Twentieth century physics represents a profound turning point in the history of science. It marks the time when we as a culture had to leave behind the comfortable world of common sense, where physics agreed with and supported what “we all know” about the world

I find that I no longer believe in the finiteness of any of that which is required for the most joyful and satisfying experience of life.

While traveling in Guatemala in 2022, my wife and I had the opportunity to attend a Mayan cacao ceremony. There were about 25 of us, arranged in a circle on the floor. She and I were easily twice as old as the rest of our fellow attendees. After some prayers and readings and drinking more unsweetened cacao than I ever imagined consuming, the leader of the ceremony told us a story about this time in human evolution. To the best of my recollection, this is what she said.

“I just read your new post. As long as you concentrate on the quantum stuff, you leave me in the dust. I’m anxious for you to get to the part where you suggest how we can alter our perception to make our world a better place.”

I hear thoughts in “my head” that sound a lot like that. I also hear those thoughts articulated by young children… so, maybe things haven’t changed as much as I might like to believe they have!

If perception were actually about detecting and evaluating what is actually there, we would be aware in every moment of the superposition of multiple possible configurations of the world. And… we’re not.

If you decide to treat the world as if it reflects your beliefs, you will find yourself recovering the power you gave away when you had to depend on bigger people for your every need when you were young. You’ll find yourself back in the driver’s seat of your life. You’ll discover yourself as a creator of worlds, specifically the one you’re looking at right now.

When we look at the world as an interpretation of something that is in itself essentially unknowable, optimizing our experience is no longer about solving problems or trying to change conditions. Instead, it is about crafting our interpretations to optimize the quality of our experience.

She said, “You were part of the first wave. You, and others after you, came forth to hold that space of possibility through some relatively dark times.”

Twentieth century physics represents a profound turning point in the history of science. It marks the time when we as a culture had to leave behind the comfortable world of common sense, where physics agreed with and supported what “we all know” about the world.

I believe the Universe has a multitude of these love languages, enough so that each of us can hear at least one and be drawn back by love to the Source of all that is. The one I first heard, many decades ago, was physics. I know it sounds odd, but bear with me…

That persona I was building back then became an “invented self.” I shaped it in order to find ways to feel safe and valued and, well, significant. Constructing that invented self required virtually all my time and energy, and there wasn’t much of it left to remember my true Self.

Some of us carry within ourselves enough awareness of what we all desire to reach for that awareness in spite of the nearly overwhelming force of the Ego. We are aware that our true desire is peace, collaboration, and the highest good of all, and not the sham gratifications of conflict, competition, and “every man for himself.”

On the plus side, I’ve had the opportunity to contemplate the nature of struggle, in this case the effort to avoid something as natural and commonplace as swallowing. I know a little bit more now about why some people pray, and why some will try almost anything to deal with pain.

For myself, and I believe for a growing number of us, there comes a time when our description of the world, what we’ve been taught about life and about our presence here on Earth, is no longer satisfying. Spirituality is the name given to the search for a better explanation and, in the process, a more fulfilling life

When a child is born, and even before birth, its parents begin to talk to it, describing the world into which it has emerged, telling it of their feelings and intentions for it, and so on. These descriptions constitute aspects of the parents’ worldview and are always consistent with that view. Over time, the child absorbs this view as it attempts to learn the language or languages its parents use. This is the acculturation process, and for most of us it is required for successful participation in our own particular culture. But where does its ego come from?

There is a widespread cultural assumption that women have a built-in maternal instinct that kicks in (for most) when a child is born. This view is the result of believing that to do rigorous science we must disregard the role that consciousness plays in the unfolding of the physical world.

In psychology, the observer effect is the name given to the phenomenon that occurs when the subject of a study alters their behavior because they are aware of the observer's presence. This results in incorrect data: the researcher records behavior that is not the way the subject actually behaves when not under observation. It turns out that this phenomenon describes the vast majority of our behavior.

The Boltzmann Brain idea says that given enough space filled with the manifestations of energy we call particles, and given enough time for quantum fluctuations in this energy space (interactions among particles) to randomly produce structures of matter, these fluctuations will eventually create a brain, such as yours, complete with all your memories. And this brain will produce a picture of reality (including your body and all that you perceive) that is indistinguishable from what we think of as ordinary reality.

There exists a spiritual principle that can be validated in our individual experience. It says, “As within, so without.” This principle amounts to saying that our individual experience of the world is determined largely by the way we look at the world. If we start from there, it follows that if we want to improve our experience of the world, we have to change the way we look at the world.