As I said before, real scientific research is published in credible technical scientific journals after a rigorous peer review process. Furthermore, any finding published in this manner has to be independently replicated and published by other scientists multiple times after such a rigorous evaluation, to become accepted as established scientific fact. Merely displaying some pictures on the internet or making some categorical statements in the lay press does not amount to scientific validation. Neither the magical claims of Emoto regarding water nor the spiritual ones of the Brahma Kumari Raja Yoga cult have been subjected to any kind of scientific validation and replication. That is why they and their "research" are not credible by any normal standard.
In the interest of furthering scientific temper and literacy, two other considerations that people ought to take into account are: 1) Science deals with specificity and precision in answering questions. In other words, if one claims that thoughts influence ice crystal formation then one has to demonstrate and independently replicate this specific effect, and this specific effect alone, by experiment. The same applies to the claim of Brahma Kumari Raja Yoga affecting crop yield. Show me the published and replicated experimental results that demonstrate this specific fact. Nothing else matters. One cannot trick people into accepting that the latter has to be true just because there is a guy on the internet who claims that the former is true, or because famous researchers like Martin Seligman, Herbert Benson, etc. have made some unrelated observations about positive feelings and mental relaxation having an effect health, or because the Brahma Kumaris run a modern hospital at Mount Abu, or because consciousness is a difficult research problem, or because our bodies and plants are made up of water. Free association and wild imagination have no value in validating scientific claims. 2) Anybody who makes the claim that he/she has discovered a novel scientific phenomenon also has the burden of explaining how current understanding of physics, chemistry and biology can be extended to account for it. This burden becomes even greater when the claim appears to violate established physical, chemical and/or biological laws and facts, which is clearly the case with thoughts affecting water and Raja Yoga influencing plant growth. Cheers, Santosh ----- Original Message ----- > From: Celina Pereira <[email protected]> >>>>>>>>>> > The reference to how thought affects water structure is Masaru Emoto's > publication on the effects on the water crystals. This experiment has not > been duplicated in USA, but, as one of you pointed out , it is very > difficult to do research on consciousness as there are so many variables to > be considered. > That positive thinking deeply affects our health and behavior has been > demonstrated by Seligman from the American Psychological Association and > you might google 'authentichappiness.com' or 'seligman' > A corollary to Emoto's findings is that thought must affect us as we are > eighty percent water....... and therefore also plants. > Anyone who has grown up in India is aware of the spiritual powers ( sidhis) > of Yogis and how the physical elements can be controlled by the spiritual > powers. Meditation is one of the main Yogic practices and was researched by > Herbert Benson from Harvard and shown how it can create changes in the > brain structure on Pet Scans......so now that we have sophisticated > imaging, truths that were accepted for centuries, have become evidence > based. > Research on Meditation/yoga comes from three main groups in USA...Herbert > Benson's group at Harvard, Jon Cabat Zinn in Wooster Mass, and the > Transcendental meditation group. .......................................
