The collective power of consciousness is real and scientifically backed and proven. We can be use this power for good. We can harness this power of universal consciousness through meditation to promote a more coherent and peaceful society. Many studies have looked into how meditation can lower crime thanks to a new field of science known as Noetic sciences, which investigates the power of collective consciousness. The word “Noetic” is of Greek origin and means “inner knowing” or “intuitive mind”. Noetic sciences represent an intersection between consciousness, spirituality, reality and science.
Noetic Sciences suggest that:
- We are all connected and the power of this connection can have a huge impact on the Earth and everyone on it. Specifically, this connection among people can lower crime and warfare on the planet. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it?
- When a group of people gets together and meditates, this can affect the entire population of a country. What is incredible is that the group meditating needs only to be the size of the square root of 1% of a population to affect the entire population. This is known as the Maharishi Effect and it was propagated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was an Indian yoga guru, known for developing Transcendental Meditation.
- Numerous studies repeated over and over again throughout the past decades have attested to this effect. To eliminate chance as a factor, these studies have undergone some of the most rigorous statistical analysis in the world of social sciences. They have been published in some of the most scrutinous and respectable mainstream journals of conflict resolution, with an open access to all the information, inviting everyone from the scientific world to look into how these studies were done and repeat them.
For more on Transcendental Meditation, its cost, benefits and what to expect, head here.
The Beginning of Noetic Sciences
Back in 1971 Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, was the sixth man on the Moon. Up there, while looking at the stars, the Moon and the Earth, he had a profound realization that he was one with it all and that we were all connected.
Upon returning from the Moon, he was sure that what he had experienced was not new, but had been around for a long time. He looked into ancient scripts and religions, what sages, mystics and wise men have spoken about for a long time, and he found that it concurred with his experience. It was nothing new, except that the modern man has forgotten all about it.
Interested in studying such experiences, he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). This institute is a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to studying human consciousness, human potential and their educational implications. Up until a few decades ago, there was nothing on meditation research. The Institute pioneered these topics into the mainstream.
How Meditation Can Lower Crime
What’s incredible is that the meditation assemblies meditating together for peace have shown results higher than 70% in reducing war deaths. A two month study of a meditation assembly in Israel in 1983 showed that on the days when the number of participants was high enough, the intensity of war in Lebanon going on at the time decreased significantly – the war deaths decreased by 76%. Statistical analyses done showed that the probability that these results were due to chance was lower than 1 in 10,000. Such results have a much higher confidence level than most studies done in social sciences.
Not only did the number of war deaths decrease; there was improvement in crime, traffic accidents, fires, and even the stock market. These social indicators usually bear no correlation. For example, one can’t predict the trends on the stock market by looking at crime rates. However, since all these social indicators improved on the days when the attendance of meditating participants was high enough, this shows that such assemblies create and radiate harmony and coherence on all levels of a society.
Science-backed studies have repeatedly proven meditation lowers crime, war-related casualties, and conflict
Another similar study preceded this one. That time there was not just one but seven peace assemblies, which together lasted for 93 days. The study lasted for 2 years, during the time when the war in Lebanon was at its peak. One of the assemblies was located in Lebanon. Another one was in Israel. Other larger ones with 6,000-8,000 people meditating together were in Holland and the United States. Over the 2 years, on those 93 days when the groups were meditating daily:
- War-related fatalities dropped by 71%,
- War-related injuries decreased by 68%
- Other conflicts dropped by 48%
- Cooperation between the sides at war increased by 66%
These results were repeated in all of the seven studies. Therefore, the probability that the findings were due to chance was less than .00000000000000000001, making this study among the most scrutinous in social sciences.
Another group of studies looked into how terrorist attacks dropped globally over a 2 year long period. They were very large group meditations and among the largest ever in the West. On the days when peace-creating assemblies numbered or exceeded 7,000 participants, there was a global drop in international conflicts of all kinds. The studies used rigorous statistical analysis to eliminate the likelihood that the reduction in terrorism was due to other factors, such as seasonal changes, trends, etc.
Therefore, plenty of research has shown that peace-creating assemblies have reduced crime, war, and terrorism in the whole world. Unfortunately, in all cases, when the assemblies stopped meditating together, the violence rates came back to its former levels.
Next, researchers began to explore long term and permanent group meditation. They wanted to see what effect this would have on world peace. So, they tested this hypothesis. For three years, 8,000 people who were experts in Transcendental Meditation came together and meditated at a place near New Delhi, India.
Are you in need of reducing stress? Who isn’t, right? Head here to find out how Transcendental Meditation can help with stress reduction and the science behind it.
During those three years, from 1988 to 1990, every major conflict that was happening at the time ceased to exist:
- The 7-year long war between Iran and Iraq ended.
- The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan stopped.
- The Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended.
Such research on peace assembly groups will undoubtedly come across many skeptical scholars because it flies in the face of modern science as we know it. For this reason, scientists meticulously scrutinize all research. Because they are so controversial, each of these studies is reviewed by numerous experts before it finds its way to any credible journal. Their worldwide publication and re-publication in widely respected outlets over many decades prove that they were worthy of attention of academics and scientists worldwide.
Today, peace-creating group studies appear than 600 scientific studies and in 33 countries. Credible scientific journals published many of these cases. The results have shown time and time again that synchronized group prayer and meditation have an overwhelmingly positive effect on society.
Reasons why results linking lower warfare, conflict, and crime to meditation were accepted by the scientific community:
- The theory has been repeated and tested enough times to breed confidence that it is legitimate.
- These studies have shown a strong correlation between peace creating groups and a reduction in crime and warfare.
- Lead-lag analysis is a statistical process which monitors what changes first and in each case where such analysis was possible. Analyses show that peace meditating groups changed first and the violence and crime rates followed. Lead-lag analyses are one of the main reasons why these studies have been published and widely accepted.
- Scientists that have conducted these experiments have successfully managed to rule out any other alternative explanations. For example, violence rises when temperature rises. So, the researchers had to account for this factor as well. They proved that factors such as seasonal changes, police, etc. cannot explain the findings.
- An open access data policy ensures all studies can be easily repeated. While most sociological research is based on privately collected data, all the evidence on the effect of peace creating groups is publicly available in contemporary newspapers, while statistics on social violence are available in public records. The fact that it is so easy for anyone to repeat such studies is a strong guarantee of their scientific accuracy.
- Time series analysis is a mathematical tool used by social scientists worldwide to clarify complex social trends. For example, using this tool, scientists can construct a mathematical model which looks at recent history of crime and accounts for all the trends. This includes both known and unknown factors. If crime suddenly drops much lower than the model has predicted, this suggests that there are new causative influences involved.
Mass Field of Consciousness
These findings all show that there is something new we are tapping into– a field effect of consciousness. This implies that there is a deep and powerful underlying connection between people. According to scientists, when groups of people get together to meditate, they create a coherent resonance in the unified quantum field. Incoherent, disruptive energy, in turn, generates violence and crime.
The Institute of Noetic Sciences continuously researches this mass effect of consciousness under its Global Consciousness Project.
The Global Consciousness Project is an international and multidisciplinary cooperation among scientists and engineers. They collect data from a global network of physical random number generators placed in 70 places around the world. One central archive receives and houses all data. This central archive now has about 15 years of random data.
Creating Coherent Human Consciousness – The Science Behind Meditation and Lower Crime
When human consciousness is coherent, such as in situations that unite the feelings of millions of people, the network of random number generators (RNG) becomes more structured. The probability that this is due to chance is one in a trillion odds. This is proof of noosphere, i.e. the unifying field of consciousness. The hypothesis of the Global Consciousness Project is that when there is an event strong enough to unite minds and hearts of people, there is structure in what is normally random data.
The possibilities of such a united consciousness is overwhelmingly powerful. Group consciousness has effects in the physical world and it can change the world as we know it. This should encourage us to make healthy changes to the systems we live in. With this knowledge out in the open, we can purposefully work towards creating a better future as a collective.
This can only happen when each and every conscious individual works together towards this goal. Achieving something so great requires non-dual awareness. When we let go of our identity and our egos, we will be able to see ourselves as part of something greater. Only then will we see ourselves as one with the universe.
Enlightenment 101: A Guide to God-Realization and Higher Human Culture
Author John White writes about this in his work Enlightenment 101: A Guide to God-Realization and Higher Human Culture. White was at the IONS from its beginning, and was the one who suggested the name Noetic. White created the term Homo noeticus to represent a new and advanced form of human beings who have a higher state of consciousness. This higher state goes beyond egocentric consciousness. He noticed this new form of consciousness emerging in humans around the planet and believed that this new state rightfully belongs to everyone. He saw that awakening to this potential was the cure for all that troubles the human kind.
To quote White, “Acutely, palpably, I felt destiny working in me and all humanity, impelled by the awesome divine intelligence which had created the cosmos and everything in it. I therefore began communicating that understanding in order to help awaken my human family to its future. Homo noeticus seemed a useful term to convey that message. The message is simple: human potential can change the human condition.”
There you have it, scientifically measurable and proven evidence that we are far more connected than we thought. We are all one with the universe. Thanks to Noetic Sciences, science has finally begun to prove what spirituality has known for ever.
If you’ve ever wondered what the difference between mindfulness and meditation is, head over to this article. And to find out how you can start practicing meditation as soon as today, go here to learn about different types of silent meditation and their benefits. Pick the one that suits YOU best.
Tatjana Glogovac, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active
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