Reference: “All It Is” Chapter 8: “Awareness & Energy”
Tuesday, January 3
Walton: Good morning, sunshine! It looks like a sunnier day than we have had in the recent past. So let’s go out for a walk to the park, sit by some trees in that park, and see what the breeze through those trees has to teach us, okay?
David: Season of the trees, huh? Seize ourselves some tree truth! It makes “snow” difference to me!
{Setting: A sun-dappled clearing in a nearby off campus park. Walton, his beard like a snowy waterfall, sits on a moss-covered stone wall. David, after setting down his backpack and grabbing his laptop, begins to hunch over his not-yet worn notebook.}
Walton: In order to discuss your homework reading, and include the usual explanation, examples, and exercises, I need to know where to start with you. Tell me what you remembered from yesterday’s discussion about the Observer Effect. Keep it simple, but keep it significant.
David: I think I mostly understand the observer effect in physics, Walton, how observing particles changes their behavior. “The “Particles on Parade” illustration demonstrated that pretty well. When waves are watched, they become particles. And when the particles are ignored, they go back to waving “good-bye”! Once again, the great wandering wave world! But do you think that this applies to everything, even our own lives?
Walton: Ah, young David, life itself is a grand experiment in observation. Take a simple blade of grass. Is it merely a green stalk swaying in the breeze, or a swirling dance of atoms, a symphony of unseen energy?
David: I guess it could be both, depending on how we look at it.
Walton: Precisely! You see, our attention, our observation, acts like a spotlight, illuminating certain aspects of reality. It is also like the telescope and the microscope we mentioned previously. Focus on a blade of grass as a physical object, and that’s what you experience. But shift your awareness to the energy within it, and a different world opens up – connections to the sun, the soil, the unseen web of life.
David: So what we choose to focus our Awareness on becomes our physical reality?
Walton: Possibly. Remember the boys and the tree house story?
David: When they collectively focused their plans and actions, the tree house seemed more likely to become a “thing.” But when they lost that focus, then the initial dream, the following plans and actions, – they all fell apart, and turned into frustration.
Walton: The answer to your “physical reality” question is a matter of degrees. Most humans are untrained in the art of pure, intensive aware focusing. Focus a little, and that is what your reality becomes. Focus to a greater degree, and the real world adjusts accordingly. Reality is always there, a potential of possibilities, like a brand new, but unwoven tapestry. But the quality and quantity of our personal observations begin to weave threads of meaning into that tapestry, creating the highly subjective experience we call our lives.
David: How about providing me with a more concrete example?
Walton: Certainly. Look at that squirrel darting up the tree. Observe it simply as a furry creature scurrying for food. Now, shift your focus. Imagine yourself feeling the bark beneath its paws, the wind whistling through its fur, the thrill of the climb. Suddenly, the squirrel isn’t just an object, it’s a fellow traveler on this rapidly spinning planet. A co-creator.
David: With your more sensory description, I get that. It’s like through a different thickness lens.
Walton: That is a good start. Now, consider your own life. If you were to wake up feeling stressed, are you observing the world through a lens of worry, or can you shift your focus to the more tangible, concrete purity of sights and sounds surrounding you?
David: I see… so changing my perspective can actually change my experience?
Walton: Absolutely! Remember, David, you are not just a passive observer, you are a co-creator of your reality. The more consciously you choose where to direct your attention, the more power you take over your life story.
David: So, Walton, with the Observer Effect, just by observing something, we have the potential to change its behavior. Still sounds a bit like metaphysical magic!
Walton: Magic is just misunderstood science, David. And the Observer Effect is a prime example. Think of a coin spinning in the air. You don’t know if it’s heads or tails until it lands, right? But in the quantum world, it’s both heads and tails at the same time, existing as a wave of possibilities. Until, that is, you observe it.
David: Hmm, like Schrödinger’s cat? Dead and alive at the same time?
Walton: Precisely! Now, imagine you set up a special detector to observe the coin. That act, the observation itself, goes through what is called the “collapse of the wave function.” The coin “chooses” a state, heads or tails, based on… well, that’s the fascinating bit. Whatever force is influencing the tiny particles and waves of the world, it’s as if the act of observation influences the outcome.
David: So, like, if I look at a coin spinning in the air, I’m deciding whether it lands heads or tails?
Walton: Not quite yet, young Jedi. It’s not about choosing a specific outcome, but about becoming more aware of the potential options, bringing them each into focus, into the realm of the known.
David: So, we shape reality just by looking at it?
Walton: Not just looking, David. It is not just an “eyes only” observation experiment. It’s the act of conscious awareness, of interacting with the system. Remember, the coin in the air, the cat in the box, they don’t care if anyone’s watching. But take a human, for example. We’re complex systems, brimming with possibilities. And our beliefs, our expectations, can nudge our reality in certain directions. Remember the difference between Consciousness and Awareness? Awareness is simple observing. Consciousness is trying to overlap that Awareness with a mix of Sensory focus and an Ego-centered Belief System construction. Colored lenses.
David: If I believe I’ll ace an exams, I’m more likely to do well?
Walton: Not by cramming more data into your brain. But relaxing and being more aware of the content and nature of that data. Add to that your confident expectation of success, motivating you to study, focusing your aware attention. It’s not magic, David. It’s your increased skill at Pure Awareness playing out in the human mind.
David: Can we influence any parts of the outer world just by observing them?
Walton: That’s where things get even more interesting. Take double-slit experiments. Have you read anything about those yet? Light behaves both as a wave and a particle, depending on how you measure it. If you watch it as a wave, it acts like a wave. If you watch it as a particle, it behaves like a particle. It’s as if the light itself adapts to our observation!
David: Super-power time! So, the universe is a giant interactive game, and we’re all players, just by being aware?
Walton: In a way, yes. We’re not just passive observers, David. We’re active participants in this lightshow.
David: I should probably start being more mindful, more aware of my own thoughts and expectations. Take a closer look at the construction of my personal BS, my self-created previous belief system. Maybe then, I can really observe and interact with the world in a whole new way.
Walton: Remember, David, the journey of awareness is a lifelong adventure. Take your time. You’ve already spent about 20 years creating those BS patterns that you label “David”. Change won’t occur overnight. Embrace this study and reflection with curiosity.
As our conversation continues, think of the wide variety of examples of the Observer Effect, its implications for our understanding of reality, and the potential for shaping our own lives and the world around us.
David: Like, how can just looking at something change its behavior?
Walton: Let me share a list of divergent topics, some that demonstrate the observer’s role in defining “reality.”
David: Like a cornfield, I am all ears, Walton.
Walton: The practical examples of this effect can be found in many different fields of observation. For example, in the field of Occupational Psychology, studies done in factory settings produce efficiency changes in worker behavior. But it might only be because the workers KNOW that they are being studied! The presence of an outside observer “accidentally” alters the behaviors of dozens of employees, without a word being spoke.
Also, in the field of Electronics, items being measured must have other items doing the measuring, and each new item can affect the results of the study. All electronic components have a tolerance level at which deviations are allowed to occur. Nothing is perfect in this field. A 5% tolerance could destroy a circuit. Even the electronics used in Space projects are tighter, but can never be exact, due to the nature of the materials with which the components are made. The quality of the measurement tools leads to a difference in the outcomes! “Oops. We missed Mars! Ummmm, let’s try again with a different chip?”
In human nature, there is no perfect standard of anything about us. So any specific human study, measuring anything about the human behavior of others, is immediately flawed by the quality of the observers of that study and that existence. The same goes for AI and robots – all constructed by humans, who are eternally flawed and limited. AI bots who create written projects based on the writings of humans are flawed because of the imperfect source of those words and thoughts.
Each human being has a totally different Belief System, and so any energetic creation emerging from the efforts of that human will also be similarly limited in quality. No perfect people? No perfect stuff! Where judgments exist, inefficiencies arise.
David: So, being mindful, paying attention, or in your favorite words, “more awake and aware,” that’s how we influence the observer effect?
Walton: Indeed, grasshopper. Your awareness becomes a lens, focusing the energy of your intentions, shaping the world around you, not by brute force, but by the subtle differences in your own unique degree and quality of attention.
David, take a moment to close your computer. Take a deep breath, feeling the sun on your skin, the breeze in your long hippie hair, the sound of natural music in the environment all around us. You are now getting linked in to the shaping of existence, no longer a student sitting out in the cheap seats, but an actual participant, an observer co-creating with the infinite.
David: I feel a bit lighter just considering the possibilities of this type of co-creating activity.
Walton: That is a common reaction to a state, even the slightest state, of increased Awareness and Awakeness! Tell you what, take a walk around for about a hour, all by yourself. See if, and how long, you can “ride the buzz” of this new sensation. I will meet you back at the Sanctuary, for a few more supplemental exercises, or games similar to this.
Cool?
David: Warmer, but yes, Cool! See you soon.
Walton: Here are a few more examples of how we address the Awareness/Energy combination. And the first one is to start with the breath again. Do you think you can handle breathing for a few minutes?
David: I would rather hope so! If not, call my next of kin, and tell them that I was so inspired by your words, the experience just took my breath away!!
Walton: I call this one “Nose to Toes.”
David: You got this Dr. Seuss thing about you, don’t you!
Walton: Rhymin’ Time, easier for the “Simple Simons” to remember the steps to the exercise. Think you can keep up with me?
David: “Nose to Toes,” so anything goes! I’m who you chose, I suppose!
Walton: Do you remember, and have you been practicing, the Low-Slow-Nose-Flow exercise I taught you over a week ago?
David: Yes, I’ve been breathing constantly since then. Get a bit high, then sleepy, and then – gone to Never-never land! Bazinga – out go the lights! A Dream Machine!
Walton: So at least one message is kinda slowly making its way through the Mental Mist!
One of the specific purposes of this present variation on that simple exercise is to keep the busy monkey mind occupied with some simple task. Fortunately, in your case, maybe the monkey will get bored pretty quickly! You are going to breathe in very slowly. Only going to breathe in and out through your nose . You are still going to do what is called the low, or diaphragm breath, and you are going to focus all of your awareness on the location of the breath as it enters and exits your body.
David: Sounds simple enough. Walk me through the steps, and speed of the first one or two complete breath cycles, okay?
Walton: Excellent suggestion! You are going to set up your limited imagination as if the whole inside of your body was like an empty inflatable balloon. Remember the Balloon Man image? Be the balloon? Go ahead and start as I instruct:
Begin to breathe some air in through your nose, very slowly of course, and imagine the air as it begins to fill the inside vacuum space of your head. Yes, just the head to start with. Top down to chin, nothing but air in every space and corner.
Then as you slowly continue to inhale, feel, or picture, the air as if it were traveling down through the inside of your body, flowing through the neck, flowing simultaneously in the directions of the arms and shoulders, while also starting to fill up the top of your torso. Looks like you’re doing fine so far. I will speed up the process a bit so you don’t pass out along the way!!
Now let’s continue on down and the whole torso is filled with air as the breath continues through your butt and your thighs. Feel that same breath flowing down into your knees, your calves, and into the very tip of all 10 of your toes. You do have 10 of those, right? Just thought I would check.
Now we are going to reverse the process. Remember, just feeling the breath, no other thoughts. I focus on the word “feel” because that is the awareness property. Feel the air leaving the feet and exhaling back up through the bottom of the legs, the middle of the legs, the top of the legs, all the way up through the base of the torso and up to the shoulders, out from the tips of the fingers, up through the neck, up through the top of the head and finally finish in one exhale. Then relax for a moment while we play “Questions and Answers.”
You can probably see why it may take a few sample tries to get the timing of this. Each single inhale is going to go all the way from the top of the head, into through the nose, of course, and descend all the way to the inside of your toes. Then each exhale will begin all the way from the tips of the toes inside of your body and continue upward until every bit of the breath has exited your nose. You internal awareness actually alters the internal condition of the physical body, simply by observing those independent body parts and conditions. Nose to toes, and toes back to nose. Any questions, before I watch while you do a series of these on your own?
David: No, I don’t think so. I did get a bit dizzy from what might be a small degree of hyperventilation. I figure that this sensation should go away when I get a comfortable rhythmic pattern down. From nose to toes! Count me down, Boss man!
Walton: Just a few reminders for this unique process. First, the visualizing aspect of where the breath is currently located will take up most of your brain’s ability to wander into other thoughts. Keep the monkey from throwing coconuts at you while you are fragile!
Second, you might think that it is difficult to “feel” the inside of your body. But that is why we don’t get any more specific about organs and bones and cells and other stuff. Just a big inflatable empty balloon man. Third, sit or stand as still and straight as possible, so no undue pressure shows up anywhere in the muscle structure of your body. This exercise should not induce any painful muscles or related memories. Stay as comfortable as possible, throughout the whole cycle. And finally, the more you repeat and practice the exercise, the longer you will be comfortable taking more time, each time.
This is the second time we have discussed this basic human exercise. No doubt we may cover it again, because this internal aware exploration of the inside of your body will trigger insights as to the energetic makeup of your Belief System as you progress. You will begin to “Feel” your thoughts and opinions right in the midst of having them! Feel the bones, muscles, energy blocks and flows throughout the whole “Sensory System”!
Contrary to the label on the instructions, you CAN do this exercise while driving heavy machinery. But if you do it right before bed, I can guarantee you a more restful sleep after just a few breath cycles!
So, go ahead, and do three or four more cycles for me. On your “super-market”, set, and Go, Nose to Toes.
{David practices the whole exercise, several times, with occasional suggestions or observations from Walton.
Walton: I know you probably think that we are done here. However, much to your excitement, I do have an extra little special something for you to try once you get the knack of doing the basic exercise more easily.
It goes like this: Stand in any kind of a position normally and relaxed. And just like a person doing a slow motion version of the martial arts, begin to make swinging motions with parts of your body. For example, swing just your arms back and forth or around in circles . Swing your whole torso around in circular motions, very slowly. Also do some gentle neck bends and slight stretches of any part of your body, including the limbs or torso.
Now here is the purpose of all this additional exercise whenever any kind of painful muscle area emerges, I want you to then focus one whole breath cycle just into that single spot. The alleged painful spot will act as a focal point for you. Conduct one whole cycle JUST into that muscle area, holding your movement position still while you breathe into and out of the alleged painful area. Breathe into that single spot, and breathe out of that same single spot. For now we are just considering it an alleged painful area.
Don’t do this exercise to get rid of the painful area. You are doing the whole breathing and moving exercise to simply train your whole body to become more aware of every single part of it. The normal comfortable parts, and the areas that might be stretched, or blocked , or injured in the past. Just continue to do the Nose-to-Toes breath pattern exercise, but include some very gentle circular movement with whatever it is you can move!
David: So now we get into the cool stuff, and this lesson is over for the day? Martial arts? Always a welcome lesson! Begone, bad guys!
Walton: Sigh. Well, it is a start, let’s see if you can take it to heart…
David: Thank you, o mighty master!
Walton: Sure thing, tiny grasshopper. Well, you’ve passed the test of successfully surviving your new breathing experience and pattern. Now, go thou and breathe the breath of all living organisms, feeling the awake and aware observer that you are becoming. “Nose to toes” yourself all the way back to your dorm and into your dreams!
David: I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow the mind down!!
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