Are We Living Quantum Time Machines? Part 3
BY HARV BISHOP
Time travel is revolutionizing our understanding of manifestation, healing the past, and ESP.
The bartender says, “We don’t serve time travelers in here.”
A time traveler walks into a bar.
Let’s tackle the so-what question?
What does the apparent ability of our consciousness to time travel mean on a practical, everyday level?
For starters it revolutionizes our understanding of the Law of Attraction, the possibility of healing past traumas in this life (and I would argue in past lives), and it has startling implications for telepathy and premonitions. In addition, precogniton can also be helpful and even life-saving.
Among the mind-bending ideas we’ve looked at in the last two blogs:
- Experiments in psychic phenomena, and quantum physics, show that events in the future can cause things to happen in the past. In other words, actions we take now are influenced by our already existing future. This is called retrocausation.
- Why? Spiritual writers Eric Wargo and Mitch Horowitz postulate that time is an illusion. Past present and future exist all at once, and our limited human perception discerns only the perceived present happening one step at a time.
- When your actions in the future cause something to happen to you now, where is free will? You have no control over whatever mischief your future self is up to. It kind of gives the serenity prayer a whole new meaning.
Wargo sees time as fixed and our life circumstances as largely fated since time is an illusion and everything happens at once. A premonition of disaster that can be averted is only averted because it didn’t happen in the future. The premonition is necessary to keep future and past congruent. All the events of of our life are like closed tape loops that interlock and depend on each other to play the joyful or tragic symphony of our life in full.
Does time travel mean infinite choice?
Horowitz also sees time as an illusion but infinite possibilities and choices exist in each moment. We can select for the future and heal the past. His version is akin to a multi-track recording system that can constantly be edited. We can see it as an jazz-style improvisation rather than a complete symphony that must be performed just so.
What do these theories mean for our everyday lives and spiritual growth?
The key to unlocking the practical implications of our time traveling consciousness is knowing past, present and future occur simultaneously. This one area that both writers agree on. This non-linear world is as disorienting as an M.C. Escher print where the artist’s mind altering perspectives created impossible alternate realities.
It reminds me of a close family friend who once told me that the moment his dad died, my friend realized it was the same moment in which his dad had been born. My friend is conventionally religious, but also deeply mystic.
Time travel and The Law of Attraction
For Wargo, the Law of Attraction functions through precognition. Joy, which includes everything from happiness to relief at being safe from misfortunes, is the current that powers premonitions.
So our joy in a future event triggers a subtle premonition that then becomes our intention in the present. The attraction of that joy pulls us to an already-fated present.
This is a non-traditional view though the primacy of feeling as the engine of manifestation is similar to Horowitz’s perspective.
Horowitz is inspired by new thought pioneer Neville Goddard and contemporary quantum physics discoveries. Those studies suggest that multiples realities can exist in potential until selected by an observer by assuming the feeling of the desire fulfilled.
Are multiple futures possible?
For Horowitz, as discussed in the last two posts, we are selecting from multiple possible futures rather than creating something anew. In our recent video interview he used the analogy of a grid laid out across past, present and future. We assume only linear cause and effect, but we can actually select from among different boxes in the grid. Those alternate pasts and futures are selected by our intentions, feeling-states, and old-fashioned effort.
He also says the Law of Attraction functions like gravity with different effects at different levels of consciousness.
The result is that in this world we live under multiple laws from gravity to the end of physical life that our minds cannot effect. He rejects the of idea of one overarching mental law shaping 100 percent of our reality. He does celebrate that our minds can influence reality in some circumstances.
Putting these ideas together we can infer that while we have infinite futures to choose from, some of those futures are more probable than others.
Does affirmative prayer have limits?
I like to think of it this way. Had Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton been of age to run for president in 1960 it would be highly improbable that either would have the chance no matter how ardently they engaged with affirmative prayer.
There may have been a tenuous, emerging future where racism and sexism had declined quickly enough to make those electoral ambitions possible. It would be very remote given social attitudes and structures absent a mass awakening of consciousness unseen in history.
Telepathy, in Horowitz’s view, is the highway that manifestations and the Law of Attraction travel on. Due to intuitions or premonitions we persevere to make that extra call, or send that extra email. ESP also powers synchronicities. We hear from an unexpected person or seemingly randomly connect with a person who can be helpful to a project.
Horowitz uses telepathy studies to make his case for the Law of Attraction. Few in New Thought take ESP seriously. Why? Historically, many pioneers felt they would be taken more seriously by ignoring it. Ernest Holmes cut passages dealing with ESP and physic phenomenon from the late 30s second edition of The Science of Mind in order that his philosophy be seen as rational and scientific.
My take: more New Thought writers should follow Horowitz’s lead.
Time travel to heal trauma
Can the time travel aspects of consciousness help heal the “past”?
I vividly remember that bone-chilling moment when my mom found my stash of Playboys hidden in the basement when I was in high school. The chills and panic are still in my somatic memory.
Wargo would say it is one of those tape loops that will play endlessly in the symphony of my life. Anyone want my used 8-Track?
I didn’t think so.
So too our deepest tragedies and joys. How can we heal when everything in our lives happens at once?
Wargo writes that, in this world, once milk is stirred into coffee it can’t be undone. If so, some part of me will always pay the price for my centerfold fascination (I hasten to add I also read the interviews and short stories!).
Playboy and the end of the world
Horowitz might suggest that at some point my mom’s potential selves may evolve to the point where my teen encounter with Playboy wouldn’t seem like the end of the world as we know it. I truly hope that is so. That is one comforting side to everything existing simultaneously.
One can even discern some comfort in Wargo’s glass block universe ruled by fate (for a more in-depth explanation of the glass block universe theory see part 2 of this series). Recall his metaphor of spaghetti strands (life spans) interweaving with other strands in the glass block universe all at once. It is reminiscent of what the Iroquois refer to as our “long body”, our spiritual body that carries the entirety of our lifestream, including and relations with others and the natural world. If so then our parents and grandparents and loved one’s, if deceased, are still present in those parts of our simultaneous lives where we interacted. They are both gone and not yet gone.
Horowitz’s theory could also support this view albeit in more dynamic and free flowing version.
I believe this perspective can also be extended to reincarnation, which neither Horowitz or Wargo directly address.
Radical new approaches to time travel
If our entire life happens at once, as Wargo says, then we could in some sense still be in a “past” life as long as those we interacted with are living and yet also here as “ourselves” in our present incarnation at the same “time.” So too with Horowitz’s view of past present and future possibilities existing simultaneously and in the Iroquois concept of “the long body.”
If everything exists at one, it could explain the intense emotions some have reported experiencing with past life memories. It would be akin to the imprint of the so-called Ackeshic records, but a living breathing version rather than an energetic tape recording of the past.
Karma is often viewed as a linear progression to pay for past life mistakes. What does non-linearity mean for karma when future and past have no real meaning? Is it the Instant Karma John Lennon sang of? Can karma come from the multiple directions of time’s arrow- past, present, future?
And how does non-linearity impact what many people regard as the linear evolution of consciousness both individually and collectively? My sense is Horowitz’s version with multiple possibilities is big enough to include it some way (though he is not a fan of the idea that human consciousness is evolving to a New Age kumbaya singularity).
I find hope in Horowitz’s version where my evolution now could assist or alter trauma in this life or possible past lives. His book The Miracle Club offers a recommended mediation to heal the past (though not specifically geared to reincarnation it could be adapted).
Can the past be changed?
Fascinating quantum physics experiments suggest that the past can be changed. In these experiments photons are observed after the point at which they would have been required to assume a pattern moving through a slit. The experiments show the photon’s path altering in the past in a way that conforms with the future observation.
This reminds me of a mind bending prayer study reported by Dr. Joe Dispenza in his book Breaking the Habit of Being Ourselves. An Isareli, MD conducted a double-blind randomized trial of more than 3,000 patents hospitalized with sepsis infections. Half were prayed for. The control group was not. Death rates were on par, however those prayed for healed faster and were released from the hospital sooner than the controls. The kicker: the patients were in hospital from 1990 to 1996. They were prayed for in 2000.
Time travel: Telepathy or precognition?
Horowitz treats precognition, telepathy and synchronicity as related, but distinct phenomenon. As noted above he believes all three are essential to how the Law of Attraction functions.
Wargo differs. Telepathy and synchronicity are misidentified precognition, he writes.
What appears as telepathy or a meaningful coincidence is triggered by news or confirmation we will hear in the future. In a simple example, that happens with many couples, Diane and I will think of something at the same time. Wargo’s theory says it’s actually a premonition of her telling me what she was thinking sparking the reward of an aha moment. That aha is the excitement of “I knew what she was thinking!” That excitement of discovery travels back in time creating my premonition. In short, it is a small-scale time loop.
Is there a mutually shared energy field?
Why does Wargo believe it is retrocausation from the future rather than a premonition of the future? He argues that scientific research is stronger for precognition than telepathy. There is no evidence yet, he claims, for a shared energy field to allow real-time time telepathy. Time entangles us, he says, not space.
I think his theory is startlingly original and can explain some examples of apparent telepathy, but not all.
Several decades ago I was attending a class by a spiritual teacher I have worked with since my 20s. The teacher said enlightenment wasn’t a product of effort, but of surrender. As he spoke those words a deep resentment welled up, not for the teacher, but the idea. After all I worked my ass off to be enlightened!
I just observed the emotion and didn’t betray what I was feeling. Within seconds, he stopped, looked at me and said, “Now you’ve got it!” We never talked about it afterward. It was simultaneous and he never had confirmation or a future reward for his intuition to spark retrocausation.
The time Paul Selig read our minds
A few years ago I was interviewing the channel/author Paul Selig for a magazine article. As the long distance telephone interview was drawing to a close, my wife Diane wanted me to ask a question about Selig’s experience speaking at metaphysical churches.
I felt the interview had gone in a different direction. She gave me urgent hand signals to ask the question and I used my hands just as urgently to signal it was too late in the game.
Within seconds, with no prompting or words exchanged, and with no prior context for the topic, Selig started talking about his experiences speaking at metaphysical churches! We did not say “OMG, you won’t believe what happended Mr. Selig!” Until that is, after we hung up, to each other, our mouths agape.
Absent the highly unlikely chance that either of these men are reading this bog post so that this essay would complete Wargo’s time loop I can only conclude that there are instances of telepathy that work in other as yet unknown ways. Those ways can be more like a real time conversation than a premonition. Again, I don’t reject Wargo’s suggestion that some instances of telepathy are misidentified precognition, but I’m not prepared to see it as a theory of everything.
Time travel as a ‘guardian angel’
Our Time Travelling Consciousness can also be life-saving. A few years ago I was driving home from work after bad night’s sleep. A bus was letting off passagengers and a car was stopped in front of the bus. A recurrent and urgent thought pounded in my tired brain. “Slow down! Slow down! Slow down!”
I went through the intersection at about 10 mph with no obvious reason for slowing. Just then a disoriented pedestrian who had been hidden by the bus lurched out into the lane ahead of me. I took corrective measures even with my tired and slowed reflexes thanks to the reduced speed. And I was shocked, relieved and grateful!
It could be argued that my instincts picked up something abnormal in the way the bus and car were stopped, but I don’t think so. Even if there was an unusual pattern there wasn’t a clue someone would walk straight into traffic.
This isn’t an unusual occurrence. It’s likely you have your own, similar story.
Premonitions can also help with job searches, house hunting, and work problems. Here we come full circle to Horowitz’s view of the role of ESP in successful manifestations.
The just released book The Premonition Code relates many such stories, and offers user friendly explanations about how our consciousnesses might time travel. It also offers a free online training program to use precognition in a positive way in your life. The book is by Julia Mossbridge (an IONS associate of PSI researcher Dean Radin featured in parts one and two of this series) and Theresa Chehung.
Time travel as spiritual revolution
I believe we are on the cusp of a revolution in understanding spirituality because of these new findings in retrocausation. I am profoundly grateful to pioneers such as Radin, Horowitz and Wargo for setting sail in these uncharted and rich waters.
That each approach these deep questions in a deeply rigorous and scholarly way opens the way to breathtaking new avenues for reflection and discussion.
Diverse viewpoints are essential to any emerging field. This is most especially true in New Thought, New Age and Alternative spirituality where healthy disagreement can be dismissed as being judgemental or overly intellectual.
We’ll all have to come to grips with this new time travel frontier.
RESOURCES
You might also enjoy Part 1 of Are We Living Quantum Time Machines? here. You can find Part 2 of this series here.
For our visit to the Beatles Abbey Road Studios in London and our discovery that it is sacred space click here. See the three thinkers changing the way I think about spirituality here.
Mitch Horowitz’s new book The Miracle Club, Dean Radin’s Real Magic and Eric Wargo’s Time Loops all have my highest recommendation.
See Wargo’s thought-provoking blog The Night Shirt here and his earlier post arguing against the eternalism of the glass block universe model here.
