How the formless comes into form: A process by which Universal Mind powers consciousness and thought to create people’s psychological lives

Abstract

In a moment of spiritual enlightenment, Sydney Banks claimed to “see” how three psycho-spiritual principles—Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought—coalesce to create all psychological experience. While considerable literature exists that describes these principles, their spiritual basis, and the intervention grounded in them, little scientific evidence has been offered that might corroborate what Banks professed to understand through his realization. To help fill this gap, the authors propose a process by which formless energy comes into physical form within human beings via Universal Mind powering Consciousness and Thought to create people’s psychological lives. Further, the authors offer a scientific basis for what appear to be the steps or phases in this process. This view distinguishes three levels of thought and posits that thought at each of these levels precedes people’s every psychological experience—their sensations, perceptions, emotions—and their behavior. Ways that people can intervene in or affect this process in their best interests are proposed.

Keywords:

• the Three Principles
• Universal Mind
• consciousness and thought
• innate mental health
• spirituality
• quantum field

Public Interest Statement

Well over a century ago, William James, a principal founder of psychology, predicted that psychology would eventually discover unifying causal principles—fundamental truths—that explain people’s psychological lives and illuminate a path to improved well-being for everyone. The authors propose that in 1973 the principles envisioned by James were finally uncovered by Sydney Banks, a common laborer and theosopher living in British Columbia, Canada. In this paper, the authors describe these principles—Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought—and propose a process by which formless energy appears to come into physical form within human beings via Universal Mind powering Consciousness and Thought to create people’s psychological lives. Further, the authors offer a scientific basis for what appear to be the steps or phases in this process. The authors conclude that realizing how these Three Principles interact from the “inside-out” to create everyone’s psychological life naturally promotes well-being. Ways that people can intervene in or affect this process in their best interests are proposed.

Competing Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

1. Introduction

For over two decades the authors have posited that three psycho-spiritual principles—Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought—represent the fundamental causal principles of human psychological experience that James (1981) envisioned for psychology well over a century ago. We have described these principles and explained how they appear to coalesce to create everyone’s psychological experience (Kelley, Pransky, & Lambert, 2015b; Kelley, Pransky, & Sedgeman, 2014; Mustakova-Possardt, 2002); offered evidence for a spiritual basis of these principles and how they relate to prevailing psychological, spiritual and psycho-spiritual teachings (Pransky & Kelley, 2014); delineated a process from exposure to these principles to improved mental health and offered preliminary evidence in support of this process (Kelley, Pransky, & Lambert, 2015c, 2016); described the intervention grounded in these principles (Kelley, 2003; Pransky, 1998; Pransky & Kelley, 2014) and offered empirical evidence in support of its efficacy (Kelley, 2011; Kelley et al., 2015b, 2015c); and described a strategy based on these principles for crime and delinquency prevention (Kelley, 2003, 2008), correctional counseling (Kelley, 2008, 2011), substance abuse treatment (Banerjee, Howard, Mansheim, & Beattie, 2007; Kelley, 2003), school violence prevention (Kelley, Mills, & Shuford, 2005), anger management (Kelley & Lambert, 2012), trauma treatment (Halcón Robertson, & Monsen, 2010; Kelley & Pransky, 2013; Kelley et al., 2014), reducing chronic stress (Halcón, Robertson, Monsen, & Claypatch, 2007; Sedgeman, 2005; Sedgeman & Sarwari, 2006), facilitating optimal mental health (Kelley, Pransky, & Lambert, 2015a; Kelley et al., 2016), preventing intimate partner violence (Kelley & Pransky, in press), and revitalizing impoverished communities (Kelley, 2003; Mills, 1995).

At present, however, little scientific evidence has been offered regarding a possible process by which Universal Mind powers Consciousness and Thought to create what people see as “reality,” and how this system converts what appears to begin with formless energy into physical form. To help fill this void the authors reviewed numerous works from particle physics (e.g. Close, 2004; Perkins, 1999), quantum physics (e.g. Omnes, 1999; Rovelli, 2016), neuroscience (e.g. Fox & Raichle, 2007; Pinker, 1999), brain research (e.g. Thompson, 2000), cellular and molecular biology (e.g. Liu, Yuanyuan, & Tollefsbol, 2008; Roberts et al., 2002), psychoneuroimmunology (e.g. Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002), epigenetics (e.g. Fuchs & Flugge, 2014), energy science (e.g. Andrews & Jelly, 2007; Brennan, 1987), transpersonal psychology (e.g. Davis, 2003; Wilber, 1997), and the study of consciousness (e.g. Dennette, 1991; Hunt, 1996; Torey, 2009). After reflecting on these writings, the first author experienced what he described as “a flash of inspiration” during which he claimed to “see” how all the pieces from these different sources fit together to create what people see as “reality” and how this system appears to convert formless energy into physical form. After pondering his explanation, the second author became intrigued by its plausibility and convinced his colleague to collaborate to refine his “vision” and offer it to the spiritual and psychological communities for consideration. What follows is our attempt to propose a scientific basis for how the formless comes into form and expose some evidence for a scientific justification of the principles of Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought.¹

2. The Three Principles

In 1973, Sydney Banks, a common laborer in British Columbia, claimed that in a moment of spiritual enlightenment he realized how three psycho-spiritual principles—Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought—interact to create all psychological experience. Banks referred to Universal Mind (or Mind) as the formless energy—and intelligence behind All life, the life force that is the source of All things; to Consciousness as the gift of awareness that allows for the recognition of form; and to Thought as the ability to create form from that formless energy. Banks realized how Mind, Consciousness and Thought were forces in the universe acting upon all people; underlying and forming the basis of anything that people can create and experience.² Banks (1998) stated:

Mind, Consciousness, and Thought are the Three Principles that enable us to acknowledge, and respond to existence. They are the basic building blocks … spiritual gifts that enable us to see creation and guide us through life. All three are universal constants that can never change, and never be separated … All psychological functions are born from these Three Principles. (pp. 21–22)

An attempt by Pransky and Kelley (2014) to illustrate how the principles of Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought interact to create people’s psychological experience is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Universal Mind, the formless, spiritual energy behind all life, the Infinite Intelligence, pure Oneness funnels into our being as pure consciousness (our soul, our spiritual essence). This pure consciousness has the qualities of peace, love, and wisdom. In this pure state, we have natural mindfulness and are completely one with the moment. Universal Mind gives us the power to have Consciousness and the power to create Thought. The thoughts we create with that power enter into our consciousness and, depending on the quality of that thinking, contaminate it to varying degrees, giving us an infinite variety of levels of consciousness that gradually descend from as close to pure consciousness as we can get in human form to the dregs of range, terror, depression, and hate created by us, from our own ability to think up a personal reality. All levels are also part of the Allness of Mind, because Mind is behind and IS All things. Thus, Mind is All things, and therefore it must also be One, and as One, it is the purest part of itself.

Source: This figure was originally published in the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health (Pransky & Kelley, 2014).

The question we raise here is, “Is there evidence from modern science to support Banks’s claim that these underlying principles work together to create people’s psychological lives, and, if so, how might it all work?” While science has peered outward into the farthest reaches of the cosmos and attempted to reduce matter to its smallest possible particles, science has seldom looked within to the formless, seemingly intangible and seemingly immeasurable inner world (Wilson, 1998). Without scientific “proof” mainstream science typically scoffs at the notion of a formless inner world. However, as Pert (1997) cautioned, “… absence of proof is not proof of absence … whenever something doesn’t fit the reigning paradigm, the initial response of the mainstream is to deny the facts” (p. 162). Hunt (1996) stated, “Classical concepts of reality have focused on secondary manifestations—the unfolded aspect of things—not their source” (p. 51). Sedgeman (1998) stated:

… to grasp the difference between seeing principles and learning theoretical knowledge … requires science to examine something “new” in the context of insight and discovery-based learning … reflection as opposed to analysis … The study of the Three Principles … is about what happens before there is any content—that is, before the formation of thought. It opens the door to the spiritual—that is, to knowing in faith that one can see beyond one’s knowledge. (pp. 1–2)

3. Thought: the fundamental property of human experience

Wilson (1998) emphasized that what humans call “reality” is an empirical question that can be answered only by probing the physical basis of the thought process. Wilson proposed that thought makes something happen; that thought is part of some process that results in physical form. Bohm (1994), a student of Einstein, emphasized that thought does not tell people it is participating in and altering the very way things are. According to Bohm (1994), “Thought produces something and says, ‘I didn’t produce it. It’s really there”’ (p. 25). Jeans (in Hunt, 1993) posited that the world is more like a thought system than material reality; that people can perceive only illusions of the real world. Bohm saw the universe as a unified network of events and relationships in which the mind and human soul are integral parts of existence, rather than merely products of nature. He emphasized that many physicists believe this is a fundamental event beyond physics, an act of consciousness and thought.

Einstein proved that matter is another form of energy. At the quantum level, however, there appears to be no real separation between matter and energy. Chopra (1990), stated, “… if you zero in on … bits of sub-atomic matter, they are not material at all but rather mere vibrations of energy that have taken on the appearance of solidity … (p. 132). Electrons under the same condition act like particles and then at other times act like waves depending on what the observer expects will happen (Radin, Michel, Johnston, & Delorme, 2013). At the quantum level, the role of the observer is prominent in determining the nature of reality (Davies & Gribbin, 2007; Radin et al., 2012). What the observer thinks will occur is what the quantum field does (Henry, 2005; Wilson, 1998). A key principle of quantum physics is “thought determines reality” (Davies, 2010; Omnes, 1999).

Zukov (1989) asserted that at each moment people are informing the energy that flows through them with each thought, and since no form exists without consciousness; there is only energy which is shaped by consciousness. Thought and consciousness appear to be inexorably intertwined. Without consciousness people would have no experience of their thinking. Eccles (in Pratt, 1995) posited that while evolution can account for the brain, only something transcendent (i.e. Universal Mind) can explain consciousness and thought.

Banks (1998) asserted that Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought are the elements through which people create and have experience and that absent any one of the three, people would have no experience; that all psychological experience is propelled by its most fundamental property—Thought—inextricably linked to and brought to life by Consciousness and powered up by Universal Mind; that “reality” is not what is seems, precisely because thought enters perception and alters whatever people perceive; and that consciousness would forever remain a mystery were it not for its connection to thought.

4. How formless thought comes into form

What follows is a process that we propose captures generally how “formless thought comes into form” within human beings. This model distinguishes three levels of thought and attempts to explain how thought at each of these levels precedes people’s every psychological experience—their sensations, perceptions, emotions—and their behavior. Furthermore, in this process thought refers to all mental activity, as well as all spiritual activity “taken in” by human beings (and all living creatures). We believe this proposed system plausibly demonstrates how Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought work together to convert what appears to begin as formless energy into physical form. We do not mean to suggest that the following components represent this process in entirety, nor that these components work in so precise and orderly a fashion. However, we posit that this process suggests how its components generally work to create what people experience as “reality” and then how people react or respond to the “reality” they create.

5. Level I thought: protothought

5.1. People make contact with the outside world

To begin this process, people must somehow make contact with or interact with the outside world. The vehicle through which this appears to occur is through people’s five—some would say six—senses.³

5.2. Formless thought intercedes in such a way that people can never know outside reality

The prevailing view is that people’s attention and awareness are engaged when an external stimulus is of sufficient strength to enter their consciousness (Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007). This perspective emphasizes the impact of external sensory data on the nervous system (e.g. sound proceeds from an outside source, enters the ears, and is perceived). The authors posit that this picture is incorrect. In contrast we propose that sensory input is inseparately linked with thought; that thought informs people’s senses; that people’s attention and awareness (or the lack thereof) are the registration within consciousness of thought through people’s senses (Kelley et al., 2016). For an external stimulus to even register on the senses people must first, most often unknowingly, have a thought regarding the external stimulus. For example, if a clock is ticking in a room but someone does not hear “the tick” it would not register in this person’s consciousness via the sense of hearing.

Several researchers have speculated how this might happen. For example, Glasser and Powers (1981) posited that people’s only contact with the external world is through a primary level of perception, which they called “intensity.” Some intensity of light, sound, touch, etc., makes contact with people’s sense organs and is all people can ever know of the real world because, from this point on, interpretation takes over. In other words, by the time this intensity reaches the brain it has already been altered into what Glasser and Powers called “sensation.” Because sensation is already altered by interpretation (i.e. thought), people really know nothing of the real world—only a thought-created apparition of it.

Pert (1997) stated, “There is a plethora of elegant neurophysiological data suggesting that the nervous system scans the outer world for material that it is prepared to find by virtue of its wiring hookups, its own internal patterns, and its past experience” (p. 147). Taking this a major step further, Hunt (1996) measured energy fields around the human body and posited that some form of thought comes into play within these fields before it even reaches the senses. Hunt (1996) stated, “There is no physical universe without our thoughts about it” (p. 44).

Thus, the authors posit that what people perceive does not come to them directly through their senses. Rather, it comes to them through thought, which at an extraordinarily deep level appears to alter anything and everything people can pick up from the external world before they experience it. This level of thought occurs at such depth and subtlety it is virtually imperceptible, yet it appears to alter everything people can possibly experience through their consciousness by what people initially experience through any of their senses. The authors refer to this as Level I thought or protothought (i.e. thought in process of becoming).⁴

5.3. Contact occurs through the interaction between energy fields

Hunt (1996) cited both Einstein’s Unified Field Theory that, “… all matter is organized energy,” and that … “the only reality is energy organized into fields;” and Lewin that, “… all things are composed of vibrations organized into fields that permeate the entire structure.” As a result, Hunt concluded that people live in a sea of force fields all being absorbed and altered by the mind or thought, and therefore one must understand human beings at the level of field transactions, which are primary to people’s existence.

Quantum field theory tells us that throughout all of space are numerous fields that exist everywhere (Lincoln, 2009). All particles (e.g. electrons, photons, quarks, and/or gluons) are actually localized vibrations of their associated fields. The Higgs boson is actually a Higgs field which interacts with other fields and gives mass to the particles associated with each field. Quantum theory appears to be telling us that these fundamental particles have no inherent existence but rather exist in an undefined state of potentialities (i.e. formlessness) until a mind (i.e. thought) interacts with them and gives them meaning (i.e. form) (Rosenblum & Kuttner, 2006). According to Chopra (1990):

… [all objects we see around us are connected by] … infinite, eternal, unbounded quantum fields, a kind of invisible quilt that has all of creation stitched into it … The hard edges of any object, such as a table or chair, are illusions forced upon us by the limits of our sight. If we had eyes tuned to the quantum world, we would see these edges blur and finally melt, giving way to unlimited quantum fields. (p. 131)

Brennan (1987) claimed to “see” the layers of the human energy field and asserted that thought exists within one of these layers. Therefore, when the human energy field surrounding the body comes into contact with other energy fields, energy contact takes place prior to sensory contact. It appears that some deep level of thought within the energy fields surrounding human beings sends signals that act as intermediary between the outside world and people’s senses. Thus, the long held view that light proceeds from an external source, enters the eye, and is perceived appears to be incorrect (Henry, 2005). Whatever people see, hear, smell, touch or taste appears to be what thought brings them from an already interpreted outside world. Bohm (1994) stated, “People’s senses pick up a representation painted by their thoughts in the same way an artist paints a picture that represents somebody but isn’t that somebody” (p. 72). According to Henry (2005), people hoping to find out what things are, who have learned to accept that nothing exists but observations [i.e. thought], are far ahead of their peers.

5.4. Which then moves the molecules in people’s sensory organs

Level I protothought appears to move some crucial molecules, first in people’s sensory organs. Bohm (1994) stressed the importance of seeing thought as movement; part of a material process going on in the brain, the nervous system and the whole body. According to Bohm (1994), thought may move the body or the chemistry or simply the image of something else, all as one system, and it is everything.

Pert (1997) posited that a signal does not have to reach the brain for Mind to intercede because Mind exists throughout the body. She discovered that when people’s senses are aroused, the molecules within them, typically referred to as neurotransmitters, begin to vibrate and communicate with neutransmitters in other parts of the body before any signal makes contact with the brain. Thus, something may strike people’s senses, but by the time it leaves their sense organs so the brain would be aware of it, Mind or thought has already altered the picture. Pert (1997) referred to this as Mind at work—communication independent of the brain.

Pert’s view appears to be supported by considerable research. For example, research in neurocardiology (e.g. Thayer & Lane, 2009) shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center for receiving and processing information. Furthermore, the nervous system within the heart (i.e. “heart brain”) enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Moreover, these researchers conclude that numerous experiments demonstrate that signals the heart continually sends to the brain influence the function of higher brain centers involved in perception, cognition, and emotion processing. Also, several researchers (e.g. Sonnenburg & Sonnenburg, 2015) refer to the gastrointestinal system as the “second brain” because the enteric nervous system is so extensive it can operate as an independent entity without input from the brain. Furthermore, researchers, (e.g. Ramanathan & Broach, 2007) have discovered a level of memory and information processing in single cells that has not been normally associated with single cells, suggesting that individual cells have the capacity to think.

Thus, formless thought via vibration, appears to be transformed into material substances in the body. Suggesting how this might happen, Chopra (1990) stated:

Physics informs us that the basic fabric of nature lies at the quantum level, far beyond atoms and molecules … At this level, matter and energy become inter-changeable. All quanta are made up of invisible vibrations—ghosts of energy—waiting to take physical form. (p. 7)

Hunt (1996) proposed that vibrational interaction between energy fields is what makes the molecules in people’s senses begin to vibrate.

5.5. Which communicate with other molecules via mind

It appears that these vibrating neurotransmitters distribute information to other neurotransmitters (i.e. receptors) that exist throughout the body. According to Pert (1997):

Neurotransmitters travel throughout the body every time people have a thought … and these signals bypass the brain in a direct, two-way information exchange … some kind of coded language via mind-body network … Mind at work in every cell of the body … the body’s innate intelligence … (p. 185)

Hunt (1996) proposed that because this communication happens too quickly to work through chemical or neural signal transmission, it likely happens directly through the body’s energy field at some quantum level. Hunt’s view appears to be supported by Bohm’s work in quantum physics which suggests that at the sub-atomic level all points in space are essentially the same and therefore, nothing is actually separate from anything else. This property called “quantum entanglement” or “non-locality” (Bell, 1966) posits that one particle of an entangled pair “knows” what measurement has been performed on the other even though the two particles may be separated by large distances (Nadeau & Kafatos, 1999). This may explain how communication between different cells in the body can happen instantaneously. If two neurotransmitters are non-locally connected, communication between them is instantaneous because they are not truly separate.

5.6. Which stimulates cellular changes within the body

Thus, the human body appears to have a mind—or intelligence—of its own independent of the brain where cells appear to be in constant communication with other cells through the release of neurotransmitters that communicate with other neurotransmitters. Pert (1997) stated:

… it is like two voices—ligand and receptor—striking the same note, producing a vibration, which rings the doorbell, which leads to opening the doorway to the cell. The receptor, having received a message, transmits it from the surface of the cell deeper into the cell interior where the message can change the state of the cell dramatically. This leads to a chain reaction of biochemical events which can manufacture new proteins, cause cell divisions, open or close channels, etc. (p. 124)

At the same time, a parallel process appears to occur; a simultaneous signal from the sense organs is sent to the brain through the firing of synapses along the neural network.

6. Level II thought: interpretative thought

Pert (1997) posited that the brain must have a means of filtering the deluge of sensory information it is constantly receiving in order to attend to what the “bodymind” deems most important. It appears that only a tiny fraction of the massive external stimuli available to people ever reaches the brain’s processing centers. According to Zhang and Raichle (2010), this thin stream of data probably could not produce a perception if that were all the brain took into account; the intrinsic activity must play a role. In this regard Bohm (1999) stated:

The flux of awareness is not precisely definable, and yet it is evident prior to the definable forms of thoughts and ideas which can be seen to form and dissolve in the flux, like ripples, waves and vortices in a flowing stream. As happens with such patterns of movement in a stream, some thoughts recur and persist in a more or less stable way, while others are evanescent. (p. 11)

Thus, another level of thought appears to intercede which the authors refer to as Level II thought or interpretative thought. Using Level II thought, people interpret what has been picked up by their senses, which has already been altered by Level I protothought. It appears most Level II thoughts get stored in the brain’s memory centers, with some interpreted as having more importance to individuals than others. This system of Level II thought appears to work by what is referred to as “reflexes” (e.g. Clark & Beck, 2010) which, if repeated again and again, become conditioned.⁵

6.1. Which stimulates other chemical changes in the brain and body

Chemical changes in the body also appear to be triggered by Level II thought. Bohm (1999) asserted that something happens in the chemistry—in the physics—in the neuro-physiological process. For example, a reflex may connect to endorphins and produce an impulse to hold the whole pattern further. Level II thought appears also to move the neurotransmitters. According to Pert (1997), thought is stored in the mind and is instantaneously transformed into physical reality:

When a receptor is flooded with a ligand, it changes the cell membrane in such a way that the probability of an electrical impulse traveling across the membrane where the receptor resides is facilitated or inhibited, there-after affecting the choice of neuronal circuitry that will be used … The decisions about what becomes a thought rising to consciousness and what remains an undigestive thought pattern buried at deeper levels in the body is mediated by the receptors. I’d say that the fact that memory is encoded or stored at the receptor level means that memory and processes are emotion–driven and unconscious but, like other receptor-mediated processes, can sometimes be made conscious. (p. 143)

In turn, this appears to stimulate more molecular movement and additional chemical changes.

6.2. Which are experienced as emotions, moods or other feelings

The movement of these molecules triggered by thought—first at Level I and then at Level II—appears to be the source of people’s emotions, other feelings and moods. Before people perceive anything, Level I protothought alters people’s perceptions in the first place. Then, at Level II, another thought or set of thoughts interprets or decides the relative importance of what people perceive. Typically, people’s thoughts pass through so rapidly they are only aware of the emotions they spawn.⁶ According to Hamilton (2010), emotions can no longer be thought to have less validity than physical, material substances but instead must be seen as cellular signals which are involved in the process of translating information into physical reality; that emotions are at the nexus between matter and the mind, bouncing back and forth between the two and influencing both. Pert (1997) claims this process literally transforms mind into matter.

Thus, thought appears to activate the physiological response and create emotions and moods which constantly regulate what people experience as “reality.” People’s thoughts, which are somehow screened or impacted by other thoughts, are what appear to set the emotional system in motion. According to Pert (1997), each of thousands of receptors on each cell in the body is specific to one neurotransmitter. When people have thoughts of anger, sadness, guilt, excitement, nervousness, etc., each resulting emotion releases its own flurry of neurotransmitters which surge through the body and connect with other neurotransmitters which change the structure of the cell as a whole. Then, when the cells divide, the new cell produced through its division will have more of the receptor that matches that specific neurotransmitter. Rodrigues, LeDoux, and Sapolsky (2009) stated, “… our bodies and our minds really are not separate, but instead mutually inform each other on how to process the emotional events of our lives.” (p. 23). This, we believe is what Sydney Banks meant when he said that consciousness is what makes people’s own thinking look and feel “real” to them. People who seem to be reacting or responding to stimuli in the outside world are really experiencing their own thinking manifesting into a thought-form, which sets the vibration in motion, which turns it into an actual feeling or emotion. People often insist that what they are feeling is real because they truly are feeling the vibration of it, without realizing it is their own interpretation via thought that in the first place set the vibration in motion.

7. Level III thought: intentional thought

These emotions, moods and states of mind, in turn, appear to affect a third level of thought that then creates a response, which often follows an intention people do not typically realize they are setting. When Capra (1997) posited that perceptions and thoughts are colored by emotions, he appeared to be referring to what the authors refer to as Level III thought or intentional thought. Level II interpretative thought (and likely Level I protothought) create emotions and moods which, in turn, affect people’s intentions. An intention, here, refers to thoughts regarding what people will do as a result of the emotions, moods and other feelings they experience. Intentional thought, within people’s consciousness, makes them want to act—or not, which is an action in itself.

7.1. Which leads to behavior

Every behavior appears to begin with intentional thought. Though people may not be aware of the specific thought, both their being and their body have consciousness of it. Intentional thought is what makes a leg move—to walk, run or kick into action. Intentional thought is what causes a fist to clench, an arm to swing, lips to kiss—every possible response and action. Yet, people typically do not see this hidden, intentional thought any more readily than they see Level I protothought, and Level II interpretative thought.

7.2. Which may affect something out in the world and the entire system begins again

People’s behavior—always perfectly aligned with intentional thought—in turn, may elicit some action or reaction “out there.” Something or someone in the external world may respond or react to or act upon another person’s behavior, but only via this entire system above being set into action within them. In other words, people on the receiving end go through the exact same process—from protothought to a thought into feeling into action—as did the initial person. No one ever gets a direct experience of what happens “out there.” Thought, at all its different levels, at every step of the way, has its fingers on the trigger, so to speak. It appears nothing that people do or experience can ever be without thought. Any time people act or react or respond to anything, they do so through their own creative power of thought.

Thus, the authors conclude that Thought appears to precede all levels of the entire process. Level I protothought precedes perceptions. Level II interpretative thought precedes emotions. Level III intentional thought precedes actions. The steps in our proposed process of thought into form within human beings are summarized in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The steps in our proposed process of thought into form within human beings.

8. Implications for improved mental health

If the process we have proposed captures generally how “thought into form” works within and around people’s beings and bodies, the question then becomes, “Can people somehow intervene in or affect this process in ways that are in their best interests?” The authors propose that when people realize the general workings of this system, this realization in itself raises one’s level of consciousness, thereby promoting health—that realizing the critical role thought plays in the creation of what people call “reality” in and of itself promotes well-being. When people “see”—at a deep level—the “inside-out” nature of everyone’s psychological experience—they begin using the power of thought more in their best interest rather than inadvertently against themselves. It appears that simply understanding how all psychological experience is coming from people’s own thinking—not from “out there”—and because thinking changes people are never stuck where they are, is enough to help people not take their thinking and its creations so seriously or personally and allow their thoughts to flow more freely through their minds. Conversely, if people do not realize how thought works, they tend to be confused, “tricked” or seduced by its animation via consciousness and innocently obscure the mental and perhaps even the physical health they are meant to experience as a lifestyle. Thought-into-form is always seeking coherence and when the system experiences incoherence it seeks to right itself—on its own—unless people innocently impede this natural process with their own personal thinking.

8.1. Thought beyond the personal mind from higher consciousness

Banks (1998) pointed people to a realm beyond the personal mind, from which insights, intuition, wisdom, realizations and revelations spring. While these are also within the domain of thought, they appear to be from a different realm and appear when the mind quiets or clears. Bohm (1999) corroborated this when asserting insight or intelligence exists beyond people’s conditioned thought patterns. As Chopra (1990) stated:

[Beyond the constant activity of the mind] … lies a silent region that appears as empty as the quantum field between the stars. Yet, like the quantum field, our inner silence holds rich promise. The silence inside us is the key to the quantum mechanical body. It is not chaotic but an organized silence. It has shape and design, purpose and processes, just like the physical body … (p. 10)

In this regard, brain imaging research has spawned the discovery of the brain’s “default mode network” (DMN); specific areas of the brain that activate and communicate whenever people’s minds quiet or clear (Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008; Fox & Raichle, 2007). The DMN appears to be critical for providing context for what people experience in their small window of consciousness. It appears that the role of the DMN is to synchronize communication in all parts of the brain and the body so that people are optimally responsive to whatever life calls for in the moment. Raichle (2010) likened the brain metaphorically to a symphony orchestra, a federation of interdependent components, where, at the top of the hierarchy resides the DMN which acts as conductor with the need to balance planned responses with the immediate needs of the moment.

Also, several researchers (e.g. Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) have posited that creativity is associated with spontaneous cognitions that appear to arise from DMN activity. Furthermore, mindfulness-based techniques (e.g. meditation) appear to stimulate activity in the DMN which may help explain why these techniques have been associated with improved well-being (Brewer et al., 2011). Interestingly, several severe mental disorders (e.g. autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, posttraumatic stress disorder, and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) have been associated with dysfunction in the DMN (Buckner et al., 2008). Thus, it appears that when people’s minds quiet or clear, the brain spontaneously uses the energy of Universal Mind in people’s best interests.

The authors posit that when people grasp the innate design behind the power of thought; realize its innate intelligence; see past their conditioned habits of thinking; realize they are the thinkers of the thoughts that create their psychological experience; see the futility of trying to forcefully think their way through life and allow the mind to clear, they experience higher levels of consciousness where new insights are available that can move the entire process to a healthier place. Banks (1998) stated:

As our consciousness ascends we regain purity of Thought, and regain our feelings of love and understanding. Mental health lies within the consciousness of all human beings. This is why we must look past our contaminated thoughts to find the purity and wisdom that lies inside our own consciousness. (pp. 40–41)

Myss (1996) asserted that because Divine energy is inherent in our biological system, every thought entering our mind, every belief nurtured, every memory hung onto translates into a positive or negative command to our bodies and spirits. Thus, it appears that people may be creating their own health via their understanding and use of the creative power of thought. For example, if people have a negative attitude, they may be bombarding their cells with those specific neurotransmitters which, in turn, may be programing their cells to receive more of those neurotransmitters in the future. Worse, those people may be reducing the number of receptors of positive-attitude neurotransmitters, making themselves inclined toward negativity.

Simultaneously, people may inadvertently be creating neural pathways in their brains which more easily allow negative thoughts to travel these pathways like wheels in a rut. Research on neuroplasty (e.g. Fuchs & Flugge, 2014) appears to support this view. It seems that what people attend to—consciously or unconsciously—results in neurons firing together and wiring together. For example, Stefano, Cadet, Fimiani, and Magazine (2001) observed almost immediate changes in nitric oxide (NO), a critical component of the immune system, in response to increasing and decreasing stressful cognitions. The changes in NO were so rapid the researchers speculated they, “… may really represent the manifestation of a proactive mind-body link that evokes an innate protective response” (p. 2). Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (2002) concluded that negative affect, a characteristic of much of the psycho-pathology spectrum, is a key pathway for other psychological modifiers of immune function. Conversely, McCraty and Tomasino (2006) stated that through fostering positive emotions and psychophysiological coherence, people can replace habitual emotional patterns underlying stress with new, healthier patterns that foster increased emotional stability, mental acuity, and physiological efficiency as a new norm. Banks (1998) and Kelley et al. (2016) assert it is not necessary to go out of one’s way to reframe one’s thinking or to think more positively because when one ceases to think in a negative manner, healthy thinking naturally surfaces.

The science of epigenetics (e.g. Liu et al., 2008) posits that thought influences the expression of genes. According to Lipton (2005), genes do not make decisions about being turned on and off. Rather, genes can be considered blueprints that provide potentials, and the human body is structured to develop and regenerate itself from gene blueprints. Thought can be viewed as the building contractor that adjusts DNA blueprints. Thus, people may be creating their own biology with their thinking.

Prigogine (in Capra, 1997) asserted that a closed system will decay and deteriorate. According to Myss (1996), transmitting energy to the past by dwelling on painful memories draws power from people’s bodies and can lead to illness. Thompson, Mehlsen, and Hokland (2004) demonstrated that re-thinking painful memories is associated with various types of physical pain and immune system dysfunction. However, if energy is introduced into the system, the disintegration process is altered and matter takes on a higher organization. The authors posit that new energy surfaces spontaneously when people realize the “inside-out” nature of people’s psychological experience. When people “see” how Universal Mind, Thought and Consciousness work from the “inside-out” to create people’s psychological lives, the system gets rejuvenated.

9. Conclusion

The authors conclude that science appears to corroborate much of what Banks (1998) came to realize through his enlightenment experience. Modern science’s view of the cosmos appears to eliminate all distinctions between matter, energy and space, encompassing them into a single reality; a web of energy connecting all things called the quantum field. Everything appears to be part of the quantum field which continually oscillates between two states—“matter” (i.e. form) and “force” (i.e. formless energy). Form appears to be a local concentration of the quantum field,—a temporary clustering of energy that begins to vibrate at a certain frequency that appears solid to people’s senses. Everything, including people’s thoughts, appears to be a transient particle manifestation of the quantum field.

The quantum field appears to contain an infinite number of every type of particle in potential form waiting for thought to tell it how to behave. According to the new science, thought determines what manifests out of the field of all possibility and into form. It appears that every time people’s reality oscillates between form and the pure energy state of the field, their awareness informs the field “what to reappear as” when it transitions back to form at the quantum level. Thus, it seems that people’s understanding and use of the power of thought determines whether or not what manifests from the quantum field is in their best interest. It appears that when people trust thought to operate in a natural free-flowing way, their psyche aligns with its healthy energetic blueprint and the atoms and molecules in their body align optimally because they are aligning with Universal Principles and matching their energy with the energy coming directly from the field of all possibilities (i.e. Universal Mind)—higher frequencies of health, inspiration, joy, wisdom, and love.

The new science appears to offer support for our proposition that thought at the three levels we have posited gets directed toward either health or dysfunction. As people’s understanding and use of this creative power improves, the health of the human system improves.⁷ People’s energy field is natural, luminous, vibrant, intelligent, and naturally designed to flow unhindered as a powerful stream of consciousness. However, when people do not realize the “inside-out” nature of everyone’s psychological experience, they tend to innocently impede the natural flow of their Divine gift of the power of thought. West (2014) stated:

If you could discover that you are pure consciousness … an infinite creative aware-ness that is manifesting reality and co-creating reality with other aspects of yourself (because every being is an expression of the infinite universal consciousness) then you can start to take complete control over your body, your health and your life. (p. 14)

Banks (1998) called it “formlessness before the formation of time, space, and matter” (p. 26). Now research from the new science appears to be pointing us in the same direction.

What is unique about Banks’s discovery is that the principles of Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought appear to offer a coherent explanation of people’s psychological lives at a time when psychology is still searching for unifying principles. Of course, this is not meant to be the definitive word on this subject. We have likely only scratched the surface. Hopefully, what we have offered suggests a direction for further inquiry. Schmidt (in Dorfman, 2015) stated:

Bridges must be re-built between science and spirit, or the inner and outer, to show that these worlds are connected, flowing from one to the other … or science will wander aimlessly and will not understand how to benefit humanity until we know and understand how we create suffering on this planet and until the outer world is informed by the intelligence of the inner world. (p. 152)

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Jack Pransky

Jack Pransky is the director of the Center for Inside-Out Understanding in Boca Raton, Florida. Pransky is internationally recognized for his excellence as a Three Principles trainer and practitioner. He has written several Three Principles books including Prevention from the Inside-Out, Somebody Should Have Told Us, Modello, Parenting from the Heart, and Seduced by Consciousness (in press). Also he has authored several Three Principles papers published in respected academic journals such as Spirituality in Clinical Practice and Journal of Creativity in Mental Health.

Thomas M. Kelley

Thomas Kelley is an associate professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Wayne State University. His research interests include crime and delinquency, child abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, correctional counseling, and flourishing mental health. Kelley has had 25 papers regarding the Three Principles published in respected peer-reviewed journals including Spirituality in Clinical Practice and American Psychologist. Also Kelley is a licensed psychologist and uses Three Principles intervention exclusively in his private practice.

Notes

1. The second author is indebted to the first for allowing him to assist in expanding and bringing his plausbile vision to a larger audience.

2. For an in-depth description of the principles of Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought and how they appear to interact to create people’s psychological lives we encourage readers to review the original works of Sydney Banks (1998, 2001, 2005) and/or recent works of the Pransky and Kelley (2014) and Kelley et al. (2016).

3. The sixth sense has been defined as “a power or perception seemingly independent of the five senses; intuition” (American Heritage Dictionary).

4. While people are typically not conscious of this level of thought, the authors assert that it is helpful for people to realize that Level I protothought is continually operating within them and affecting how their lives appear to them.

5. Most people don’t realize that every emotion is after the fact of thought. Bohm (1994) stated, “… you don’t realize that what you are feeling in the body has been stimulated by your thought, so you may say, ‘I feel fear in the pit of my stomach …’” (p. 40).

6. This, we believe, is what Banks meant when he said that consciousness is what makes people’s own thinking look and feel “real” to them. People are experiencing their own thinking manifesting into a thought-form, which sets the vibration in motion, which turns it into an actual feeling or emotion. People often insist that what they are feeling is real because they truly are feeling the vibration of it, without realizing it was their own interpretation via thought that in the first place set the vibration in motion.

7. When we say that people “use” these principles we don’t mean to suggest that people do something. People naturally use the Three Principles to have psychological experience in the same way they use gravity to stay anchored to the Earth.