The Power of Thought: A Consciousness Experiment

I've discovered an amazing experiment that proves the power of thought.

This experiment will give you visual proof that your thoughts affect the physical world. In this experiment, you will control and affect the motion (and speed) of an object.

The Experiment

Take a white sheet of paper about 24 inches square (unlined paper is preferable. Grab a sheet of paper from your printer). Draw a circle as large as this paper will permit and then draw a horizontal line through the center of the circle. Mark the left end of the line "A," and the right end of the line "B." Now draw a vertical line through the circle. Mark the top of the line "C," and the bottom of the line "D." Your drawing should look similar to this:

Take a lead pencil and attach a string about 8 inches long. At the end of the string, tie a small weight, about the size of a quarter. Now then, for the proof.

Place the paper on a table, and hold the pencil above the paper, so that the pendulum will be just above the center of the paper, where the lines intersect. Now think of the line AB, but do not move; in a few minutes the pendulum will swing back and forth along the line AB. Now think of the line CD; the pendulum will stop swinging back and forth and will begin to swing up and down along line CD.

Now take your thought off the lines entirely and fix it upon the circle. As you think about the circle, move your eyes around the circle. The pendulum will begin moving in a circular motion!

Now then, begin thinking that the pendulum is swinging faster and faster, that you can hardly stop it. The motion will become so fast that you can hardly see it go. Then, begin thinking that the pendulum will not move at all—that something is the matter with it. It will stop! Once you begin thinking that the pendulum will not move, it will slow down, and stop moving entirely.

It's uncanny.

This experiment was first used in the 1920's by Charles Baudouin of the Jean Jacques Rosseau Institute in France to demonstrate the power of thought to his students. I discovered it by reading a book written by Charles Haanel. Haanel writes:

You may think this is will power. It is nothing of the kind. In fact, if you *will* the pendulum to move, it will not budge; you must think of the result, not upon how it is accomplished.

In his experiments, M. Baudouin found that the higher the intelligence the student possessed, the more rapidly did he secure results. Those students who were more or less deficient in mentality were very slow, and in some cases results were almost negligible.

A Couple of Tips/Comments:

• The hardest part about this experiment is finding a small weight to attach to the pencil (using string). I ended up using a tin container (about the size of a quarter) that held dental floss from a hotel.
• Make sure the string is long enough (about 8 inches). I measured 8 inches before I tied the weight to the string and the string to the pencil.

• Do not focus on making/forcing the pendulum to move. Focus on the lines. Think about line AB. Move your eyes from point A to point B. Continue doing this until the pendulum moves. You can speed up the movement by moving your eyes faster (and your thoughts), back and forth between points A and B.

• When switching your thoughts from line AB to line CD, the change in the pendulum's movement is not instantaneous. It takes a small amount of time for the motion to switch. Same when switching from circling motion to no motion at all. This is mirrored in everyday life. Usually, our thoughts do not *instantly* manifest. However, as we continue thinking the same thought over and over, the results appear.
• Repetition and emotion seem to make things appear faster in the physical world. The more a thought is repeated (and the more emotion is placed behind a particular thought), the faster the results appear. At least, this has been my experience.

Your Turn

Go conduct the experiment. It's fun, and it takes less than 10 minutes. Have fun, and let me know your results. Post a comment if you complete the experiment.

In this video, Mike Dooley gives a very passionate speech about thought and consciousness to a local Toastmasters' group.

For those who are unaware, Toastmasters is a business organization that helps people develop public speaking skills. Toastmasters sponsors public speaking contests and holds monthly meetings.

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