quantum mechanics – Pam Grout

Rise Up: Why I’ve chosen to abandon the swamp

July 19, 2019 45 Comments

“You can ask just as easily for love, for happiness and for peace.”—A Course in Miracles

Buckminster Fuller, long a hero of mine, once said that if you spend your energy and time fighting against established institutions, you end up demoralized, exhausted and discouraged.

I’ve been thinking about Bucky today after reading some of the comments from my post, “Don’t forget to show love.”

I mentioned that, instead of following political news, I was following a pint-size superhero who passes out chicken sandwiches at a homeless shelter. It provoked a conversation—is that putting my head in the sand?

In 1976, Bucky made the observation that all the institutions of humankind are rooted in a “you or me” paradigm, a scarcity paradigm. It works like this: If you make it, it’s at my expense. Likewise, if I make it, you won’t have enough. This belief system has long-dominated our planet.

It’s a belief system focused on maximizing wealth, predicated on the material world being the end-all, be-all.

Bucky said all those institutions needed to collapse. He predicted that, within 50 years (according to my calculations that’s 2026), the current structures (political, religious, educational, etc) would come crashing down.

Maybe not the best news to start your weekend, but certainly a potent explanation for what’s happening if you DO like to tune into the “news.” As I mentioned in one comment, the “news” would better be described as the “olds.” Because it demonstrates what’s no longer working.

Here’s how I choose to deal:

First, I recognize that we’re on the cusp of an evolutionary leap. Before, we could pretend that this system of good guys and bad guys was working. We could fight to get “our team” back in power. It is so apparent that this me against you IS. NOT. WORKING. That’s good to know.

Secondly, I can’t help but notice that, at the same time these institutions are failing, there’s this other story rising. There are young people (like my five-year-old superhero) giving love. Like mushrooms living underground, countless heroes, lovers and changemakers are posed, waiting for their moment to rise, to bloom.

Lastly, I remember that all those “actors” on the repertory stage of this current “theater drama” are simply playing a role. It’s not who they really are. I love knowing that. I see my job as being a witness to the truth of love, behind the scenes.

Because despite how it looks, the invisible world holds all the power. That’s what our discovery of the electron established, what quantum mechanics proves. That’s the promise of the Course in Miracles. What we see here is basically a neural pathway malfunction. It may look like things are beyond hope, but there is actually a bigger, more beautiful story going on.

As I used to like to say on Fridays, go out, my much-loved friends, and have the best weekend of your life.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Like housebreaking a puppy

January 2, 2018 50 Comments

“We are all captives of a story,”—Daniel Quinn cars

For more than 100 years, physicists have known that Newton’s classical view of physical reality doesn’t work at its core. The subatomic realm so defies all reason and logic that most scientists, scared to endanger their academic credentials, have more or less ignored the fact that life is nothing like what we pretend it is.

In fact, the world is so freaky—particles popping up out of nowhere, time slowing down and speeding up, particles reacting and communicating with each other even when separated by thousands of miles—that the main thing scientists have done with this information is develop technology that allows us to blow each other up, send text messages and nuke leftover black-eyed peas.

We now have inscrutable proof that the two main fundaments of physical reality— space and time—are nothing but extremely convincing optical illusions.

As Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, a physicist popularly known as Dr. Quantum, says, “It boils down to this—the universe doesn’t exist without a perceiver of that universe.”

And that’s what the Course in Miracles is all about. It advocates the idea that consciousness creates the material world. It says we humans decide in advance how we’re going to experience life, that we choose beforehand what we want to see.

The problem is, we all look at the world with a giant chip on our shoulder.

So to change the course of our lives, we must actively see and expect a different reality. Most of us, devote time and attention (our consciousness, if you will) to things we don’t want.

But it’s nothing more than a bad habit. And like any bad habit, it can be changed with conscious and deliberate effort.

Which is why I go through the Course lessons every year. Which is why I’ve made mind training my number one priority. I often compare it to housebreaking a puppy.

You just keep taking it back outside and showing it a different reality until one day, it finally realizes, Wow, there’s a whole big world out there. And it’s a lot more fun to pee on trees and bushes and fire hydrants than on Pam’s ratty old house slippers.

Your mind will be astonished by the beauty that’s available when you put it on the spot. Deep peace will appear. Great ideas will materialize and expand. Joy will rise up.

The only thing you need to do is devote your mind only to things you want. If you want peace, think of peace. If you want love, think of love. If you want Jimmy Choo pumps, think of Jimmy Choo pumps. Do not think about how peace looks impossible or that love seems fleeting or that there’s no money in your bank account for Jimmy Choo pumps. Keep your mind focused only on what you want. And anytime that puppy starts heading toward those slippers, pick it up and take it back outside.

But for today, there’s simply Lesson 2: “I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me.”

For a quick minute, you simply look around and acknowledge that you have given meaning to whatever happens to cross your view.

For example, I’m currently giving meaning to a big globe, a peace tree I recently bought from an artist in Haiti, an encaustic painting I made when writing a story for Cooking Light about art camps in Carmel.

That’s it. One simple day at a time. Just know, that you do not have to seek peace and joy and love. It is your natural state and will come pouring forth once you make space in your mind.

Have an extraordinarily epic day, my beautiful friends!

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

The Deuce of Clubs is not the only card in the deck: Change your story, change your life

August 18, 2017 14 Comments

“The first principle of quantum mechanics is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”—Richard Feynman

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was famous for saying “nobody understands quantum mechanics.”

So I won’t pretend that I do. But I do know that in the quantum field there are a gazillion superpositions. And that when we decide one of them is absolute fact (say, “the world is falling apart” or “life is really hard”), we make that superposition into a material reality. Our observing it makes it real, makes it solid.

It’s like choosing the three of clubs from a deck of cards and then forgetting there are 51 other cards in the deck. Only in the quantum world, there is an infinite number of cards–what I call the FP or the field of infinite potentiality.

When we worry about one particular superposition, we add energy to it. We solidify it into the material realm. When we call our friends to complain, when we watch the news with our mouths agape, we literally add weight to a hand of playing cards that needs to be discarded.

Worse, we completely forget there are so many other options, so many other potential realities.

You can play this particular hand for your entire lifetime. Most people will. Or you can throw it back in the deck and either draw a new hand or, better yet, create a hand no one has even thought up yet.

My new book that comes out Tuesday is all about throwing in the old hand, about creating a whole new world. One of the options, of course, is to pick a different hand from the existing 52 cards. And that’s a noble beginning.

As for me, I plan to start from scratch and create a different hand, a more beautiful and generous hand.

All of us have the power to do just that. We can take the bleeding and dying superposition that we’re currently seeing on the news, and throw it back in the deck.

We can choose a different vision, a different story, a different deck of cards.

It’s up to us, the observer, the chooser of the superposition.

P.S. I’ll be talking about the new book and answering questions during my debut FB Live next Tuesday. It’s on the Hay House FB page. I changed it, thanks to you and the solar eclipse which passes right over my head. It’s at 9 a.m. PST, 11 CST and noon EST. Hope to see you there.

Have a extraordinarily epic weekend.

Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the about-to-be released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Why I’m the luckiest person on the planet, Episode Can’t Keep Track

October 4, 2016 23 Comments

“I cannot quite embrace the gods of antiquity. Gods so petty as to feel threatened by human hubris, destroy Babel, chain Prometheus to a rock, etc. Nah. Look around: there are French cheese and wine, Mozart and Bossa Nova, love and sunsets…all ours for the taking. Surely, He/She/It loves us some.”—Vivian Allvin

Life’s many blessings, as I often say, stalk me like Freddie Krueger. Today, for example, I got to chat with Mike Dooley about the upcoming Soulapalooza. Tomorrow, I fly to Barcelona to celebrate my daughter’s 23rd birthday. It’s the same day as Louise Hay who, if I’m not mistaken, is turning 90.

Taz is fluent in Spanish, a skill she acquired through classes and lots of practice.

So today I’d like to share a story about learning a new language, the quantum field and how we can create new realities in our lives.

The quantum field, as you know, is an infinite mashup of possibilities. The Field of Infinite Potentialities (the F.P.) contains countless waves, dancing around in countless states, countless positions, countless possibilities. Each has its own energy and frequency.

It isn’t until the waves are measured–or chosen–that they coalesce into one material reality, thus destroying the original configuration where “all is possible.” Once we decide that say, “life is hard” or that “money is limited,” we’ve collapsed that wave and lost touch with all the rest.

Physicist say we “collapse” the wave of the quantum field by observing. We observe according to our beliefs and expectations. Once we decide to “observe” something, the rest of the possibilities (the countless superpositions) are no longer available to us.

So what does that have to do with learning a new language? When Taz walked into her first Spanish class, she was given a new name (Luisa, I think it was) and a new temporary identity. The collapsed wave of Taz (or any other student) had already mastered English.

Since Spanish is a new skill (a new superimposition), every good teacher knows to leave behind the old name, the old identity, the old learned habits. The “new person” has access to more of the possibilities, making it much easier to learn the new language.

So today, instead of being the same person you’ve always been, know that, at any time, you could uncollapse the waves and choose a new identity, a new superposition. You could let go of all beliefs and expectations that no longer serve you. You could collapse a whole new set of beliefs and expectations. You could rehearse and become a whole new you.

As for me, my new identity is this: a joyful creator (let’s just call her Persephone) who experiences an amazing two weeks in Barcelona with her beautiful Spanish-speaking daughter. Add to that my intention (out of the bazillion superpositions) of finally posting on Instagram all my #thankandgrowrich selfies.

So for those who are wondering, the old superposition of me being a luddite is now being uncollapsed and replaced with a Instagram savvy photographer named Persephone.

Thanks you guys. I’ll try to check in while I’m away. But in the meantime, play around with a new fun superposition in your beautiful, amazing life.

Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just released, Thank and Grow Rich: a 30-day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed

Important 2014 update to Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”

June 11, 2014 26 Comments

“You are already wealthy, but you have been taught not to experience your wealth.” –David Cameron Gikandi

I’m heading to Mexico City today to speak at Expo Ser, the largest mind, body and spirit conference in Latin America. I’m excited because my daughter, Taz, who speaks Spanish (I don’t. Yet.) is going with me.

So I decided to re-run a popular blog post from last year. Enjoy!!

In 1937 when Napoleon Hill wrote his now-classic tome, quantum physics was still in diapers. Einstein, of course, had posited his famous theory of relativity, but quantum physicists didn’t completely understand how it worked.

To tell you the truth, they still have trouble making sense of the crazy quantum world that is changed by simple observation. As famous physicist Richard Feynman was known to say, “Nobody understands quantum mechanics.”

However, we do know with complete certainty that thoughts produce energy (much like invisible radio waves) and that they have a significant impact on your life. This energy, in fact, provides the building blocks for your life experience.

The update to Hill’s material should be this: “Think and BE Rich.” Time is irrelevant. You can “be rich” now. Money is only a representation of your “wealth consciousness” and “wealth consciousness” which is the true source of your financial picture is available right at this moment.

Money—or what we think of as money—bills, coins, etc.—are merely tools that demonstrate a person’s “wealth consciousness.” And, in fact, according to David Cameron Gikandi, only 4 percent of money in banks (depending on the country) exist in physical form. Furthermore, he says, “Money is not real. It’s a shadow of something else.”

So by expanding your consciousness into the true abundance of the world, you acquire what is in you already. As Gikandi says, “You have more wealth capability within you than you can possibly experience in a lifetime. Nor do you need to know how to convert wealth consciousness into paper money. It happens automatically when you expand your wealth consciousness.”

In the quantum world, you are connected to everything. You already have all the riches you could ever imagine. They exist right now as probability waves. But that’s the problem. You don’t imagine them.

You keep focusing on what you don’t have.

So back to Napoleon Hill. He advises people to come up with a date when they want a certain amount of money. Sometime in the future. But the trick in the quantum world is to “be rich now.” Again, all your riches already exist in the quantum world.

Being wealthy is an internal state. As Gikandi points out, “It has nothing to do with the outside world. The internal state of wealth is a decision you make right now and you become it right Now. You need nothing outside yourself to make this decision. Do not attempt to get wealth. Be wealth.

“Even in a billion lifetimes, you cannot possibly exhaust the wealthy given to you freely by life. But you can “fail” to receive it by your own thoughts, words, action, and most of all, your chosen states of being.”

The only thing standing in your way is your “wealth consciousness.” Isn’t it time to quit “thinking and growing rich?” Instead, it’s time to Think and BE Rich.

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the soon-to-be-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.

“Man is all imagination.” –William Blake

March 26, 2013 4 Comments

“What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs?”

–A Course in Miracles

Every town has one. The mumbling guy on the street. The woman in all-black who frequents coffee shops carrying a three-foot cross. Those intriguing characters that always make you wonder. In Lawrence, Kansas, where I live, we have a whole contingency of such characters. Dennis, who typically wears a Spiderman outfit, never leaves home without his “daughter” Cheryl, a plastic doll he either carries or pushes in a stroller. Over the years, Cheryl has “grown up” from a baby doll to a bigger doll until now she’s the size of a storefront mannequin which, in truth, she actually is.

Pranksters kidnapped Cheryl the other day and the local police force, taking it quite seriously, put out an A.P.B., which thankfully resulted in an immediate recovery. Dennis and Cheryl are local celebrities. Dennis even has his own fanpage on Facebook.

The point I’m trying to make is that Dennis is no different than the rest of us. His world, although a slight deviation from what’s considered normal, is very real to him. Just as the world we’ve made up in our minds is very real to us. But both—Dennis’ world and the world we “see” and believe in with such a tenacious grip—is fiction. Neither constitutes Reality.

Reality, according to physicists who study these things, is that we are all connected. We are all one. In fact, the biggest secret in the world is we all really love each other.

We only “see” this other reality, this separate, divided, ugly world, because we imagine it to be that way. Illusions are as strong in their effects as is truth.

Because we continue to repeat and believe in the world we see on the six o’clock news, we continue to see the all hell-breaking-loose world of destruction and limits. Because dodging minefields is our source of vision, we continue to see a world of doom. Through our rote insistence on fear, we have created a fearful world.

But it’s no more real than the world of Dennis.

We have enslaved the world with our fears, doubts and miseries. By simply changing our vision, by imagining what “could be” instead of believing in “what we think is” we can literally change the world. The inner always creates the outer.

Instead of swimming in the insane culture-wide obsession with pathology, we should revel in the endless flood of miracles.

Isn’t it time to give up the world we keep re-running in our mind, to overthrow the status quo? A new more imaginative and free world is possible. But we must retrain ourselves to look through optimistic eyes. To say “thank you” and recognize all the beauty and largesse in our lives.