spirituality – Nothing to Doubt Blog

Nothing is Impossible: The Importance of Perception in Creating Your Reality

February 6, 2021February 9, 2021Mark Sabbas

“The [human] observer creates reality and not the other way around. . . . that is factually correct. It is an elementary conclusion from quantum mechanics. . . . but we, the physicists, do NOT say it—or if we do say it, we only whisper it, and in private—furiously blushing as we mouth the words. True, yes; politically correct, hell no!”
-Richard Conn Henry, Professor of Physics (Johns Hopkins University), Journal of Scientific Exploration (2009)

Hello friends, I have not posted here for a while, so I hope that you all had a marvelous 2020 (it was all fun and dandy, was it not?).

Today, I had the urge to talk about a subject that may challenge certain preexisting worldviews, but could potentially help a lot of people, especially if one is going through a tough time. The purpose of this post is to provide the necessary empowerment to create for yourself a better reality. And don’t worry, I’ll keep it short.

Now, this concept of “creating your reality” often comes up in New Age circles, usually along with the appealingly-named “law of attraction.” Is there any sort of scientific validity to these so-called laws, or is it all a bunch of hippie hogwash? That’s an excellent question. But before we dive too deep down the rabbit hole, it’s important for us to lay an ontological foundation.

Since the dawn of quantum physics in the early 20th century, an increasing number of thinkers have speculated that our existence is holographic in nature—even a simulation. Indeed, giants of modern physics—including Werner Heisenberg, David Bohm, John Wheeler, and more recently Tom Campbell—have concluded from experiment that the very fabric of our reality is simply information, with independently existing atoms replaced by probability distributions, actualized by an observing mind.

Rising Through the Shadow of Nihilism: Redefining Measures of Place, Purpose, and Success Within a Sick Society

April 4, 2019April 6, 2019Mark Sabbas

“People don’t live in a materialist reality, they do have free will, they are not a body—they are consciousness. They have a purpose: their purpose is to lower the entropy of their consciousness. That’s how a consciousness evolves.

“And what that means—and it’s a very logical process that derives this—is they need to become love. They need to become more caring, more about others and not so much about themselves. That is the direction of consciousness evolution.”

-Thomas Campbell, PhD nuclear physicist (NASA), “ANU Physics Experiment and the Implications for Everyone” (2015)

Hello fellow humans.

First of all, I’m sorry I do not post very often, as I’ve been busy with other endeavors. However, from now on I will try to make things concise, so this will be a far cry from former 50,000 word pieces. But it will still be about something we could all relate to, and should contemplate deeply. Now please meditate on this question we must ask ourselves as human beings:

What is the measure of success in our society?

Because whenever someone mentions the word, the mind automatically gravitates towards money. A successful person must have a nice house, a nice car, a high-paying job—these material things we treasure dearly. Thus it is perfectly ingrained within the Western psyche, fostering an ideal breeding ground for ruthless competition and social Darwinism.

The ones who do not cut it, sadly, can be losers for life. Especially if they are not born into the right family. We lie, we cheat, we steal, even murder for this currency that at its essence, has no intrinsic value, and can be printed out of thin air.

What could possibly explain this mode of thought?

I believe there are root causes. For it hasn’t always been this way.

Philosophers from Aristotle to Immanuel Kant have regarded the cultivation of virtue as the highest good in life, and thus the most honorable goal. Religious figures from Buddha to Jesus Christ have preached the importance of love and forgiveness, as a means for man to purify his soul.

The Real X-Files: Dr. John Mack & The Children of Ruwa

December 23, 2018July 12, 2021Mark Sabbas

“If there are super-intelligent aliens out there, they’re probably already observing us—that would seem quite likely—and we’re just not smart enough to realize it.”

-Elon Musk, founder of Tesla & SpaceX, Dubai World Government Summit (2017)

“I Want To Believe.”

This slogan is displayed prominently on a poster above Fox Mulder’s desk in the pilot episode of The X-Files, which went on to become a cultural phenomenon. The show followed two FBI agents as they investigated ETs and the paranormal. It was Agent Mulder who was the open-minded one, counterbalanced by the skeptical Scully, who was always questioning her partner’s “spooky” theories.

It was Agent Mulder, however, who turned out to be correct, as we later learn from a high-level government insider: “they’ve been here for a long, long time.”

As a child of the ’90s, it was easy to admire someone like Mulder, enamored by his virtue, bravery, and yes, his willingness to believe. Even through a TV screen, his fervor for the unadulterated truth was contagious indeed, sparking something latent in my young heart and setting it ablaze. Soon, I wanted to believe too.

It wasn’t until my early teenage years, after stumbling across a documentary on the Roswell crash, that I realized there might be something more to this than just belief. There were deathbed confessionals, after all, from top military officials! There were leaked photos of an alleged alien autopsy! Unbelievably, there was even an “alien interview” with a creepy-looking black-eyed being on YouTube!!

“Why aren’t people freaking out over this?!” I wondered. “This is the real X-Files!”

Luckily, once you dig through so much BS you’re bound to find a critical mind. So after researching this topic for over a decade, I recognize that the large majority of stuff on the internet is complete misinformation (perhaps deliberate disinformation), coming to appreciate the skeptical mind of Scully after all.

However, there are several cases that I consider diamonds in the rough, ones we should study thoroughly and take very seriously. These cases lend validity to the idea that we are being visited by creatures from another planet—possibly, even, “for a long, long time.” Hence leads me to the creation of a series I will aptly title “The Real X-Files,” exploring the best evidence I’ve come across for ET life.

In this first installment, we analyze the groundbreaking work of Dr. John Mack, particularly delving into the extraordinary case of the children of Ruwa, Zimbabwe. So open your mind, come along on this journey, and leave everything you thought you knew about reality behind . . .

“The alien abduction experiences themselves are often initially quite frightening. Yet over time many experiencers form a powerful bond with one or more of these beings. People become deeply connected with these entities.

“They have palpable experiences that are just as powerful, sometimes more powerful, than relationships here. They view them not just as these cold, calculating, indifferent big-eyed creatures, but bonds develop between experiencers and those strange creatures which often has an intense, transcendent, spiritual, sometimes even erotic, element to it.

“. . . [They] are coming now ‘because they are conscious that we as human beings on this planet are destroying ourselves, and they love us and wouldn’t see this happening.’ They are trying to influence us by bringing knowledge and understanding of our connection to each other and to the Earth and a reminder that ‘we are just one part of a big, big whole.'”

-Dr. John Mack, speech at Seven Stars Bookstore (2000)

There was a Time When John E. Mack was an Academic Superstar.

He was a force in developmental psychology. In 1977, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book A Prince of Our Disorder. That same year, he became department head at Harvard Medical School, specializing in child psychiatry, where he was well-respected throughout the entire university. He interviewed US presidents. He was a prominent voice of nuclear disarmament. And in 1985, he was part of an organization that was given the Nobel Peace Prize, teaming up with other intellectuals who shared this same view.

John Mack was a man who could have played it safe. He could have lived a long and comfortable life, emboldened by his wealth and academic stature. All that changed by the turn of the ’90s, when he did something so unspeakable for a man in his position it shattered his reputation among colleagues:

He began taking cases of UFO contactees seriously.

We’ll Live and We’ll Die and We’re Born Again: Analyzing Issues of Religion, Soul, Reincarnation and The Search for True Spirituality (Part 3 of 3)

December 9, 2018May 3, 2022Mark Sabbas

Intro:

In part 1, we looked at the reincarnation research of Dr. Ian Stevenson. In part 2, I advocated for the view of panpsychism—that consciousness is both fundamental and universal, behind all matter.

In this final part, we radically shift our epistemology—our way of knowing—from quantum mechanics to the “deep reaching inward” of regressive hypnosis, which I believe is equally valid. We review the findings of pioneers in this field, while later obtaining feedback from those I’ve talked to personally who have been regressed to another life. We spend less time talking about a universal consciousness and more on a subjective consciousness—the soul.

I regard the soul as fundamental consciousness that is fragmented from the Source into a self-aware subject, independent of matter, and has an option to incarnate physically. The soul is the transcendent observer behind every pair of eyes, and is at some level, at one with the whole of the universe.

Although the panpsychist view still holds—there is a form of consciousness behind every atom—the soul is greater than the sum of bodily constituents. When the body dies, the organized atomic consciousness still remains, but there is a greater part of us that leaves our eyes.

Now excuse me while I take off these damn glasses, because here comes the fun (and final) part!

To Bring Without

“So it seems as though this part of us that is living a life on Earth is only a small piece or splinter of a much larger us. That we are many rather than one, or rather pieces of a more complex whole. We are only able to focus on the splinter we perceive as our totality. That is a good thing, because if we were aware of the complexity of it we would not be able to function in this world or reality.

“We are only able to see the facade that masks a much larger picture. Only now are we being allowed to peek behind the veil.”

-Dolores Cannon, pioneer in past life regression, The Convoluted Universe (2001)

A common criticism of reincarnation is that, at least anecdotally, there are many people who claim to have been rich and famous in their past lives—even royalty! Whether or not said jokingly, these boastful claims damage the validity of the field, and can make the whole idea of past lives seem silly and absurd. This is exactly what PhD psychologist and hypnotherapist Helen Wambach believed, who beginning in the mid-1960s set out on a decade-long journey to finally debunk the foolish notion of reincarnation altogether.

The study did not go according to plan, however, as she was soon forced to challenge her preconceived beliefs. While under deep trance, all 1088 Californian subjects successfully regressed to former lives, experiencing them as if they were in an immersive movie, often with extreme emotion. They heard ancient languages, wore foreign clothing, and ate exotic food, confidently responding to the specific questions of Wambach when asked. In all but 11 cases (1%), the hypnotherapist found the detailed descriptions of historical settings to be entirely accurate, verified by obscure experts.

A converted skeptic, Dr. Wambach published Reliving Past Lives: The Evidence Under Hypnosis in 1978, containing comprehensive reports of the groundbreaking research. Taken as a whole, her results were stunning:

We’ll Live and We’ll Die and We’re Born Again: Analyzing Issues of Religion, Soul, Reincarnation and The Search for True Spirituality (Part 2 of 3)

December 3, 2018April 28, 2019Mark Sabbas

This is part 2 on this piece on spirituality. In part 1, I primarily analyzed the research into childhood past life memory, as pioneered by Dr. Ian Stevenson and carried on by those such as Dr. Jim Tucker.

This section marks a discourse largely into quantum physics, proposing the need for a major paradigm shift merging science and spirituality, hence establishing a rational basis for phenomena such as reincarnation. Arguing that spirituality essentially is scientific, I denounce the obstructing remains of materialism and religious skepticism, while filling to the brim quotes from some of the greatest thinkers of our time.

My ultimate thesis posits a universal consciousness, which one may call “God,” that possesses creative primacy over the realm of matter. From this perspective, our individualized minds are fundamentally entwined with the very essence of the universe, and as a logical consequence, almost certainly survive death.

I only offer a perspective; I am not branding this as “truth.” You are on your own journey, and can decide for yourself what that is. Critical minds are encouraged.

A Discourse on Skepticism, Consciousness, Quantum Mechanics & The Scientific God

“Quantum physics indicates that our physical world may grow out of our consciousness. That’s a view held not just by me, but by a number of physicists as well . . . what I tried to do is show how people arrive at conclusions, as Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, did when he said that he recorded consciousness as fundamental and that physical matter was derived from it.

“. . . And eventually it appears that on the quantum level, the smallest and most basic level of the universe, that events only occur once their results are observed. So before observation, there are only potentials. . . . this leads to an idea that, again, the consciousness is what is fundamental in reality and that the physical universe simply grows out of that.

“Well, if that is the case then we would not expect an individual consciousness to end when a physical brain dies. And our cases, of course, provide evidence that in fact consciousness does not end and that it continues on.”

-Dr. Jim Tucker, Skeptico, “Dr. Jim Tucker Compiles Largest Database of Past-Life Memories”

As University of Virginia psychiatrist and past life researcher Jim Tucker tells Skeptico, there are several quantum physicists—including some of its most preeminent pioneers—who have regarded reality as being a co-creative generation of an underlying mind. And if this were the case, then the idea that consciousness transcends death of the physical body would not only be compatible with scientific theory, it would be expected of it.

In support of Tucker’s claims, a “delayed choice thought experiment”—first proposed by idealist physicist John Wheeler—has recently been performed at the Australian National University, confirming that “at the quantum level, reality does not ‘exist’ if you are not looking at it,” in the words of ANU Professor Andrew Truscott. Certainly, this suggests an independent importance of the mind of a subjective observer.

In fact, only once atoms are observed at the end of their journey do they make a “choice” between quantum states, dictating which path they take in the past! Until then, reality is merely an abstraction—a suspended state of uncertainty. But there is no logic in simply leaving this craziness alone in the “quantum world” without questioning the implications for consciousness on a greater scale.

That is: Who is the observer behind these eyes? Is there a transcendent mind? An unseen soul? And can this energetic awareness of self indeed survive death of the body, and flow into other forms?

We’ll Live and We’ll Die and We’re Born Again: Analyzing Issues of Religion, Soul, Reincarnation and The Search for True Spirituality (Part 1 of 3)

November 29, 2018March 18, 2022Mark Sabbas

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”

-Carl Sagan, acclaimed astrophysicist & father of modern skepticism, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995)

A Question I’ve Long Pondered:

Why am I born who I am?

Come on, it’s not like I don’t know how babies are made, but I’m asking this from a deeper level—why am I born as a male human being, in this country, to these parents? Why not in Zimbabwe, or Syria, or even North Korea? Why not an elephant for that matter, a soaring blue jay, or an advanced alien race, at the other end of the Milky Way?

Who is the “I” in this case I treasure so deeply? Because to me, this identity has to be something more than simply the symbols that my parents assigned since arriving to this world.

In other words: why am I me and why are you you?

And why are we both alive right now, as intelligent beings on a beautiful planet among billions of others in this galaxy?

Unfortunately, we as a humanity are at the mercy of a paradoxical existence: As much as we come to know our bodies, identifying with it as we are told, we can never shift outside of ourselves, and look directly into our soul. As such, it wasn’t long before I was made to forget this question that others would consider so strange, knowing simply:

“My name is Mark. This is me! I come from a Roman Catholic family. And I am only seven years old.”

Oh but I hated Sunday school! And that’s putting it lightly. My twin and I would devise all sorts of ways to escape this religious instruction, and it is no wonder I was not prepared in the least for my first communion . . .

For Life is But a Dream: Exploring Ideas of Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, Synchronicity, and the Essential Validity of Non-Physical Reality

October 3, 2017February 8, 2018Mark Sabbas

“I went to Africa. You can go to Africa. You may have trouble arranging the time or the money, but everybody has trouble arranging something. I believe you can travel anywhere if you want to badly enough.

“And I believe the same is true of inner travel. You don’t have to take my word about chakras or healing energy or auras. You can find about them for yourself if you want to. Don’t take my word for it. Be as skeptical as you like.

“Find out for yourself.”

-Michael Crichton, Travels (1988)

It was the Summer of Inception-Mania:

Ke$ha was in the charts. Oil was in the ocean. Cleveland just lost half its economy. And the characters of Lost finally found themselves. But it was Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending film that captivated the nation, and if only for a short while, granted us a break from reality, thrown through a realm where the laws of physics don’t apply.

With a smart premise and a sexy cast, the movie was a hit, and the main question on everybody’s mind was if that little totem thing was still spinning at the end: Was it all a dream within a dream within a dream?!

Or, going further . . .