Hi everyone and welcome back to our Reiki book club session, where we are reading Hands of Light by Barbara Ann Brennan. Today we start Part 2, The Human Aura, with chapter 4: Parallels Between How We See Ourselves and Reality and Western Scientific Views.
Part 2 begins with this quote:
“Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known to us in nature.” –St. Augustine
Introduction: The Personal Experience
Brennan uses this section to note that what and how we see or feel will change as we develop new sensitivities. We will be more in tune with energy around us. You should be aware of this so you aren’t caught unaware and confused by it.
Chapter 4: Parallels Between How We See Ourselves and Reality and Western Scientific Views
This chapter explores how the scientific view of reality supports that we are all (and everything in the Universe) composed of energy fields. We are all interconnected.
I am no scientist, nor do I pretend to be remotely adequate speaking of sciences, but I’ll do my best to round up what she discusses in this chapter. I suspect I’ll be expressing that point a lot as we read this book. 
Newtonian Physics relies upon the physical and solid existence. Physical reactions have a physical cause. But then in the early 19th century, new physical phenomena (electromagnetism) came about and Newtonian Physics could not be used to describe it. This led to the concept of a field, which is a “condition in space which has the potential of producing a force.” The universe if filled with fields that interact with each other. And in the last 15-20 years, folks are beginning to include themselves in these field interaction concepts.
And then Albert Einstein came into the picture and His Theory of Relativity blew out the principal concepts of Newtonian Physics. Physics could no longer be understood as space by itself or time alone. Space and time are interconnected. And time is relative. No more fixed timeline as was the belief of Newtonian Physics.
Brennan seems particularly excited in the section about paradoxes and quanta (energy packets). Radiated heat is emitted as quanta, not as a continuous stream of energy. Basically, they are stating at this point in study, particles were seen as energy packets. But in the next section (Beyond Dualism—The Hologram), she goes on to say that particles are probability waves because there is no such thing as a “thing.” They are really “events.” Aah, physicists… Let’s simplify. The gist of this part is that we are all made of waves, thus we are all connected as one. “We are a Whole.”
Moving on to the hologram, this concept “states that every piece is an exact representation of the whole and can be used to reconstruct the entire hologram.” Dr. Karl Pribram goes on to state that “the brain employs a holographic process to abstract from a holographic domain that transcends time and space.” I find these interesting points, especially when looking ahead to the questions she asks at the end. One is “Imagine yourself as a hologram. How does that unlimit you?” I can’t put to words easily what I was imagining when I stopped to think about that. Visual energy moving. No limits at all. Oof. It’s fascinating and overwhelming at the same time. What about you? Have a way to describe imagining yourself as a hologram here?
Anyway, I’ll go ahead and try to keep going. I find the dualism concept interesting too. When you evaluate one’s health, you are seeing outside of time or space, hence dual fields. We separate the field from us in order to observe, if I’m understanding that right. Brennan even writes about how hard it is to explain or describe this stuff in words (“because we use words in a linear fashion”).
In the next part of this chapter, Brennan brings us back full circle to the opening of the chapter with how scientists are continually looking for mathematical and experimental proof. Bell’s theorem supports the concept that particles transcend time and space and what happens to each particle affects other particles. And these effect can be “superluminal,” i.e. faster than the speed of light. This theorem was proven mathematically and is now supported by experimentation.
I glossed over some of it because there is just SO much info in this chapter. But the gist is there. Science has some really interesting finds about energy fields and I think understanding some of this will help us become better practitioners. It only helps solidify the understanding that we are all connected. And it’s making me want to do a little Distance Reiki and perhaps a mediation too.
Chapter 4 summary questions:
- How to have scientific views influenced our self-concepts?
- Why is the view of a fixed physical world impractical to us?
- What was so important about Faraday’s and Maxwell’s contributions to the ideas about how the world works?
- What is superluminal connectedness and what is its significance in our daily lives?
- How can the idea of multidimensional reality help describe the HEF?
Plus a question to think on:
- Imagine yourself as a hologram. How does that unlimit you?
Post your thoughts below or out the Reiki Facebook Fan Page Forum. For those of you who want to read faster than this pace, you can chat about future chapters here.
Next up, we continue with Chapter 5: History of the Scientific Investigation into the Human Energy Field.
That’s that. Have a happy day everyone!
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