Why this book: Selected by one of the book clubs I’m in at the strong recommendation of Jay.  So we all read it, and it has generated some great discussions, and it will continue to do so. 

Summary in 3 Sentences:  The basic theme of this book is that there is scientific evidence that supports the proposition that has existed for millennia in native cultures and even in religious traditions, that with intense thought and focus (eg, prayer, chants, rituals) we CAN and do impact the world around us.  And that we are all connected  and are always communicating with and affecting each other in subtle ways of which most of us are not conscious and which science is still trying to understand.  Though most of the book explores the wide variety of scientific experiments intended to explore and better understand such psychic phenomena as psychic healing, psycho-kinesis, and the impact of thought and intention on the world outside of the individual’s own thinking or intending, she also looks at some of the metaphysical and moral implications of what scientists are uncovering.  

My Impressions:  Fascinating book, written for the educated layman who is interested in, and open to the idea that reality may be more complicated than Newtonian physics implies, and that it is worth exploring the implications of phenomena which are not explained by traditional laws of physics.  The “experiment” in The Intention Experiment refers to a series of experiments that have been taking place for decades and are continuing, that explore uncanny connections between living organisms and even inanimate objects that defy rational (by current standards) explanation.  At the end of the book she invites the reader to participate in ongoing and planned experiments.  She explores and describes experiments that seem to validate that our minds, with focused attention have an impact outside of and beyond the thinker him/herself.  “Even your current state of mind carries an intention that has an effect on life around you. The mind continues affecting its surroundings, whether or not we are consciously sending an intention. To think is to affect.” p155

The Intention experiment begins with a look at quantum theory, describing some of the experiments and observations that indicate that what we believe regarding space, time and relationships between individual people and objects, is not as it may seem.  Quantum reality, the book argues, includes a network of subtle energetic connections between all things – alive and even inanimate – a rather daunting proposition.  That idea sets up the following chapters which describe experiments that explore the implications of the statement that “Every organism, from bacterial to human beings appears to be in a perpetual quantum communication.”  

What does that mean?  McTaggart systematically explores dozens of experiments in which physicists, psychologists, scientists from a number of disciplines try to measure and replicate these strange phenomena that would seem to tell us that people and things have connections we don’t yet see or understand.  Shamans, psychics, and religious leaders over the millennia have always “known” the power that some people have of using focused thought, prayer, rituals, and strong intention to affect outcomes in the physical world in ways that have been inexplicable to Western science.  She describes how we are all caught up in a web of “quantum entanglement” which transmits energy between people and objects in ways we don’t yet understand, and which she says, “could well be the key to life itself.” p11. The Intention Experiment surveys the scientific efforts to explain and better understand these phenomena.  It is very well footnoted, for those wishing to know more about the experiments she describes.

One of the early efforts to measure these psychic connections came after, Clive Backster, one of the early developers of the polygraph, on a whim hooked up his sensors to a plant and found that the polygraph indicated that the plant responded to physical distress similarly to how humans respond.   But what truly surprised him was that it also responded to intention as yet unexpressed, and that time and distance didn’t seem to matter.  “At the very moment that he had the thought, <to burn a leaf> the recording pen swung to the top of the polygraph and nearly jumped off.  He had not burned the plant; he had only thought about doing so.  According to his polygraph, the plant had perceived the thought as a direct threat and registered extreme alarm.” p37  When he changed his mind and decided not to burn the plant, the polygraph went back to normal.  The Intention Experiment describes a multitude of experiments that further explore the implications of Backster’s experiences. 

The Intention Experiment covers a lot of ground.  It describes experiments in which people’s bio-physical processes came into synchrony, how clocks in the same room would eventually synchronize and stay synchronized. She has a whole chapter which explores what she calls “The Voodoo Effect” – intending negative effects or harm to another.  She looks at the implications of how the art of visualization can affect outcomes and other people.  She also looks at the  mysteries of remote viewing, and the implications of people able to “see” places they’ve never physically been.

She also explores another aspect of “non-locality” not only in space, but also in time – a concept which still confuses me. Scientists are challenging such foundational principles as cause-and-effect, and she looks at what is called “retro-causation” – how the future may impact the present, and how we now, with intention,  might impact the past.  (yep, I’m confused too, but theoretical physicists are convinced that time and space are not stable truths in the universe.)  There have also been experiments that show that psychic, psychokinetic and healing outcomes are also influenced by fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field and by sunspots and other such esoteric phenomena that also affect other energy sources on the electro-magnetic spectrum.  This has led to scheduling such experiments around these variables. 

The book explores “faith healing” and describes experiments that attempt to validate (or not) whether and how prayer or focused intention can heal the body – not only of the person praying, but remotely of another person separated in space.   She’s found that someone else’s healing intentions for us may be as powerful as our own.  McTaggart explains efforts to find the variables – such as the well-being of the healer, whether the healer and person being healed have a shared belief system, variables such as time, distance, the placebo effect, the electro-magnetic spectrum, sun spots, etc   She also explores what well known healers say about what they do, how they do it, why they think it works, and what might be impediments to building connections that can have a positive effect on the person being targeted.   After looking at her evidence, her conclusion: “Repeatedly, the mind has proved to be a far more powerful healer than the greatest of breakthrough drugs.”  p195

The last chapter of the book, written in 2007, describes future experiments and invites the reader to participate. Her research shows that in general, a group of people desiring a specific outcome with focused and coordinated attention, seems to have more power and impact than a single person.  When she wrote the book, there were ongoing efforts to recruit people to focus attention on a specific desired outcome, at a specific time, to concentrate and coordinate efforts to further test and better understand this phenomenon.   For those interested in participating, she offers up the website theintentionexperiment.com, which I found does not work in 2022, but to get updated on what she’s doing, lynnmctaggart.com does work. 

HER BOTTOM LINE: 

“Our definition of the Universe as a collection of isolated objects, our definition of ourselves as just another of those objects, our most basic understanding of time and space, will have to be recast. At least forty top scientists in academic centers of research around the world have demonstrated that an information transfer constantly caries on between living things, and that thought forms are simply another aspect of transmitted energy.   Hundreds of others have offered plausible theories embracing even the most counterintuitive effects, such as time-displaced influence, as now consistent with the laws of physics.”  p194

Implication: “All these possibilities suggest that we have an awesome level of responsibility when generating our thoughts.  Each of us is a potential Frankenstein, with an extraordinary power to affect the living world around us. How many of us after all, are sending our most positive thoughts?  p144

MY BOTTOM LINE – McTaggart tries to be even handed and objective in making her case, though she is clearly a true believer – and her book and views have credibility with me.  I have long believed in such phenomena, and that there is an “unseen order of things” which drives the world we experience every day.   I must admit however that I have not “operationalized” this belief – that is, built it into an active principle in my life.  Reading this book has inspired me to further explore how focused attention, prayer, visualization, strong intent in my own life might help me make the most of the time I have left – for myself and others.  Because I have dabbled in this area over the decades, I have found a number of books in my library which speak to McTaggart’s thesis, most of which make little effort to explain their positions scientifically, rather, merely state their “truth” and give examples that support it.   That said, what these books claim about reality and peoples’ ability to influence it, and what Mctaggart’s book explains are in almost perfect harmony.  If you are interested in what books I am referring to, contact me.