Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health (15 page)

my control group was the historical academic trend of the

school, which used basic study skills intervention and a tradi-

tional teaching and learning approach. Once I introduced my

Switch On Your Brain Process to a group of students, their

academic trend significantly improved. The results showed

a 35 to 70 percent improvement in metacognitive and cogni-

tive performance as measured by academic results in four

subjects: English, math, history, and science.7 These students

had developed the attitude that persistence and hard work

would achieve an end result, and that stretching themselves

and challenging their minds is what would make the change.

They learned the science behind this in their sessions with me

and applied the lessons in their academics—and the results

spoke for themselves. This was essentially the Quantum Zeno

Effect in action, which I have also seen repeatedly in my other

research, the lives of my patients, my children, and even my

own life. I have successfully worked with clients as young

as three and as old as seventy-eight—a pilot who wanted to

change professions and become a CPA.

Part of what I taught these students in their first session

was an understanding that intelligence is continually devel-

oping, so they could become as intelligent as they wanted to

be, based on how much they used their brains. Part of this

session also included a basic introduction into how the brain

works when we learn and how to build memory, including

the concept of neuroplasticity. An important fact I explained

was that they were
in control
of the development of their

own brains, and that hard work and challenging themselves

helped the brain grow more brain cells. Their motivation and

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enthusiasm for taking responsibility for their own learning

was incredible.

Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford University research psycholo-

gist, found similar results. She found that students who be-

lieved that intelligence can grow had increasing math scores.

Those that believed that intelligence was fixed experienced

a decrease in their math scores. She then compared a group

of students who were trained in basic study skills to another

group who were told how their brains grow in response to

novelty and challenge. At the end of the semester, those who

had the “mini neuroscience” approach had significantly better

math grades than the other group.8

The Law of Entanglement

The
law of entanglement
in quantum physics states that re-

lationship is the defining characteristic of everything in space

and time. Because of the pervasive nature of the entangle-

ment of atomic particles, the relationship is independent

of distance and requires no physical link. Everything and

everyone is linked, and we all affect each other.

The law of entanglement has a biblical correlation: “So we,

being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members

one of another” (Rom. 12:5). If you are not doing what God

put you on this earth to do—your divine sense of purpose

(Eccles. 3:11)—then even though you may not know me, you

are still affecting my life. We are all part of God, so this inter-

connectedness is not surprising. Your intentions, your prayers,

and your words toward others will have impact because of

this law. We see this in the Scriptures: “The effectual fervent

prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16 KJV).

In fact, we are so entangled that our intentions alter not only

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our own DNA molecules, but the DNA molecules of others

as well. An ingenuous experiment set up by the HeartMath

Foundation determined that genuine positive emotion, as

reflected by a measure called “heart rate variability,” directed

with intentionality toward someone actually changed the

way the double-helix DNA strand coils and uncoils. And this

goes for both positive and negative emotions and intentions.9

Other research shows that even thirty seconds a day of direct

heartfelt intention will cumulatively alter not only your own

destiny, but impact the lives of others in this generation and

the next three at least.10

Look at the story of the woman in Matthew 9:20–22 who

bled for twelve years. She was so desperate for her healing that

when she heard about the man called Jesus who heals, she

started directing her intentions with each bit of information

she received, cumulatively building a physical thought in her

mind of her healing and believing it in her heart—in effect she

was applying Genesis 11:6 and Hebrews 11:1. In this way she

developed her faith and aligned herself with the healing power

of God, and in doing so she built a root thought (Proverbs

23:7) and acted upon it to receive her healing. She collapsed

all the probabilities into one, which said, “I will be healed

if I just touch the hem of his garment.” Furthermore, her

entanglement with God (Colossians 1:16) was activated by

her choice to believe in her heart and confess with her mouth.

There was no cognitive dissonance in her that day, meaning

she wasn’t thinking one thing and confessing another. Science

shows the beauty of what happens when we align with God.

Science is a way God shows us that we are part of him, and

when we follow his laws we reap the benefit.

I honestly believe that by applying our intelligence, which

can be developed and trained, we can become amazingly

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good at understanding how to practice the presence of God.

I have personally reached a point where science has taken my

relationship with God to a whole new level. He has become

very real and very personal. Through science, you see how

much trouble he has gone to in order to show himself to us

in every way possible.

We are entangled in each other’s lives, and this is reflected

in the structure of the brain. We have “mirror neurons” that

fire up as we watch someone else laugh or cry or drink a cup

of coffee. Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team were the first to

discover these mirror neurons in 1995.11 Through these neu-

rons we literally fire up activity in the brain without actually

using our five senses through the normal sensory-cognitive

cycle. Empathy is the wonderful God-given ability to identify

with, and vicariously understand, the internal experiences of

another person, making communication more genuine and

valuable.12 When we empathize, many different regions of the

brain collaborate in addition to the tiny, miraculous mirror

neurons. We have been hardwired to experience powerful

compassion for others, and this compassion crosses all three

worlds: sensory, electromagnetic, and quantum.

Particles Behave in a Bizarre Way,

Which Is Another Reason Why Prayer Works

Quantum theory calls entanglement “bizarre behavior” for

particles—such as two entangled particles behaving as one

even when far apart. Physicists call such behavior
nonlocal
,

which means that it is physically impossible to know the

position and the momentum of a particle at the same time.

Another way of saying this is that there is no space-time

dimension.

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Thinking, God, and the Quantum Physics Brain

We know God operates outside of the space-time dimen-

sion. And we know prayer does too. There are many stories

of people praying for each other on different sides of the

planet and experiencing the effect of the prayer. In fact, there

are many documented studies on the impact of prayer in the

world of neuroscience in addition to the millions of testimo-

nies from Christians around the world.

An innovative experiment was done that showed that we

are capable of impacting each other’s minds and brains even

when sensory signals (the five senses), electromagnetic signals,

mirror neurons, and insula activity have all been removed.

This impact only worked with meditators who had built a re-

lationship with each other, not those in the control group who

didn’t have a relationship. In the experiment researchers got

two people to meditate next to each other in an electronically

shielded room, called a “faraday cage.” Then they separated

them into two separate faraday cages, and as they continued

to meditate, researchers shone light in the eye of one of the

meditators. The part of the brain that lit up in that person’s

brain also lit up in the other meditator’s brain, even though

there was no sensory or electromagnetic connection.13

Classical physics says this could only work if there were a

prior arrangement—something like, “If this happens, then

that will happen.” So no space-time dimension seems to

violate our sense of cause and effect in space and time. For

example, if someone needs heart surgery, then heart surgery

is performed and is either successful or not. However, one

study showed that those undergoing heart surgery who had

spiritual support in the form of prayer and social support

showed a mortality rate one seventh of those who did not.14

Other researchers found that those who attended church regu-

larly and had a stronger faith were less likely to die and had

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better overall health.15 There are over
twelve hundred
studies

linking intentional prayer and overall health and longevity.16

Meta-analyses in various medical journals have compiled

results that show that intentional prayer significantly affects

healing.17 Dr. David Levy, a practicing neurosurgeon in Cali-

fornia, prays for his patients before he operates on them and

has amazing results. The majority of his patients want him to

pray because it shows them he cares more about their health

and about them as a person than a physician who does not

discuss spiritual matters with his or her patients.18

I love what Dr. Levy says about how he approaches the

often life-threatening and frightening brain surgeries that

his patients face:

I have been in this profession for a good number of years

and am intimately familiar with most of the new therapies,

medical devices, and drugs hitting the market. Many of them

are ingenious, and I use them regularly in my practice. I have

consulted for several companies to develop better devices

and have travelled the world teaching others to use them. I

admire and am grateful for modern medical technology. But

though technology can prolong a life or reduce pain, it can-

not always make life better. My experiences have convinced

me that spirituality is a crucial element to the wellbeing of

a person as a whole; moreover if we let him, God can do

powerful, supernatural things in our everyday lives. That’s

why I began inviting God into my consultations, exams and

surgeries. Many would be surprised that a neurosurgeon—a

man of science, logic and human progress—would be such a

strong believer in God and divine intervention. Yet the experi-

ence has been nothing short of phenomenal.19

This experiment highlights how we impact each other

through our intentions and prayers. Our prayers impact each

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Thinking, God, and the Quantum Physics Brain

other, but so do the negative words we speak over people we

are in relationship with. However, we need to remember that

“a curse without cause shall not alight” (Prov. 26:2).

Matter Just Keeps Getting Smaller

We have gone from molecules to atoms to quarks, leptons, and

bosons; and now physicists are proposing an even smaller con-

cept called
preons
as minuscule particles that make up quarks.

They are also proposing a string theory, which says that the

ultimate building blocks of matter are tiny, vibrating strings,

which are even smaller than preons. One scientist even describes

preons as twisted braids of space-time.20 If preons exist (I think

they do), they are unimaginably tiny and would have to fit in-

side a quark, which is currently the smallest known particle of

matter, having a size of zero, and the strings are even smaller.21

Thought Moves Faster Than the Speed of Light

Electrons have been observed to jump from one orbit to an-

other without traveling through the intervening space and

without time having elapsed.

Scientists say our thought signals also seem to move faster

than the speed of light and in ways that classical physics can-