For those of you interested in manifestation work, you may have heard that the theories behind quantum physics support the theories behind manifestation work. But how?
Well first lets just briefly re-cap how what modern day manifestation teachings tell us. Whether you're following Abraham Hicks, or Bashar or Dr Joe Dispenza or anyone else for that matter, they all say the same thing - that our desires already exist in a vibrational reality and we use our positive attention towards them, to bring them to us in this reality.
So how does quantum physics tie into this? Well I'm going to get into this in some detail in this blog, but to give you the headline up front, some of the theories of quantum physics seem to agree with the idea of 'parallel' or 'many universes' existing all at once in an unseen reality. Some physicists have considered that consciousness has an effect on what comes into our existence, at least at the micro-level of existence. So you can see how traditional manifestation teachings parallel some of the theories of quantum physics. But in all transparency, I also have to say that physicists are not saying there is actual proof that clearly demonstrates that parallel universes exist. These are currently theories (which are considered respectable and advocated for by scientists) which either mathematically and/or philosophically align with the effects seen experimentally.
Right, well it's time to get into the detail of this. This will give you a really good idea of what might be going on so please stick with it! It's really cool and will give you the fundamental ideas of quantum physics, as they apply to our manifestation work.
Particles
Let's just think about particles first and do a little thought experiment. Pretend you had a shotgun and you fired the pellets or 'particles' through a screen with two small gaps or slits in it. Only the particles going through the gaps would get through and they would hit the detector screen on the other side in rectilinear fashion. See the diagram below to illustrate the point:
Particles hitting a screen straight on
Waves
Ok, now think of two waves originating from two small gaps or slits. Where the high point of one wave meets the high point of another their amplitude increases and at that point the wave is 'strong'. This is called constructive interference. Where the high point of one wave meets the low point of another the amplitude cancels out and there is no wave at that point. This is called destructive interference. You can see this in the diagram below. When the waves hit the detector screen, the white bands show constructive interference and the black areas show destructive interference where the waves have cancelled out (you could do this experiment yourself using water waves):
Figure 1. Two waves interfering with each other to show an interference pattern of black and white bands on the screen
So we have seen clearly how particles should behave when they go through the slits, and how waves should behave when they go through the slits. However, further work showed that actually, sometimes a particle behaves like a wave, until it's observed! Lets look at this below.
Wave-Particle Duality of Matter
This experiment took on a new meaning in the 20th century when scientists began to explore it in the context of quantum physics. The most surprising results come when the experiment is done with small particles, like electrons, photons, or even atoms.
Single Particles: Instead of using a continuous light source, individual particles (like electrons) are fired one at a time at the double slits.
Detector Screen: When many particles are sent through the slits, they still form an interference pattern, similar to what happens with waves. This happens even though the particles are sent through one at a time, which suggests they somehow interfere with themselves, as if they are behaving like waves. We'll try and explain this further below. Please note an important point - this only happens with very small atomic size particles - you would not get this effect with say, marbles or tennis balls.
Particle Detection: If a detector is placed at the slits to observe which slit each particle passes through, something remarkable happens: the interference pattern disappears, and the particles behave like classical particles, forming two clusters behind each slit rather than an interference pattern. Below is a summary of key findings - It's strange, but keep going and stick with it!
Key Findings:
Wave-Particle Duality: The experiment shows that particles like electrons and photons can exhibit both wave-like and particle-like behaviour (even when fired one at a time), depending on whether they are being observed. When not observed, they act as waves and produce interference patterns; when observed, they behave like particles.
Observation Changes the Outcome: The act of measurement or observation (using a detector whether at the slit or using the screen as a detector) collapses the wave-like behaviour into a definite outcome, which is a key feature of quantum physics. This phenomenon is sometimes called the "observer effect."
Probability: In quantum physics, the particles don’t have a defined path when they pass through the slits. Instead, their behaviour is described by a probability wave—the probability of where they will hit the screen can be calculated, but not exactly predicted.
How does all this support the idea of parallel realities?
Physicists have come up with a number of theories to try to explain what is going on. One is called the 'collapse of the wave function' which essentially means that once fired out, a particle goes into this 'fuzzy' probability space, including going through both slits at the same time, and onwards to the screen from there, along all possible routes. All of these possibilities interfere with each other, like waves in real life, to create the shape of the interference pattern at the screen i.e. the bands we saw above. All these possibilities are happening at the same time, but once these possible routes reach the screen they are forced to 'choose' so only one possible particle remains detected by the screen, and all the other possibilities go away. This is where these possibilities collapse into one definite result - otherwise known as the collapse of the wave function. However, if you keep firing the particles, even one at a time, you eventually end up with the full interference pattern on the screen! This interpretation of what is going on is called the Copenhagen interpretation, because Neils Bohr, one of the pre-eminent scientists involved, was based in Copenhagen.
There is another interpretation called the 'Many Worlds Interpretation'. In this interpretation, the wave function doesn’t collapse. Instead, all possible outcomes happen and remain, but in different parallel universes. In each universe, one possibility plays out, so when we observe one outcome, the others also happen in other realities, with a different version of you there to observe it!
As mentioned above, another funny thing that happens is that if you were to place a detector by the slits, and fired a particle, the interference pattern goes away. It behaves just like a particle should in our very first example and just ends up hitting the screen straight ahead! So does observing, or paying attention to the particle have the effect of collapsing it into one possibility straight away?
The other interesting thing to note is that if all the possibilities of the different routes exist at once, that means that that different timelines can exist at once - you could picture it sort of like different timelines stacked on top of each other, each with the particle taking a different and unique path to the screen.
Support for manifestation theories
This is really interesting and reassuring for us, as it shows that physicists are being forced to consider the possibility of parallel realities and indeed their mathematics also points towards this. This lines up with manifestation teachings, where you draw from a 'sea of possibilities' all existing at once, to create the circumstances you want, and now this seems to be supported (at least in theory) by the science!
For more information on what manifestation teachers say about the structure of reality and how manifestation works, I have another blog here called 'How to manifest: Comparing Law of Attraction Teachers' which I recommend you check out to see how their teachings compare to quantum physics.
So, let me encourage you to keep focusing on your desires to bring them to you! It looks like they are out there in a parallel reality, just as many of our manifestation teachers say!
Sudeep
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