilibrium. for understanding.
They keep things the same. Systems transform only when
they are far from equilibrium. Equilibrium states are rep- COHERENCE AND HEALtNG
resented as valleys, while far-from-equilibrium states are A process like healing is inherently difficult to under-
represented as mountain passes. Considerable effort is stand because it lies outside the classical, mechanical,
needed to cross the pass into another valley. Once the sys- cause-and-effect paradigm. Spiritual healing cannot be
tem is far from equilibrium (near the top of the pass), traced to a linear series of events. It appears to arise
even minimal effort can complete the journey This con- almost out of nowhere from within the entity (person,
cept offers a potential explanation for the success of so- family, community) that is being healed. Healing emerges,
called "wacky therapies," which only work for some I suggest, because of coherence, a key concept that repre-
people sometimes and cannot be replicated. sents a correlation between behaviors of apparently unre-
Conventional medicine prefers to deal in the hnear lated events, processes, objects, or measurements.
regions of ordinary life, in the village nestled comfortably Coherence occurs when soldiers march in step across a
in the valley It's fun to look up at the mountain peaks, bridge. The resonant frequencies augment each other
but not to climb them or to cross arduous passes. That's because of the coherence of their steps, and can produce
dangerous and tiring. The study of healing, however, such power as to cause the bridge to collapse. This is why
must address life on the passes—the transitions between soldiers have, historically, broken formation and run
stable states. across a bridge in a random fashion, only to reassemble
Conventional medicine seeks biological agents that and resume marching on the other side. Coherence
work the same on everyone. It seeks reliability and repli- implies connections that cannot be seen in three-dimen-
cation. If my hypotheses are correct, healing is an indi- sional physical space.
vidual phenomenon. Everyone does it differently. Every The presence of connections that are not immediately,
person finds his or her own way across the mountain physically apparent is surprising to the dominant culture's
pass because everyone is situated in psycho-sociocultural world view of independent, unrelated objects (or vari-
space in a different location. This means that we need to ables) and measurements. Classical physics and astrono-
study how people transform, instead of seeking what my (until gravity was discovered) comprised the study of
cured them. independent, discrete objects. Classical psychology com-
1 think this will help us abandon our quest for "pow- prises the study of independent, discrete individuals
erful healers," and come to understand that this is just whose behavior can be understood entirely from within
another version of the quest for powerful drugs. The them. Classical economics poses a kind of market funda-
source for healing lies within the internal reorganization mentalism—that all problems will be solved by the unre-
of the system (including the larger systems within which stricted actions of the marketplace and that these actions
the person is embedded). The wizardry and power comes are independent of the other forces at work in a society
from changes in organization; from within rather than When particles (or people) behave in a correlated fashion
from without. 1 propose we will discover that this is more (and we don't think they should), we announce the mysterious
important even for conventional pharmacological thera- existence of coherence, which implies connectivity
pies and for surgeries that we have ever imagined. We are through non-physical means.
addressing what determines the organism's response to Anthropologist Gregory Bateson and his colleagues
intervention, not the intervention itself. at the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto championed
How are these things possible without biological the idea of coherence within families—that the actions of
mechanisms to explain them? As a metaphor for an individuals are correlated. They asserted that the behav-
answer, I wish to address the phenomenon of coherence. iors, thoughts, and feelings of one member are connected
Coherence is a non-biological, non-local process. It to the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of other mem-
involves shared infonnation, rather than mechanical cause bers.' Philosopher Michel Foucault* presented the idea
and effect. The concept offers some glimmers of awareness that the behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and actions of
into how systems can reorganize themselves in "interven- members of a society were related to society-wide con-
14 ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Connectivity and Healingversations regarding knowledge and power—that what behind the slits, we see the same interference pattem that
we think and do is correlated or connected to what those we saw in the pond. Young used this to convince his con-
in power think and do. He proposed that these transac- temporaries that light was a wave phenomenon. He fur-
tions are mediated through knowledge—the flow of ther showed that even when the light was so weak that
information and the relations constructed to regulate the only one photon could be emitted at a time, the wave-
flow of information. interference pattern remained. This could only occur if
Most world views eventually look to physics for clues the particles of light were actually waves passing through
about how to examine our psychological and social both slits at the same time. The particle-wave duality
worlds. The physical world is a good place to start became a central organizing principle of physics for years
because so many of us believe in the discrete object to come as people wondered how light could be both.
hypothesis within the world of matter. Practically, it works Physicists came to eventually understand that these
for us in everyday life. My truck is different from the "particle-waves" of light interfere with each other, but only
wood I haul in it. I can take the wood out and bum it and if they are emitted from the same source and even ij they
the truck remains standing. Demonstrating that our sim- arrive to the earth 50,000 years apart! (This happens when
ple interpretations of discrete objects and events fail with- light from a distant star is bent by a black hole. Some par-
in physics opens our eyes to the possibility of other ticles of light are delayed by the curvature of space-time,
discourses and explanations. The value of looking outside while others proceed directly to us.)' Interference occurs
one's own discipline (to physics, for example) is that we because of coherence. Connected wave-particles produce
find novel ideas and explanations that undoubtedly apply interference patterns. Disconnected ones do not.
to us in some way, for we are all embedded in the same Eurthermore, physicists learned that any coupling with
world, whatever level of it we happen to be studying. another system destroys coherence. Coherence represents
What coherence in physics suggests, as we shall see an intrinsic correlation among wave-particles that arise
in the following examples, is that objects (people) get from the same source.
connected. Once connected, what happens to one simul- Why should we care about coherence from the stand-
taneously influences the other, so as to preserve that con- point of the social world? Descartes is credited with the
nection. 1 will give examples from the basic particles of idea that the social interactions of two minds are inde-
physics, and 1 suggest that people behave similarly to par- pendent from their embeddedness in the physical world
ticles. Relationships that engender healing do so, 1 sug- of bodies. Merleau-Ponty championed the opposite idea—
gest, because coherence has developed among the that all of our perceptions (whether of direct sensation or
participants in those relationships. The people begin to the reading of complex physical instruments) are embed-
influence each other through non-physical means. ded in a world constructed through our bodies.'" While
Physicists often explain coherence using the phe- any level of discourse can be discussed in isolation, to me
nomenon of interference. Those of us who can remember the gestalt produced by considering all simultaneously is
high-school physics will recall the patterns produced much more interesting. Such cohsiderations are relatively
when two pebbles are dropped simultaneously into dif- rare in academia. The correlations, for example, between
ferent spots in the same pool of water, thereby demon- someone's description of their state of mind and the
strating the properties of waves. The waves or ripples description rendered by a positron emission tomography
interact. We see a pattem where the waves cancel each (PET) scan of their brain is fascinating. We inherently
other. Another pattem emerges where the waves augment wonder how things are connected, almost as if we were
each other. The cancellation pattem is called interference. bom with an awareness of coherence.
The two waves interfere with each other. This is what Systems theory postulates that the operating princi-
Bateson called second order interaction. The water mole- ples of any level of discourse or explanation (hierarchy in
cules are simply rising and falling, but in doing so they systems terminology) are similar to those at any other
produce a pattem that can only be observed from outside level. If coherence exists on the level of photons, could it
or above the pool of water. The pattem arises from infor- also exist on the level of social relationships? Are we
mation imposed upon the water molecules by the propa- humans inextricably interconnected? To borrow quantum
gation of energy—the wave.' physics terminology, are we hopelessly entangled in each
In high-school physics, we performed these experi- other? Does the entanglement of people who are embed-
ments with pebbles and pools of water in preparation for ded in a natural (social and geographic) landscape form a
leaming about light. Once we had grasped the wave con- society and a culture? Family coherence suggests that 1
cept, our teacher introduced us to the original experi- instantaneously sense shifts in the thoughts, feelings, or
ments of Thomas Young (early 19th century)." We behavior my brother makes, and then compensate to pre-
duplicated his findings, placing slits in cards and shining serve symmetry or relatedness to him (without necessarily
light through the two slits. When we place a screen being conscious of this). Coherence provides an explana-
Connectivity and Healing ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 15tion for the mysterious changes family members make leads to the universe expanding forever, while an equally
during family therapy—for example, Gregory Bateson's small decrease leads to the universe collapsing back in
description of family members passing around the identi- upon itself. The actual value of this parameter is mysteri-
fied patient role." Family coherence means that I must ously maintained at exactly the critical value, rendering
change if my brother changes in order to preserve my the universe flat—neither expanding limitlessly, nor con-
relationship with him. It means that I am not independent tracting back upon itself. Nadeau calculated that the prob-
from my brother. We are correlated or entangled. What he ability of this parameter remaining where it is by chance,
does affects me—even at great distances. so that the universe neither expands forever nor collapses,
Jay Haley and Paul Watzlewick imphcitly described is less than 10 to the minus 100th power, another ridicu-
coherence when they wrote about the mysterious ways lously small number. This gives support to what Frvin
that family members changed to keep everything the same Laszlo calls the "God Hypothesis""—that the universe is
(maintain homeostasis) within the family.'^" Salvador self-regulating and therefore worthy of the ascription of
Minuchin proposed this idea, especially in his studies of consciousness (Bateson argued that all self-regulating sys-
famihes with anorexic or psychotic members."" Bateson tems were entitled to be called conscious, though the sub-
explained this phenomenon using infonnation theory or jective experience of consciousness within self-regulating
cybernetics, specifically with the thermostat metaphor."* systems might vary dramatically^").
Families try to regulate the affective climate to keep anger Why do we care about all this? Because concepts such
levels the same, even though the anger passes through dif- as these shatter our ideas about independence and objec-
ferent family members, appearing first in one, then in tivity If everything is so connected, how can anything be
another. Similarly, he wrote about depression being con- independent? How can there be an objective place from
stant within a family, even though different members which one can study healing, since healing emerges
express it at different times. The concept of coherence through this relatedness, this coherence? The existence of
from quantum physics becomes a more elegant metaphor coherence forces the destruction of our conventional con-
than a thermostat. It provides more explanatory power, cepts of the individual—especially the autonomous, freely
suggesting the power of relatedness across all levels of choosing, rational man of the Enlightenment; the roman-
nature and the need to preserve symmetry tic ideal, the rugged individualist of North America. Such
One of my favorite examples of self-regulation and people only pretend (to themselves and to others) that
the need to preserve symmetry comes from the Gaia they are isolated from the rest of us.
Hypothesis." This hypothesis arises from evidence such The demonstration of coherence in physics and its
as the narrow temperature range maintained on the sur- slowly evolving demonstration in social life (eg, studies of
face of the earth since life began, compared with the tem- distant healing, the power of prayer, psychic phenomena,
perature range experienced in the universe. Even the telepathy, mediumship, spiritual healing, energy healing,
great ice ages were small blips in an otherwise even life of etc) inspires us to deconstruct our concept of the individ-
constant temperature. Lovelock calculates the probability ual and the self. If I'm hopelessly entangled with a whole
of this occurring by chance to be a ridiculously infinitesi- bunch of other people, then who am 1? I'm certainly not
mal number, concluding that the earth is self-regulating, an autonomous being who rationally chooses what 1 do,
and therefore worthy of the ascription of consciousness. especially when family-systems studies demonstrate that I
Nadeau discovered a similar phenomenon at the macro- will change without even realizing it in order to maintain
scopic level of the whole universe.'" Currently accepted symmetry within the family, or, as Bateson puts it, to "reg-
theory holds that the universe originated in a vast explo- ulate the affective climate." It means we can never be cer-
sion of pre-space, creating a fireball of staggering heat and tain where we stop and others begin, which is exactly the
density In the first few milliseconds, it synthesized all the situation in physics today where matter is seen as a wave
matter that now populates space-time. Particle-antiparti- of energy with varying densities and structures spreading
cle pairs collided with and annihilated each other, result- outward in a probability distribution. I'm hopelessly
ing in the survival of about one billionth of the originally unable to decide what is self and what is non-self. I'm rel-
created particles, which is the matter content of the uni- atively unable to know vidth certainty why 1 do anything,
verse we now observe. though my creative mind can generate any number of fan-
After about 200,000 years, according to this theory, tastic post-hoc explanations (past lives, penis envy, fear of
these particles decoupled themselves and formed the castration, sibling rivalry, hormonal imperatives, and on
galaxies, solar systems, and stars we now recognize. and on). Coherence inspires me to realize that my con-
Studies of the cosmic background radiation reveal clues to cepts are largely products of my fear of uncertainty, my
this process. There are cosmological parameters that wish to know, and to recognize that 1 know for sure what's
define the rate of expansion or contraction of the uni- going on, when I don't.
verse. An infinitesimal increase in one of these parameters Now let's review some of the physics experiments
AQVANCES Spring 2003, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Conneciivily and Healingthat Laszlo cites to demonstrate coherence (and therefore diffraction of a beam of cold atoms by standing waves
connectivity, which he rightly acknowledges, as would of light. When no attempt is made to detect which
any post-structuralist, as a hypothesis rather than a fact. path the atoms are taking, the interferometer detects
He follows Karl Popper, in recognizing that facts do not high-contrast patterns. When information is encoded
exist, in the classical sense of the term^'). There are only within the atoms as to which path they take, interfer-
observations, all of which are inseparable from the char- ence vanishes. The path the atoms take does not
acteristics of the measuring device and situation (another actually have to be measured. It is enough that it can
insight of quantum physics—that measurements do not be measured. The instrument does not need to be used; it
exist apart from measuring systems; that there are no is enough to label the atoms so that it can be used!"
absolute reference points from which to measure any- • Experiments regarding the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
thing—the basis for Einstein's theory of relativity). We effect by Alain Aspect"'^': In 1935, Einstein,
will see shortly, that even the human intent to make a Podolsky, and Rosen proposed that Heisenberg's
measurement, whether it is made or not, changes the out- uncertainty principle could be beat.^' Heisenberg
come of an experiment in physics. Here are the experi- argued that knowing everything about one aspect of
ments and experimenters: a particle meant knowing nothing about its other
aspects. Einstein proposed taking two particles that
• John Wheeler: Photons are emitted one at a time are connected (electrons with opposite spins, for
and made to travel from an emitting gun to a detec- instance), separating them at a great distance and by
tor that clicks when it arrives. A half-silvered mirror barriers that no known electromagnetic energy can
is inserted along the path of the photon. The sil- cross, and then measuring different aspects of both
vered half refracts light, while the transparent half of them completely. Spin is measured by reversing it
passes light. This splits the beam, giving rise to the and then observing the effect. When the experiment
possibility that half of the photons pass through the was done, quite opposite to Einstein's predictions,
mirror and half are deflected. A counter, placed at the "partner" particle whose spin was not reversed,
right angles to the beam hitting the mirror, confirms somehow "knew" instantly that the other particle's
this possibility. The two counters now register an spin had been reversed and then reversed its own
equal number of photons. However, when a second spin accordingly to maintain complementarity.
mirror is placed in the path of the undeflected pho- Before the experiment, particle A was spinning "up"
tons, one of the counters ceases to click. One of the and particle B was spinning "down." After the
targets gets all the photons now. The other is silent. experiment, particle A was spinning "down" and
All photons arrive at the same destination. The pres- particle "B" was spinning up. Amazingly, this effect
ence of the second mirror disrupts coherence, com- was found with a distance of 41 kilometers between
pletely changing the outcome of the experiment." the two particles and occurring instantly, as in very
• Mordechai Heiblum, Eyal Buks, and colleagues at much faster than the speed of light—with no lag at
the Weizmann Institute in Israel: A "which-path" all. The second particle "knew" what was going on
detector is attached to the emitting source for with the first particle. The measurement on the first
Young's sht-lamp experiment. This detector allows particle actually produced a new state on the second
us to know with certainty which path a specific particle. Quanta that were once connected can be
photon has taken when it travels to the target. thousands of years apart in space, and light years
When the detector is turned on for both possible apart in time, and still behave as though connected!
paths, interference disappears. When we know both
paths of two photons, coherence stops and interfer- The human implications of all these studies are that
ence no longer occurs." changes in any of us affect all of those to whom we are
• Leonard Mandel: Two beams of laser light are gener- related, and vice versa. We cannot escape being affected
ated and allowed to interfere. The typical interfer- by those with whom we are coherent, even if we pretend
ence pattern results. When detectors are attached to be unaffected. The studies, on how even the intent to
that allow the path of the light to be determined, measure changes the results of an experiment, can be
interference disappears. Amazingly, interjerence dis- related to the human level by suggesting that we cannot
appears whether or not the detectors are turned on! avoid being affected by other people.
Merely connecting them is sujjicient. The very possibil- The human correlation of the Einstein-Podolsky-
ity of "which-path" detection destroys the wave Rosen Effect arises when we speculate that people who are
nature (or superposed) state of the photons." connected to one another (through love, hate, birth, or
• Durr's experiments at the University of Konstanz: conception in the case of twins) receive faster-than-light
Puzzling interference patterns are produced by the (non-local) information about what is happening to the
Connectivity and Healing ADVANCES Spring 2003, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 17other person, and that we respond to that information What this means for social interaction and social
whether we are conscious about it or not. We may dream relationships is that we are much less autonomous than
the other person's dream, choose our. clothing in the ever imagined. We cohere. We behave like others who
morning in relation to what the other person chooses, and originate from the same source as we do (family mem-
make modifications to our attitudes and beliefs, in accor- bers). We sometimes radically change directions to main-
dance with what changes our connected other(s) make. tain symmetry when others from the same source as us
Healing may transpire through such connectivity among change. Coherence is a powerful explanatory concept in
people who strongly believe in healing and practice heal- human behavior.
ing, and also through membership in a community that is As a youth, I was thrilled by Hesse." 1 loved the
committed to its belief in healing and its practice. romantic ideal of the solitary hero, self-determined,
Regarding Durr's experiments, the human equivalent answering to no one. Life has convinced me otherwise. I
could perhaps be the way that simply declaring an inten- haven't a clue why I do much that 1 do. I could manufac-
tion may change everything, whether or not any action ture explanations, as many do. Numerous therapists make
ever needed to be taken to concretize the intention. Eor a living providing others with explanations (interpreta-
example, merely declaring an intention to be well may tions) of their behavior. But do these have truth value? As
start the healing process. This would be like declaring an the Native Hawaiians said, the mind is only useful for
intention to take a measurement. Or, the healer's declaring making up a story (after the fact) to explain what hap-
an intention to do his or her best to help someone may be pened, even though none of us know what really did hap-
sufficient to start the healing process, without the healer pen. "Trust your gut," they said, "not your mind."^"
even needing to do anything. We participate in the forming of intricate patterns,
The human correlate of Mandel's experiment might be just like the Mexican jumping beans, without anyone actu-
to argue that too much measurement or analysis or inter- ally directing us or telling us how to do it or what pattern to
pretation (or even the intent to analyze, measure, and make. It just happens. It is a momentous act, akin to
interpret), especially in a structuralist or positivist fashion, "stopping the world" in Yaqui terms, to initiate an act that
may actually derail a process and prevent the spontaneous leads to pattern shift. This could correspond to Kuhn's
emergence of new properties arising from the coherence of paradigm shifts.-"
parts with each other. Excess analysis and interpretation Coherence can explain family therapy. The presence
(as in measurement in physics) may un-couple coherent of the "therapist" (or anyone else, for that matter—a new
elements so that connectivity no longer applies. This dog, a foreign exchange student, etc.) can initiate a
might make coherence on the human level difficult to change in pattern. The therapist can observe aspects of
study in a laboratory. the pattern and can even comment on the pattern, but
How Wheeler's and Heiblum's experiments might unless the family invites him or her into the inner circle,
relate on a human level is in the observation that skeptics or unless a family member takes up singing the therapist's
are usually excluded from ceremonies. Anthropologists song, failure is inevitable. Change occurs when a new
must become virtual true believers through participant pattern is initiated.
research before being invited to attend. The idea would be Years ago, I realized that I didn't need to know what
that the skeptical measurer decouples the connections, happened during "therapy" It was enough to sit with a
which no longer apply. Again, the implications for family or a group and hold a positive intent for their high-
research upon healing are tremendous. How can we do est good. I learned to trust the family's wisdom to do what
research when the mere attempt at measurement, or even was best for them, with my role being to provide a small
the intent to measure, could destroy the phenomena? perturbation—just a little nudge. 1 believe Laszlo would
What does coherence mean for us? Laszlo argues that agree with this concept of trusting the system, and the
systems behave similarly at all levels." Demonstrating the coherence in its members, to be responsible for the
existence of a phenomenon at the smallest possible and change without our needing to expertly plan what the
the largest possible levels suggests that it might operate at family would do. Eamily therapy has changed from the
levels in-between. Abraham showed startling movies of strategic, chess-like planning of the 1970s to the more
Mexican jumping beans.'^ Using NASA!s computer and a flexible storytelling approach of the present. We learned
laser array, he rigged a measuring system to record the to trust the family to know how they needed to change,
height jumped by each of 10,000 insects within the beans. instead of our so-called expertise to impose change upon
Distinct heights were given individual colors. The movies them for their own good. I read Laszlo as agreeing with
produced showed amazing patterns with sharp geometri- this; that we must trust the wisdom of systems to self-
cal demarcations that could well have been the plan for an organize. In keeping with the finding that the measure-
Aztec city The insects cohered with their neighbors and ment doesn't even have to be made (just hooking up the
jumped to the same heights. device is sufficient; it doesn't have to be turned on), I
l8 ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Connectivity and Healingthink some therapy succeeds because of the possibility of weaken the genetic-control hypothesis. First, a simple
measurement (an external observer exists). amoeba has 200 times more DNA per cell than a human
cell. The number of genes of closely related rodents can
EVtDENCE FOR COHERENCE AND CONNECTtVtTY vary by a factor of two, and the house fly has five times
tN THE BIOLOGICAL REALM more genes than the fruit fly" This is called the C-value
The notion of entanglement is central to the science paradox. The genetic-control hypothesis predicts that
of connectivity. Entanglement refers to the interaction of more complex organisms should have more genes, which
distant states that are not capable of interacting vvathin the is not the case. The complexity of the organism in its phe-
tenets of classical physics and biology. Their interaction nome is not reflected in the complexity of the genome; in
cannot be predicted by knowledge of their individual fact, the opposite is found. The second paradox is the
attributes, but rather arises from relationships and not gene-number hypothesis: in the organisms, more genes
from intrinsic, internal properties. Quantum biology are always found without functions than genes with func-
describes a state in which individual molecular reactions tions. The set of functional genes is far smaller than the
occur at specific space-time points and carry out their set of all genes, another embarrassing finding for the
individual functions, with the coordination of the func- genetic determinism hypothesis.
tions ensured by quantum coherence. What should we study, if not molecular and geneti-
Quantum biological systems are post-modern in their cally determined events? What about the relations
not allowing a precise determination of all attributes of a between organs in a biological system, or the flow of
system. We can never know everything at once. Absolute information from external sources into and outside of the
certainty is impossible. The allowable non-classical organism? These studies are proceeding in the biological
processes (tunneling through energy barriers, interference realm as they are on the human realm (our next section).
among all possible histories preceding the present state,
sensitivity to electromagnetic potentials, and entangle- EVIDENCE FOR COHERENCE AND CONNECTIVITY
ment) wreak havoc with our classical and deterministic IN THE HUMAN REALM
assumptions about life. R.P. Bajpai writes about the According to Laszlo, the first controlled experiments
remarkable capabilities that these processes bestow on liv- on connectivity between humans separated in space and
ing systems, including perfectly secure communication, in time date back to J.B. Rhine's card-and-dice-guessing
virtually perfect information transfer, and signal detection work at Duke University in the 1930s.*" Experiments have
below noise thresholds.^'* The emerging picture places become progressively more sophisticated, with no evi-
control outside of the individual and his or her conscious- dence emerging for a role of hidden sensory cues,
ness, and within a broader self-regulating system in which machine bias, cheating by subjects, experimenter error, or
properties emerge without individual intent. The self- incompetence in explaining the often positive results.
made man of the Enlightenment or the winner of the Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff later conducted
Darwinistic competition disappears. experiments on the possibility of telepathic transmission
Quantum biology challenges the dominant paradigm between individuals; one acting as "sender" and the other
of scientific investigation. Evidence is accumulating to as "receiver."*" The receiver was placed in a sealed,
overthrow molecular determinism (the view that all life opaque, electrically-shielded chamber, while the sender
processes can be adequately explained by referring to was in another room where he or she was subjected to
underlying molecular interactions). Biological psychiatry bright flashes of light at regular intervals.
as it is currently practiced is the sine qua non of molecular Electroencephalographs (EEG) recorded the brain-wave
determinism, operating as if all psychological phenomena patterns of both. The sender exhibited the EEG pattern
have molecular explanations and can be modified by that usually accompanies exposure to bright flashes of
pharmacological means. Quantum biology is also chal- light. After a brief interval, the receiver began to produce
lenging the beliefs of genetic determinism—the claim that the same patterns, though not exposed to the flashes nor
the set of genes in the genome contains a complete set of receiving sense-perceivable signals from the sender.
instructions for building and operating the organism. Targ and Puthoff conducted further experiments on
Quantum biologists are beginning to suspect that some remote viewing.''^ In these tests, sender and receiver were
basic developmental processes are outside of genetic con- separated by distances that precluded any form of sensory
trol or only indirectly affected by genes. Lev Beloussov. communication. At a site chosen at random, the sender
suggests that genes themselves may merely be obedient acted as a "beacon," and the receiver attempted to see
servants fulfilling powerful commands from the rest of the what the sender saw. To document his or her impressions,
organism"—an opposite view held by the genetic-control the receiver gave verbal descriptions, at times accompa-
hypothesis advocates. nied by sketches. Independent judges found that the
Laszlo points out two impressive paradoxes that descriptions of the sketches matched (roughly 66% of the
Connectivity and Healing ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 19time) the characteristics of the site that was actually seen dom intervals. The non-stimulated subject remained
by the sender. (Remote-viewing experiments reported relaxed with eyes closed, while instructed to feel the pres-
from other laboratories, involving distances from half a ence of the partner without knowing anything about his
mile to several thousand miles, generally reported success or her stimulation. A series of 100 stimuli were applied—
rates of around 50%, considerably above random proba- flashes of light, sounds, or short, intense (but not painful)
bility. The most successful viewers appeared to be those electric shocks to the index and ring fingers of the right
who were relaxed, attentive, and meditative. They report- hand. The EEGs of both subjects were then synchronized
ed receiving a preliminary impression as a gentle and and examined for "normal" potentials evoked in the stim-
fleeting form that gradually evolved into an integrated ulated subject and "transferred" potentials in the non-
image. They experienced the image as a surprise, both stimulated subject. Transferred potentials were not found
because it was clear to their perception and because it was in control situations where there was either no stimulated
clearly elsewhere, in space and time, than the physical subject; or when a screen prevented the stimulated subject
location of the experiment.) from perceiving the stimuli (such as light flashes); or
Between 1964 and 1969, Stanley Krippner and asso- when the paired subjects did not previously interact.
ciates carried out "dream ESP experiments" at Maimondes However, in experimental situations with stimulated sub-
Hospital in New York City." A volunteer spent the night at jects and with interaction, the transferred potentials con-
the laboratory. He or she would meet the sender and the sistently appeared in some 25% of the cases. A
experimenters on arrival, when the laboratory procedure particularly poignant example was furnished by a young
was explained. Electrodes were attached to the volunteer's couple who were deeply in love. Their EEG patterns
head to monitor EEG and eye movements. No further sen- remained closely synchronized throughout the experi-
sory contact occurred with the sender until the next ment, testifying to their report of feeling a deep oneness.
morning. One of the experimenters threw dice that, in In a limited way, Grinberg-Zylberbaum could replicate his
combination with a random number table, gave a number results. When a subject exhibited the transferred poten-
that corresponded to a sealed envelope containing an art tials in one experiment, he or she usually exhibited them
print. The envelope was opened when the sender reached in subsequent experiments as well.
his or her private room in a distant part of the hospital. A related experiment investigated the degree of har-
The sender then spent the night concentrating on the monization of the left and right hemispheres of the sub-
print. The experimenters woke the volunteers by intercom ject's cortex.•'•'•"' In ordinary waking consciousness, the two
when the monitor showed the end of a period of rapid hemispheres exhibited uncoordinated, randomly diverg-
eye-movement (REM) sleep. The subject was then asked ing wave patterns in the EEG. When the subject entered a
to describe any dream he or she might have had before meditative state of consciousness, these patterns became
awakening. The comments were recorded, together with synchronized. In deep meditation, the two hemispheres
the contents of an interview the next morning when the fell into a nearly identical pattern. Not only did the left
subject was asked to associate with the remembered and right brains of the same subject manifest identical
dreams. The interview was conducted in a double-blind patterns, this was also the case with the left and right
fashion—neither the subject nor the experimenters knew brains of different subjects. Experiments with up to 12
which art print had been selected the night before. subjects simultaneously showed an astonishing synchro-
Using data taken from the first night that each volun- nization of the brain waves of the entire group.
teer spent at the dream laboratory, the series of experi- These and other experiments provide significant evi-
ments produced 62 nights of data for analysis. The data dence that identifiable and consistent electrical signals
showed a significant correlation between the art print occur in the brain of one person when a second person,
selected for a given night and the recipient's dreams on especially if he or she is closely related or emotionally
that night. The score was considerably higher on nights linked, is either meditating, or provided with sensory
when there were few or no electrical storms in the area stimulation, or attempts to communicate with the sub-
and sunspot activity was at a low ebb—that is, when the ject intentionally.'"""'
Earth's geomagnetic field was relatively undisturbed. Laszlo notes reports of psychotherapists that, during a
Jacobo Grinberg-Zylverbaum, at the National session, experience memories, feelings, attitudes, and
University of Mexico, studied transpersonal contact and associations that are outside the usual scope of their expe-
communication in more than 50 experiments performed rience and personality.™ At the time these strange items
over 5 years.'*'' Subjects were inside sound-proof and elec- are experienced, they are indistinguishable from the mem-
tromagnetic radiation-proof Earaday cages. He asked them ories, feelings, and related sentiments of the therapists
to meditate together for 20 minutes. Then he placed the themselves. It is only later, upon reflection, that they
subjects in separate Earaday cages where one of them was come to realize that the anomalous items stem not from
stimulated and the other not. The stimuli appeared at ran- their own life and experience, but from those of their
20- ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Connectivity and Healingpatients. In the course of the therapeutic relationship, writes, "We must end by acknowledging that subjectivity
some aspect of the patient's psyche is projected into the is possessed by all natural systems, although the grade of
mind of the therapist. In that location, at least for a limit- subjectivity differs from level to level and species to
ed time, it integrates with the therapist's own psyche and species ... There is no unique correlation between the
produces an awareness of some of the patient's memories, nervous system and the capacity for subjective sensation."
feelings, and associations. In this view, the subjects (including humans) are intercon-
William Braud and Marilyn Schlitz carried out trials nected with each other and the world. We have aban-
regarding the impact of the mental imagery of senders on doned the notion of discrete human beings entirely
the physiology of receivers (the latter were distant, and enclosed by their skin.
unaware that such imagery was being directed to them).'' Laszlo maintains that studies of "non-ordinary reality
They reported that the mental images of the sender must also inform our understanding of the self."" He
caused changes in the physiology of the distant receiver— describes the work of Stanislav Grof with "altered" states
effects comparable to those that one's own mental process- of consciousness (ASC) induced by psychoactive drugs
es produced in one's own body. People who attempted to or breathing t e c h n i q u e s . " Grof noted that ASCs
influence their own bodily functions were only slightly embraced a large part of the human psyche; the states of
more effective than those who attempted to influence the normal waking consciousness being but the tip of the
physiology of others from a distance. The difference iceberg. Therefore, studies of non-ordinary reahty are
between remote influence and self-influence was almost important in understanding the person who heals and
insignificant: "telesomatic" influence by a distant person the healing process. Over 100 years ago, William James
proved to be nearly as effective as "psychosomatic" influ- noted, "Our normal waking consciousness ... is but one
ence by the same person. special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted
from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential
HEALING—WHICH SELVES, WHICH WORLDS? forms of consciousness that were entirely different. We
People of antiquity saw, and today's indigenous people may go through life without suspecting their existence;
see, human health and disease within the context of the but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are
world in which the person is embedded, including their all there in all their completeness."''^
cosmic context." The indigenous view is like the systems People in ancient cultures (especially those of the
view which reacts to the classical scientific method by put- Orient) were, and current indigenous cultures are, more
ting people back into the world in which they live, and adept than contemporary modern people at entering
seeing them as embedded and emerging in this world. (By altered states of consciousness. Today, we can find tribal
"emerging," I mean new properties appearing that could people who are expert at altered states of consciousness. It
not be predicted prior to their appearance.) Regarding the is, perhaps, no accident that healing seems to be more
classical scientific method, Laszlo v/rote that it "led to the common in remote areas with less contact with modern
fragmentation of our understanding of human beings. In civilization, since people in those areas have retained
the midst of all the complex special theories, we have skills in attaining "altered states." Additionally, they are
gained little real insight into human nature itself."" more isolated from modern cultural views that healing is
We are interested in expanding the world in which impossible without drugs or surgery. Examples of such
healing is viewed beyond the views created by classical peoples include the !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari
methods. In this larger view, we are concerned with the desert, aboriginal people of Australia, and Woodland Cree
multiple, interacting and interrelated worlds within which people from northern Saskatchewan. Throughout the
people live. Classical medicine stops at the biological world, indigenous peoples combine chanting, breathing,
world, ignoring the social world and role of humans in '^drumming, rhythmic dancing, fasting, social and sensory
interfacing and coordinating multiple worlds, including isolation, and even specific forms of physical pain to
the natural world. "Interrelated worlds" means that all lev- induce altered states. The native cultures of Africa and
els affect all other levels, which renders meaningless the pre-Colombian America use them in shamanic proce-
concept of independent variables and the separation of dis- dures, healing ceremonies, and rites of passage. The cul-
ciplines from which conventional medicine views healing. tures of Asia use them in various systems of yoga,
Having looked at the world in which healing occurs, Vipassana, Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Vajrayana, Taoism, and
we must also consider who is being healed. Laszlo argues Sufism. The Semitic cultures used them in Kabbalah. Only
that all systems show evidence of reactivity to elements Western industrial civilization fails to hold these altered
from the external world, and respond in an effort to states of mind in high esteem. Western cultures tend to
increase or decrease exposure to those elements." He uses discount these remarkable experiences.
this assertion as a definition of subjectivity, arguing that When we enter an altered state, our connections to
humans are not unique in having this property. Lazlo each other and to our environment become more obvious.
Connectivily and Healing ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL, 2]^ NO. 1At these times, we tend to describe a loosening and melt- Similar phenomena of clairvoyance, clairaudience (hear-
ing of the typical body boundaries. We may experience ing the future), and telepathy are important;
merging with another person in a state of unity and one-
ness. We may report virtually complete identification Time-displacement experiences range jrom "embryon-
involving body image, physical sensations, emotional al andjetal experiences," where the subject recalls his
reactions, attitudes, thought processes, memories, facial or her intrauterine experiences as a jetus, through
expression, typical gestures and mannerisms, postures, "ancestral experiences" (involving identi/ication with
movements, and even voice inflections. one's biological ancestors), "racial and collective expe-
Group identification and group consciousness is a riences" (where those involved are not one's direct
further extension of altered states. People become aware ancestors but members oj the same race), or some-
of being part of an entire group that shares some racial, times the entire human species..., all the way to "past
cultural, national, ideological, political, or professional incarnation experiences." The essential characteristic
characteristics. The depth, scope, and intensity of this oj the latter is a convinced sense oj remembering
experience can reach extraordinary proportions. People something that had already happened to oneselj.
may experience the suffering of soldiers who have died on Subjects maintain their sense oj individuality and per-
the battlefield, the anguish of mothers who have lost chil- sonal identity, but experience themselves in another
dren, or the love, tenderness, and dedication of saints jorm, at another place and time, and in another con-
who tend to the sick and the suffering. text. In these reincarnation-type experiences, the birth
Identification with animals (including body image, oj the individual appears as a point oj transjormation,
specific physiological sensations, instinctual drives, unique where the enduring record oj multiple lijetimes enters
perceptions of the environment, and corresponding, emo- the bio-psychological lije oj the individuaU^'^'-"
tional reactions) can be authentic and convincing.
Identification with plants and botanical processes The perceptions, and their cognitive interpretations
include complex experiences of becoming a tree, a wild • that emerge during altered states of consciousness, can
prairie rose, seaweed, an orchid, bacteria living within the provide instant and direct extrasensory access to other-
human gut, or a palm tree on the shore. People even report wise unavailable information about our surroundings—
becoming conscious of the totality of life on this planet. local, global, or cosmic. The reports of these emerging
In the "experience of inanimate matter and inorganic perceptions introduce the possibility that divisions and
processes," people can identify with the Pacific Ocean, a boundaries in the universe are illusory and arbitrary. In
forest fire in the Catalina Mountains, or the mountain some philosophies, only a cosmic consciousness is postu-
itself. They can also identify with the forces of nature, as lated as what actually exists. In the Gaia Hypothesis, for
presented in volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, example, God is considered to be the largest possible
and other forces. People can identify with the micro- consciousness; what emerges when everything is consid-
world, experiencing the dynamic structure of molecules ered as the largest possible entity, and we imagine this
and atoms, inter-atomic bonds, electromagnetic forces, entity to be conscious. Native Americans sometimes talk
and subatomic particles. about each of us being a small speck in the body of the
In "planetary consciousness" the subject's conscious- Creator. Buddhists sometimes refer to a universal con-
ness expands to the Earth's geological substance and sciousness, or the Universe (everything, largest possible
biosphere, with all its life forms. The Earth as a whole system) being conscious itself.
appears to be one complex organism, oriented toward its tn reflecting on this concept, it strikes me that we
own evolution, integration, and self-actualization." could conceive of ourselves as elements of the body of
In "extraterrestrial experiences," people experience' God or Creator in the same way that a red blood cell
other celestial bodies and astronomical processes, travel- might comprehend itself as a member of our body. Of
ing to the moon, sun, planets, stars, and galaxies. They course, the elements of scale are, even still, so much more
experience explosions of supernovas, contraction of stars, massive for us (in relation to everything) than our red
quasars and pulsars, and even passage through black blood cell in relation to one of us, but the concept is still
holes. At the widest (and comparatively rare) form of this suitable for meditating on the theme of being a part of a
experience—"identification with the entire physical uni- larger whole—being embedded, or contained. Jung also
verse"—the person has the feeling that his or her con- provides a psychology permissive of non-locality and the
sciousness encompasses the entire cosmos. All its expansion of awareness outside of the physical realms of
processes are experienced as part of the organism and psy- the human body.'* He provided support for the idea that
che of the all-encompassing universe-system. the "world and brain—cosmos and consciousness—are
"Out of body" experiences are also important to our interconnected by a continuous information-conserving
understanding of the worlds and subjectivities of healing. and transmitting/ield"''.
ADVANCES Spring 2005, VOL. 2 1 , NO. 1 Conneclivity and HealingYou can also read
