“In the Universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link.” Carlos Castaneda
Have you ever wondered if what you think, feel, and say have any effect on the things around you or your experiences? I bet you did. I do all the time. Everybody once in a while wonders their participation in life’s events, whether things go right or wrong. I have introduced a phenomenon called “Active Observer” before, which explains the importance of human consciousness in creation. Today we’ll go little deeper to the level of intention.
Webster has the following definition of intention: a concept considered as the product of attention directed to an object of knowledge. Within Eastern philosophies, intent has been recognized as a force in nature for over four thousand years now. Today’s quantum physics is proving exactly the same. Numerous studies have shown and even proven the concept of “mind over matter.” Okay, what do I mean by that? I mean that our mind and everything that it consists of (e.g. thoughts, emotions, ideas, memory, beliefs, etc.) influences the matter around us. How can I say this? Because Dr. William Tiller and Dr. Masaru Emoto say and back it up with their research.
Dr. Tiller created a device called Intention Imprinting Electron Device (IIED) that he used in his research to see if human intention affects physical matter. There is a lot that goes into explaining his experiment and how he created IIED. I will try my best to give it justice in explaining it with as few words as possible and in a language that I and you understand. IIED is a simple electronic box (with a few diodes, oscillator, E-prom, some resistors and capacitors) used to intend something. In one of his experiments, he used four highly trained inner-self meditators to go into a deep meditative state where they can cleanse the environment to make sacred place to introduce the intention to the device/box. Some of the intentions he tried or used include to increase the pH of purified water by one full pH unite, or to decrease the pH by one full unit, or to increase the thermodynamic activity of a specific liver enzyme, alkaline phosphatase. After the sacred place is developed, one of the meditators introduces the intention to the box. Then the box is shipped off to sit next to some water. After few months, the pH of the water is changed. He says that he has been “robustly successful” in his experiments. Through his experiment, he was able to bring about the intentions with the device and the results were not observed or replicated in control samples.
What do you have to say about this? I say amazing!
Another example of how intention works is the experiments Dr. Masaru Emoto did and explained in his book The Hidden Messages in Water. Dr. Emoto shows through amazing pictures in his book how labels on water containers changed the crystals of water. Dr. Emoto displayed pictures of water crystals with labels like Thank You, The Chi of Love, and You Make Me Sick, I will Kill You. The crystals with The Chi of Love and Thank You labels were clear and in crystal like shapes unlike You Make me Sick, I will Kill You label. You cannot make anything out of a picture shot of this label at all.
These experiments and research studies show that intention is in fact a force in nature that affects our physical world. The intention we hold for ourselves, others, and our clients affect the reality we see. The intention of therapist in therapeutic relationship goes a long way as far as outcomes of therapy are involved. It is a paradigm shift how we think what therapy is and how we (as therapists) can help our clients in our interaction. Maybe that’s why Rogers was so confident in his prediction that the therapeutic relationship is very essential to therapy. Intention of the therapist seems to be the biggest part of therapeutic relationship then. It only requires a small paradigm shift in thinking and intention to have positive and desired outcomes. What are your intentions?
Gurpreet Kaur is a counselor who works at an outpatient clinic and also has a private practice. She is a doctoral student with professional interests in quantum physics, spirituality, self-actualization, and mindfulness practices as they all relate to counseling.