A Small Miracle

[terry_wong001]

Last weekend, 400 people sat for two days in a hall in central London and listened intently to some of the world’s leading physicists and teachers. They were all attending ‘The Intention Experiment’ conference, which was the official launch of a series of web-based experiments that promise to be the largest mind-over-matter studies ever undertaken.
They also made history at 5pm on the Sunday, March 11, because they were all invited to take part in the world’s first transatlantic intention experiment. With the aid of a web link-up, they were able to see two leaves that had been positioned in a laboratory at the University of Arizona, 5,000 miles away.
The intention was simple. We agreed on one leaf that was to be the target, and we were going to make it glow – just by using our thoughts. Back in Arizona, light-sensitive cameras were trained on the chosen leaf, and the readings would be analysed to see if it started emitting more light.
We expected the results back in a few weeks, as the data can be difficult to read. In fact, we heard the result just 48 hours later – the chosen leaf glowed so brightly that its transformation was visible to the naked eye.
Yes, our thoughts – and only our thoughts – altered a leaf that was 5,000 miles away.

A special message from Lynne McTaggart, founder, Living The Field course

[Oualawouzou]

I am overwhelmed by the amount of verifiable data contained in this post. It'll take me ages to go through it all.

(ETA: and it took 48 hours to determine that something glowed so brightly it was visible to the naked eye...)

[CynicalSkeptic]

Cool. Where's the video?

[CynicalSkeptic]

Originally Posted by terry_wong001

Last weekend, 400 people sat for two days in a hall in central London and listened intently to some of the world’s leading physicists and teachers. They were all attending ‘The Intention Experiment’ conference, which was the official launch of a series of web-based experiments that promise to be the largest mind-over-matter studies ever undertaken.
They also made history at 5pm on the Sunday, March 11, because they were all invited to take part in the world’s first transatlantic intention experiment.

Why does the web site say this 1st experiment is going to happen 4 days from now. i.e. in the future, not in the past?

[Oualawouzou]

Premonition.

Duh.

[Math Maniac]

Originally Posted by Oualawouzou

I am overwhelmed by the amount of verifiable data contained in this post. It'll take me ages to go through it all.

(ETA: and it took 48 hours to determine that something glowed so brightly it was visible to the naked eye...)

Agreed; it defies explanation as to why it took so long. Let them now initiate a challenge!

[CynicalSkeptic]

If they're trying to get volunteers to participate in the experiment, why are they first required to buy the book?? Why can't they just post instructions on the web site? Could it possibly be that she's trying to profit?

Quote:

In order to join our experiment with thousands of others, you must read The Intention Experiment first and familiarize yourself with Lynne’s Powering Up program in chapter 13. Please read it NOW. You’ll be asked to supply a password from the book and also to fill out a short questionnaire.

[Kariboo]

Originally Posted by terry_wong001

With the aid of a web link-up, they were able to see two leaves (...)
we heard the result just 48 hours later – the chosen leaf glowed so brightly that its transformation was visible to the naked eye.

You'd think that with a web link-up the feedback would be quicker than 48 hours

[CynicalSkeptic]

Originally Posted by Kariboo

You'd think that with a web link-up the feedback would be quicker than 48 hours

Glowing leaves are hell on the tubes.

[fuelair]

Perhaps they were fertilized secretly by Scooby Doo (the new fertilizer that gives plants the strength to stand up and lie!)!

[Kariboo]

Originally Posted by CynicalSkeptic

Glowing leaves are hell on the tubes.

1) they glow in the lab, but the magic glow can only be seen in person
2) no one in the lab has access to a phone
3) someone watched the leaves glow, and then went on a 2 day trip before reporting back. That's what I would do after seeing the laws of nature being changed

[GzuzKryzt]

Originally Posted by CynicalSkeptic

Glowing leaves are hell on the tubes.

Senator Ted Stevens, Ladies and Gentlemen.

[prewitt81]

Oh my god - 400 people made a leaf glow!!!! Just think of the possibilities, man!

If this checks out we could. . . make. . . other things glow, too?

Nope.

[Davide]

For what it's worth, the Introduction to the book that contains the information needed for the password is posted at www$fireandwater$com/Resources/extracts/ex_Ch1_The_Intention_Experiment_McTaggart_HB.pdf
(I'd have posted the URL correctly except that I haven't blathered on enough times yet.)

The Introduction doesn't contain the password, of course. What it does contain is exactly what you'd expect it to be -- much scientific-sounding mumbo-jumbo and references to "authorities" from Dale Carnegie (!) to Isaac Newton. The words are all Quantum and Zero-Point Energy, which makes it official. In net, it is very long with very low information density.

But it does explain the reason for putting the information about password in the book. And, surprise, it isn't to make money (Heaven forfend!) but to

Quote:

... discourage uncommitted participation, [The Intention Experiment website contains a complicated password comprising some words or ideas from the book (which will change slightly every few months). In order to be part of the experiment, you will have to log on with the password and you will have to have read the book and understood it.

So there you have it. All honorable and above board. Just out to save the world, not to make money. Why are you being so... Skeptical?

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Davide

So there you have it. All honorable and above board. Just out to save the world, not to make money. Why are you being so... Skeptical?

Why did terry_wong001 lie about the results of a test that, according to the website itself, hasn't even happened yet?

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Davide

But it does explain the reason for putting the information about password in the book. And, surprise, it isn't to make money (Heaven forfend!)

That's so good to know-wanna lend me forty bucks so I can be "enlightened"?

[The Atheist]

It's threads like this which really require the use of profanity to answer the inane dribbling of the instigators.

What a load of utter ******* ********!

[The Atheist]

I just noticed the edit to the OP!

"Forgot something"!

Still have mate - facts & evidence.

[GzuzKryzt]

Originally Posted by terry_wong001

Last weekend, 400 people sat for two days in a hall in central London and listened intently to some of the world’s leading physicists and teachers. They were all attending ‘The Intention Experiment’ conference, which was the official launch of a series of web-based experiments that promise to be the largest mind-over-matter studies ever undertaken.
They also made history at 5pm on the Sunday, March 11, because they were all invited to take part in the world’s first transatlantic intention experiment. With the aid of a web link-up, they were able to see two leaves that had been positioned in a laboratory at the University of Arizona, 5,000 miles away.
The intention was simple. We agreed on one leaf that was to be the target, and we were going to make it glow – just by using our thoughts. Back in Arizona, light-sensitive cameras were trained on the chosen leaf, and the readings would be analysed to see if it started emitting more light.
We expected the results back in a few weeks, as the data can be difficult to read. In fact, we heard the result just 48 hours later – the chosen leaf glowed so brightly that its transformation was visible to the naked eye.
Yes, our thoughts – and only our thoughts – altered a leaf that was 5,000 miles away.

A special message from Lynne McTaggart, founder, Living The Field course

"You're such a leaf glower."

[Miss Anthrope]

Hey, hey now. Perhaps we have a psychic here who knows the outcome of the experiment. Either that, or the results have been pre-determined and whoops! Somebody started spamming a little too early! D'oh!

If these results are the ones they end up making public after the fact, we're going to have a little fun now, aren't we?

[CynicalSkeptic]

Originally Posted by Davide

So there you have it. All honorable and above board. Just out to save the world, not to make money.

Ahh yes, I see now. Sorry about my cynicism; carry on then.

[LongFuzzy]

the intention experiment web site:

"Our first Intention Experiment has been designed by
psychologist Dr. Gary Schwartz and his colleagues
at the University of Arizona."

nuff said

-LF

[zombiebex]

Wow, the woo woo at that web site is thick... get on your woo woo boots.

Quote:

THE SCIENTISTS

Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp

A German physicist and founder of the International Institute of Biophysics in Neuss, Germany, credited with the discovery of biophoton emissions – tiny currents of light emanating from living things. He is an Invited Member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a member of the International Consciousness Research Laboratory (ICRL) at Princeton University. He has written some 150 publications on theoretical physics, biology, complementary medicine and biophotons.
Dr. Gary Schwartz

Dr. Schwartz is professor of psychology, medicine, neurology, psychiatry and surgery at the University of Arizona, director of its Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health and also director of the National Institutes of Medicine-funded Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science. Author of more than 400 scientific papers and co-editor of 11 academic books, and author of The Afterlife Experiments and The Living Energy Universe and The G.O.D. Experiments.
Dr. Marilyn Schlitz, PhD.

Vice President for Research and Education at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Senior Scientist at the Research Institute at the California Pacific Medical Center. One of the US’s foremost researchers on consciousness and intentionality Schlitz has published over two-hundred papers and conducted research at Stanford University, the Institute for Parapsychology, and the Mind Science Foundation. She serves on Scientific Program Committee for the Consciousness Center at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Dean Radin, PhD

One of America’s foremost researchers into the nature of consciousness and extended human potential. In 2000 he co-founded the Boundary Institute; since 2001 he’s been Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. At Stanford Research Institute he worked on the progenitor of what is now popularly known as the psi research program codenamed StarGate. He is the author of the award-winning book, The Conscious Universe (1997, HarperCollins), the forthcoming Entangled Minds (2006, Simon & Schuster), and is author or coauthor of over 200 journal articles and technical reports.

Have at thee.

[JoeTheJuggler]

It was an honest mistake. They always write up the results before they conduct these woo "experiments". Sort of the way newspapers keep a file of celebrity obituaries ready to go.

Obviously they didn't intend to publish the pre-ordained results until after they run the test.

[Davide]

I suspect Miss Antrhope is awfully close to the truth with the comment about early spamming. The only place on the Web I can find the quote in the OP is:

hospitalbirthdebate$blogspot.com/2007_03_18_archive.html

(Apologies for having to post a munged URL; I'm still not allowed by the forum gods to use the appropriate tag.)

The article is a long way down the page; search for "Intention."

The story supposedly comes from the site www$wddty.co.uk which is plausible since that site is full of Alternative Health, umm, "information." It includes an online store from which you can buy many of Lynne McTaggart’s books or subscribe to her magazine. A search of the site doesn't turn up the quote in the OP, though.

But it does turn up an interesting offer. For a mere £230 you can (still) sign up for The Intention Experiment Conference on March 11. There's even a brochure online. See

www$wddty.co.uk/cms/files/images/INTEX%20version6.pdf

This conference is what was reported on in the OP. It may well have taken place. It turns out that the experiment is not a one-time thing. This woman is running a whole series of these things, both in person and on the Web. See her schedule:

theintentionexperiment$com/index.php/the_author/calendar_of_lynne_s_events

Oddly her schedule doesn't include the main Web-based event on March 24. And I do wonder what happened to Amsterdam on March 17 -- still no location for that one!

Isn't it just amazing how hard it is to do good and save the world? All that travel, all those bothersome conference fees to collect, and the endless stream of marks to fleece people to educate.

[SamanthaMc]

Glow?!? Glow? What would have to happen to something to make it "glow"?

Was that leaf from Chernobyl or something? Maybe the other leaf got it pregnant, and THAT is why it was glowing. Or maybe that leaf did something really nice for some other leaves and they were just seeing its aura.

Man, why couldn't they have made one of the leaves move or do something normal?

Glow. Come ON.

[CynicalSkeptic]

So why was this started in thr MDC forum? Will they be applying?

[fuelair]

Originally Posted by LongFuzzy

the intention experiment web site:

"Our first Intention Experiment has been designed by
psychologist Dr. Gary Schwartz and his colleagues
at the University of Arizona."

nuff said

-LF

Wasn't he the guy who bent over for A. Dubious for awhile!?

[Cuddles]

Quote:

some words or ideas from the book (which will change slightly every few months).

Forget glowing leaves, we have a book that rewrites itself!

[GzuzKryzt]

I just sent this PM:

Hi terry_wong001,


do you intend to follow up on your post, i.e. clarify the mentioned contradictions of your statement?
Thanks in advance,


GzuzKryzt

[Apathia]

I will hazzard a guess why Terry Wong made this post, based on my own unfortunate background in the world of woo-woo.

The OP knew full well the "experiment" in question hadn't been performed yet. In his mind his own participation in it needed a focus of his "intention." It's like this: the teaching is that if you believe it will happen, it will. By the "Power of Intention." Doubt will interfere. Our Terry wanted to do some action that would focus his belief and even put it somewhat on the spot. So he posted on a skeptics board as if the desired event had already happened.
It's similar to "fake it to make it."

Now, Nostrildumass will predict what is going to happen on the 24th.
("Nostrildumass" was my original idea for my user name in the JREF Forums, but I was afraid the censor would object to it.)

Many observers will report that the leaf glowed for a short period of time. This will not be caught on tape or show up in a photograph, except that some elctronic obeservers will claim to have seen it.
Those who were dissapointed because they didn't see the expected effect, will blame the poor outcome on a lack of threshold participation and/or negative energy factors.

Such mass psychic experiments have been performed many times to utter debacle. But there's always a new bunch of suckers to participate in the latest. My favorite was a mass attempt to use PK to nudge an old Russian space platform into a stable orbit orbit lest it's radioactive contents rained down upon middle America. None of that well intentioned intention made a bit of difference. The object came down. And the attempt was quickly forgotten.

[Apathia]

Nostrildumass adds to his prediction that Lynn McTaggert will declare the "experiment" a success.
Also there is opportunity here for a little creative vid or photo work to present the desired effect in progress on her site or to be submitted later by an enthusiast.

[Moochie]

Originally Posted by zombiebex

Wow, the woo woo at that web site is thick... get on your woo woo boots.



Have at thee.

My, what an illustrious bunch of coconuts.

M.

[RandomElement]

How many Wongs make a Wight?

[jon]

Originally Posted by Kariboo

someone went on a 2 day trip and watched the leaves glow, and then went on a 2 day trip before reporting back.

Are you sure it's that way round. Taking a trip, and then watching the glowing leaves, sounds more likely

[Kariboo]

Originally Posted by jon

Are you sure it's that way round. Taking a trip, and then watching the glowing leaves, sounds more likely

I would be tripping too if I saw leaves glow

[Apathia]

Nostrildumass must make a correction to his predictions. This he can do, becuse unlike other "prophets" who post here (See in Religion Board) he admits he's a . . . Well, the name says it.

McTaggart's site says this about the "experiment:"

Quote:

Schwartz and McTaggart are preparing the target for the first intention experiment target, an enclosed ‘mini-Gaia’ with an artificially raised temperature. The plan is to ask the readers to attempt to lower it at a particular moment through focused ‘intention’.

So "glowing leaves" isn't the expected result.
(Could the OP have meant "growing leaves?" Perhaps that's what he heard from a relative.)

Nostrildumass still predicts that something will be observed and attributed to the cumulative effect of all that would be psycic attention.

[Gr8wight]

Originally Posted by RandomElement

How many Wongs make a Wight?

And not just any old wight...

[/\/\arko]

Just out of curiosity and to clarify this for non-native speakers: Is terry_wong001's post about a leaf off a tree or a sheet of paper? Not that it would make any difference.

Oh, wait: In the first case, it would of course be the well-known SLC effect (spontaneous leaf combustion).

[Powa]

A leaf of paper? Interesting. In my language (Slovenian) a leaf and a sheet of paper are the same word.