It was just yesterday that I had been reading a very parsed explanation on the nature of electrons (and I beg those who aren't inclined towards science to read on, because a response isn't restricted to scientific references). In short, the mere act of observing electrons changes their behavior, because in order for us humans to see things, light must hit those things. It's this light that impacts electrons.

Where is this going? Well if You haven't heard the name Thích Quảng Đức, then you may recognize THIS iconic picture of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who felt so strongly about the persecution of Buddhists that he burned himself to death. I think before we respond to the question I'm about to pose we should first understand the circumstances leading to this event and realize that something that could evoke such emotion should be approached with caution.

So then, we know of a monk who has immolated himself in such a fashion that he didn't move during, one may consider the stories of people changing things just by looking at them, the inexplicable, but undeniable (perhaps) idea of ESP. If observing things can change their behavior, then is there any credence to the claims of "thinking positive" to change possible outcomes? Can people, to any extent, bend the world to their will?

The answer, in short -and in my experience- is a big fat yes. I'll give a simple example you can all relate to: you're getting home from school/work/wherever, hungry as hell. 'Damn, I really feel like a burger', you might be thinking-- you open the door; fuck yes! There are burgers on the table!

What happened there? I believe it was no coincidence. See what happens, according to metaphysics, is that you 'generate', or attract a certain outcome according to your thoughts. 'Thoughts are material things', it teaches. Simplifying everything (a little too much even) your thoughts change what you say, then what you do and how you do it, which directly affects what happens to you.

This says it all. "Wish in one hand and shit in another see which one fills first."

Interesting question, Din.
Personally, I think that people have 'selective sight' of sorts. When something happens according to plan (or, conversely, if they're looking for times when something bad happens) they'll only notice that. Then, they'll dismiss any evidence to the contrary as flukes or just plain bad luck. I believe they call this phenomenon something specific in psychology, although I'm not sure what it is. I'll have to look it up. Also, when people look back on things, they also tend to only remember the things that they felt strongly about.

That's a pretty interesting answer as well, Safisan. Personally, I think it'd fall into the category of the aforementioned 'selective sight' -- surely you can remember a time when you wanted french fries or pancakes on the table and you came back to your house... with nothing. Or maybe even something somewhat like it but different.

Safisan wrote:The answer, in short -and in my experience- is a big fat yes. I'll give a simple example you can all relate to: you're getting home from school/work/wherever, hungry as hell. 'Damn, I really feel like a burger', you might be thinking-- you open the door; fuck yes! There are burgers on the table!

Except for the part where that doesn't happen. You have to purchase and cook the burgers first.

The human mind is equipped to find coincidences. You're more likely to remember the time you get home and open the door and there are burgers on the tables rather than the ten times as many occasions you were hungry, went home and there was no food because it seems to strange to you. Such a massive stroke of luck, almost like fate.

That's why people get into all these little rituals for doing things. Scientists have set up tests with animals and dicovered that they can be conditioned to believe that their actions, even something random and inconsequential, can have an effect on their world. An example is rats with a random food dispenser. Whatever the rats were doing at the time the food was dispensed, they'd try and do it again, to get more food. Every occasion they did it and the random dispenser gave them more food only strengthened their belief that their actions were affecting their environment.

As for the monk. Willpower and determination can put you through some incredible things. Admitted, his strength of will must have been obscene, but still, you spent forty years staring at a wall in meditation and see what it does to you.

Six out

It really depends on how far you want to take 'bending' the world. Everything in the world is motion, so to certain extents, everything we do and don't affects everything around us. Control is an entirely different matter. Thinking positive holds a lot of strength; the placebo-effect for example. People can achieve incredible feat with enough willpower, but it isn't a guarentee for just anything. I might want to have those burgers as badly as I can, but unless I go buy them and make them myself; it is just not going to happen.

I think there's a lot of things that positive thinking can affect, but it is mainly attitude and therefore charisma. When you're feeling good and confident, you're also more likely going to put down better prestations. However, everything that is out of your control to influence... Is out of your control to influence. That's when the dominant theory in this thread comes looking around on the corner, and I'm just gonna jump on that bandwagon.

I can go on about this forever, but I'll keep this short and sweet...

Absolutely yes!

Well... at least your own experience in this world, not the entire world itself...

Check this out: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/ ... -universes

So what does this mean? It means that every outcome for every situation ever imaginable already exists - right now - in the parallel universes. This gives us the leeway to question whether it is possible for us, through our thoughts, feelings, and intentions, to leap to the universe and the outcome that we want or don't want to see happen. I believe that this is very possible. On top of that, there are more and more experiments that are coming out these days to prove that we create the world around us with just our thoughts. It's not until we observe something that that particular thing takes the shape and form that we see/hear/smell/touch/taste.

Also take into consideration the theory that states that the entire universe exists not outside of your physical body but rather in your very own mind. Every sense that we use, as listed above, is experienced really in the darkness of our brains. If you touch something, what really lets your mind know that you're touching it is not your skin. It's the many electrical signals that are sent to your brain. Your eyes don't "see". Electrical signals are sent to your brain and the part of your brain that actually "sees" the image in front of you is at the very back of your head where no light can even enter it. So how do we even know that the physical exists? That it's not just a spiritual experience that we interpret as physical?

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein

I believe that simply by thinking and watching something, you will not get it to change. Why? The nerve impulses and neurons firing in my brain for a better life don't directly relate to every other electron in the universe, and can't tell them "Hey, why don't you cut this guy some slack and make life a little better for him?" Of course I severely dumbed that down a bit, but the basic idea is still comprehensible. Sure, by observing an electron you have changed it's existence, but you have not changed it much. What I mean is it's like holding a flame under an icecube. Obviously you will get the icecube to change to water, and then possibly steam, but you won't get it to change into a bowl of icecream.

HOWEVER.

Our physical consciousness is nothing more than what our brains want it to be. If we get stabbed and our brains decide to tell us we just ate a lollipop, then to me, I just ate a damn lollipop. Was I stabbed? Yes. Did I eat a lollipop instead? May as well have!

Now, to put it simple, if you're asking can I make the world a better place by focusing and thinking about the world changing for the better? I would say probably not. Could I take action and change the world for the better? Of course! Would I want to? Nah, too lazy.

This may hit on the point that Rigel_Lake, OriginalSix, and Kestrel were trying to make (and if not, please correct me if I'm wrong), and it may even address what HellHound was trying to say. It would seem that thinking positive is, in a way, how our lives may develop. If you were to look at someone you know who generally are the "uppity" type, mostly happy, if not content, and generally positive, they'd probably see their lives in a much better light than someone who's generally pessimistic (or simply not as positive as that person).

For example, give a positive person an apple randomly, and they'd most likely be glad about that, whether its for the fact that they got a nutritional snack for free or even perhaps because they were amused that someone (whether they know them or not) randomly gave them an apple, or even because it makes a funny story. On the other hand, you take someone who isn't as positive and you give them an apple. Well most likely they'd not take it, be annoyed, or think nothing of it and carry on as usual. Notice how more things are deemed desirable by a positive thinker as opposed to someone who isn't so much. Of course this is just an example, but I thought it'd make a nice illustration.

As far as the link Kai posted, well I'm so glad I got to read that, because that makes me think of the experiments done with electrons (for any interested, it relates to what's called "the photoelectric effect") and it actually makes me think of The Multiverse here that Remaeus made. In said experiment, it was determined that electrons, which are particles, act like waves against a sensor when they're not observed. If you want to think of what a wave is, consider the ocean, or even light. That was so interesting because particles are supposed to act like particles. And even though I could go on and on about this, what it turned out to be was that an electron fired through a slit would interfere (or collide) with itself. As far as how, well your guess is as good as mine, but after reading that link, it makes me think that it interfered with itself in a parallel universe.

Then, as both Kai and Paradigm mentioned, its our brains that actually interpret the data collected from our sensory organs and organizes them in a way makes sense. You stand in the middle of a land fill with your eyes closed. There's loose footing and an awful stench, your brain surmises that it's a landfill and there's an image you expect when you open your eyes. Now if you did open your eyes and found yourself in a field of daises, quite literally, your brain would be reeling. So I wonder what reality is like for a person that's color blind and has no concept of blue. For 20 years they've woken up and the sky is green, and that's reality for them. Something like that really brings home the idea that the world is so different to different people.