Using the Power of Cosmic Glue in the New Business World
“Children just aren’t interested in witches and wizards anymore.” – anonymous publishing executive
(One publisher’s take on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter in 1996.)
‘All man’s miseries derive from his inability to sit quietly in a room by himself.’
– Blaise Pascal
I remember as a kid in high school and doing physics classes having to write down that between the atoms is empty space. The teacher, if I can call him that, (the guy who wrote on a blackboard as we copied what he wrote into our workbooks) scratched out words saying that most of the world we know is empty space. Period.
There was no opportunity to challenge. That night as I walked home from school I kept thinking about it. It made no sense. Surely, if empty space existed between the atoms, and 99% of the universe was empty space, I’d feel it. I’d keep falling over, running out of air to breathe, and the ground beneath my feet would not feel solid. Yet there I was walking on fields, climbing over fences, and brushing through tree branches. How could it feel like that if it was empty space?
I waited a long time to find the answer. There is no such thing as empty space. What my teacher thought was empty is actually filled with an energy field. It is called the Higgs field, named after Professor Higgs whose research was confirmed by experiments conducted at the CERN lab in Switzerland. It was announced to the world in 2012.
Although this information seems at first read tangential to entrepreneurship, the discovery has huge ramifications for us. Knowing the Higgs Field exists gives us tools we can use to get our lives back. It’s the secret sauce, or at least one of many secret sauces available, to a life of success with balance.
At our basic core we are made of particles called fermions and bosons. When fermions and boson interact with the Higgs Field they slow down, and that creates our experience of solid matter.
If that interaction did not happen, we would remain disparate particles shooting through the universe at the speed of light. It also means that everyone and everything are forever connected and that is a secret sauce to success with balance. We can draw to ourselves that which we want. We no longer have to figure out the how and why or build it physically with our hammers and screwdrivers. What we imagine shows up.
Here is how scientists explain it:
The phrase “party of particle physicists,” must be an oxymoron. No surprise then that in the animation Professor Higgs headed straight to the bar. I would… and I’d need something stronger than a beer at that party. Though, I do wish my high school teacher was at the party so I could finally challenge him.
This cartoon is supposedly the clearest, smartest explanation of the energy through which fermions and bosons interact. It still leaves me scratching my head a bit. The more the particles interact the more mass they gain, or more solid they feel… to our five senses.
If I were asked for an analogy for the competition, I’d use the ocean and a fish concept. A fish has no perception it is in a material called water just as we have no concept that we float in cosmic glue. A fish thinks the whole universe is like that. Like what? Well, like swimming and gliding and feeding and mating. It does not “feel” the water.
Every time a fish makes a move it sends signals that reverberate throughout the water to connect it to mates and predators alike. A shark can detect the slightest movement 330 meters away. Whales emit low frequency sound waves that can travel more than 10,000 miles in some levels of the ocean! Thought of in this way the ocean is a single field of energy.
The same happens when we interact with the Higgs field. We message each other through this cosmic glue like we are secretly texting one another. Not knowing this, most people are not ‘listening.’ They emit frequencies like the whale, but they are not aware of the reverberations. If everyone were listening we would have no sense of separation and that alone would end most of the world’s issues. When we listen, we can get those ah-ha moments, those moments of insight, those winning ideas, those intuitive nudges, those cosmic connections.
All we need do is to send and receive signals through this Higgs field to connect to any source of information, any solution, any idea. We have first to understand that the field exists in order to consciously connect with it.
Physicist Brian Greene, presenting on the PBS’ Charlie Rose Show, with experimental physicist Michael Tufts explains it this way:
“Mass is the resistance an object offers to having its speed changed. You take a baseball. When you throw it, your arm feels resistance. A shot-put, you feel that resistance. The same way for particles. Where does the resistance come from? The theory was put forward that perhaps space was filled with an invisible “stuff,” an invisible molasses-like “stuff,” and when the particles try to move through the molasses, they feel a resistance, a stickiness. It’s that stickiness which is where their mass comes from. … That creates the mass….it’s an elusive invisible resistance.”
Okay. So what?
So everyone is connected to anyone. Everything is connected to anything. The universe hums with wisdom we can tap into simply if we know how to connect.
How do we connect? Simply.
1. Meditation
2. Connection through immersion in nature.
In my MBA classes no one suggested that the answer to a problem is to take a walk, touch some trees or meditate in order to connect through the universe. But that is what I do and I’m not the only one.
What do Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Jack Dorsey have in common? Being wildly rich, of course, as well as respected pioneers in their industries. But the billionaire moguls also share a habit: They meditate.
As billionaire investor Ray Dahlio says: “All my best ideas come when I meditate.”
Science is clear. Moments of insight arrive when we switch off.
All my company ideas came to me during or shortly after meditation. So let’s talk meditation for a while. It is the successful entrepreneurs most valuable activity… and habit.
It is as simple as sitting in a chair, alone, in peace, and for 20 minutes.
Why?
Because one can’t do anything but benefit from meditation.
Any form of meditation has the following benefits:
Improved Brain Functioning
•Human Physiology 25 (1999) 171-180; Psychophysiology 31 Abstract (1994) S67; Psychophysiology 27 Supplement (1990) 4A; Psychophysiology 26 (1989) 529; Psychosomatic Medicine 46: (1984) 267–276.
Increased Flexibility of Brain Functioning
•Biological Psychology, 55 (2000): 41-55; Psychophysiology 14 (1977): 293–296.
Increased Efficiency of Information Transfer in the Brain
•Motivation, Motor and Sensory Processes of the Brain, Progress in Brain Research 54 (1980): 447–453; International Journal of Neuroscience 10 (1980): 165–170; Psychophysiology 26 (1989): 529.
Improved Perception
•Perceptual and Motor Skills 49 (1979): 270; Perceptual and Motor Skills 64 (1987): 1003–1012.
Improved Problem-Solving Ability
•Personality and Individual Differences 12 (1991): 1105–1116; Dissertation Abstracts International 38(7): 3372B–3373B, 1978.
Increased Resistance to Distraction and Social Pressure
•Perceptual and Motor Skills 39 (1974): 1031–1034; Perceptual and Motor Skills 65 (1987): 613–614; Perceptual and Motor Skills 59 (1984): 999-1000; Dissertation Abstracts International 38(7) (1978): 3372B–3373B.
Increased Intelligence
•Intelligence 29/5 (2001): 419-440; Journal of Personality and Individual Differences 12 (1991): 1105–1116; Perceptual and Motor Skills 62 (1986): 731–738; College Student Journal 15 (1981): 140–146; Journal of Clinical Psychology 42 (1986): 161–164.
Increased Creativity
•Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57 (1989) 950-964; The Journal of Creative Behavior 19 (1985) 270-275; Dissertation Abstracts International 38(7): 3372B–3373B, 1978.
Increased Self-Confidence and Self-Actualization
•Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 6 (1991): 189–247; Higher Stages of Human Development: Perspectives on Adult Growth (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 286–341; British Journal of Psychology 73 (1982) 57-68; College Student Journal 15 (1981): 140–146; Journal of Counseling Psychology 20 (1973): 565-566.
Improved Verbal and Analytical Thinking
•The Journal of Creative Behavior 13 (1979): 169–180; The Journal of Creative Behavior 19 (1985): 270–275; Perceptual and Motor Skills 62 (1986): 731–738.
Who doesn’t want all of those advantages?
So what is meditation?
Meditation is a group word, just as sports is. There are hundreds of ways to experience sports and there are hundreds of ways to meditate. Find one that suits you.
In general, all meditations fall into one of two types; concentrative and non-directive.
A team of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the University of Oslo and, the University of Sydney determined how the brain works during these two types of meditation. Results were published in the journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience:
“Different meditation techniques can actually be divided into two main groups. One type is concentrative meditation, where the meditating person focuses attention on his or her breathing or on specific thoughts, and in doing so, suppresses other thoughts.
The other type may be called non-directive meditation, where the person who is meditating effortlessly focuses on his or her breathing or on a meditation sound, but beyond that the mind is allowed to wander as it pleases.
Non-directive meditation led to higher activity than during rest in the part of the brain dedicated to processing self-related thoughts and feelings. When test subjects performed concentrative meditation, the activity in this part of the brain was almost the same as when they were just resting.
‘I was surprised that the activity of the brain was greatest when the person’s thoughts wandered freely on their own, rather than when the brain worked to be more strongly focused,’ said Xu. ‘When the subjects stopped doing a specific task and were not really doing anything special, there was an increase in activity in the area of the brain where we process thoughts and feelings. It is described as a kind of resting network. And it was this area that was most active during non-directive meditation.’ ”
The meditation technique I use is non-directive and outlined below in the attached audio guide. It is easy to do, famous for its simplicity and produces incredible benefits and results.
Some meditation techniques are far to complex. For entrepreneurs, the point is not to aim for enlightenment. The aim is for a winning idea.
Keep it simple.
At this point your opinion about meditation and connecting by hugging a tree is irrelevant. Just do it. Assess the results. I have never hd anyone come back to me and say they wish they hadn’t done it.
Here is my voice-guided meditation to get you started:
Russell Targ explains added benefits in this once banned, TED talk.
Russell Targ is about as ‘un-hippie’ as a teacher that I could imagine. If this pragmatic scientist is telling us to start developing our ESP, why wouldn’t we try it? Russell Targ has shown us there is nothing weird, new age, or fantastical about ESP.
We all have the potential to enhance our senses and only good can come of it.
What does all this have to do with you as an entrepreneur. Connecting through the energy field called Higgs can draw to you any winning idea, any solution to an issue, any network or person you need to help you in your venture right then in the moment. Try it. Need investment? Meditate under tree and connect. Need to find the best vendor? Meditate on a river bank. Connect.
No more trying. No more doing. No more figuring out how. Meditate. Connect.
It is the gateway and the portal to success with balance.
Homework time:
Every successful entrepreneur I know has a form of meditation practice. There are thousands of techniques. I prefer the one I call Taking Quiet Time because it is so simple that everyone can enjoy it. It is also a good technique for generation of moments of insight.You can use the audio guide above or if you prefer a written version you’ll find it in my book Three Simple Steps, which is about the best $10 anyone can spend.
First thing tomorrow morning and immediately after you wake up try it out.
Resources
Additional commentary.
This fascinating video explains scientifically that what we pay attention to becomes our reality. Focus on growth and success not the day to day issues is the message.
