The Intention Experiment

I am reading a book titled The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart. It investigates how our thoughts impact events and even physical matter. There’s always the risk of involving “junk science” when discussing concepts at the far edge of understanding. Yet, hardly anyone disagrees - that if you are in a bad mood, you seem to attract bad events. Are we just highlighting the negative and minimizing the good, resulting in a conclusion that “everything is going wrong”?

In my readings on this subject, I am surprised at the frequency with which opinions are stated as facts by scientists who should know better. In health care, we wrestle with measuring the effectiveness of a drug or therapy because the patient’s belief in its helpfulness often outweighs its real effect. Couple this with the power of the doctor’s “intention” for helping the patient and the placebo effect can be very powerful.

Some time ago I read about a “healer” who found that he could help people as well as plants. He conducted an experiment where he “poisoned” corn seeds with salt water. He held half of the corn kernels in his hands meditating over them with healing thoughts before planting them. The other half of the seeds was planted without healing intentions. Sure enough, the healing seeds sprouted faster and grew healthier than the control group. To his credit, the healer, unable to duplicate the experiment, refused to publish his findings. This is good science.

Most people have had the experience of having a dog or baby dislike them from first meeting. This may be a subtle odor or pheromone which the dog or baby senses. Olfactory senses may affect outcome.

In the area of unexplained communication, almost everyone has had the experience of watching someone from behind and having them turn around to look. Similarly, most of us have experienced the feeling that “someone is watching us”. Where does that feeling come from?

A consultant that I know has asked dentists in seminars the question: “How many of you know that if you are angry, fearful, or grouchy in the morning, you will have more cancellations in the afternoon?” The answer is always unanimous agreement. Mood may affect outcome even in remote subjects who cannot know how the doctor is feeling.

Cause and effect studies are complicated by the influence of the observer. If your toddlers are playing and you show up to listen in, they will behave differently. If a sales manager observes an agent’s interaction with a customer, both the agent and the customer will respond to the manager’s presence as much as to the actual conversation. We might call this “The Attention Effect”.

The very act of measuring the consequence of thought or even prayer affects the outcome. The Hawthorne Effect sums up this phenomenon: “That which is measured, improves.”

Add to the above, quantification problems – often we are measuring things on an infinitesimal scale with devices calibrated for much larger matters. Imagine weighing an envelope for postage with a scale designed to weigh dump trucks. Neuroscientists agree that the probe used to stimulate a nerve in nerve response experiments has an effect of its own.

Despite procedural difficulties, confusion from inevitable variables, and bias in reporting, “Intention” is a serious and exciting field of the study. Certainly the power of loving thoughts toward a friend or family member will change the object person’s feelings. Likewise, the intention will have a positive affect on the person sending the loving thoughts.

The jury is still out on the power of intention. Proving that it exists statistically may be near but harnessing the scientific data to explain why it exists requires further “Intention Experiments”.