Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior (Power vs. Force, #1)

by David R. Hawkins

Another useful concept is Rupert Sheldrake’s notion of morphogenetic fields, or M-fields.4 These invisible organizing patterns act like energy templates to establish forms on various levels of life. It is because of the discreteness of M-fields that identical representations of a species are produced. Something similar to M-fields also exists in the energy fields of consciousness and underlies thought patterns and images—a phenomenon termed “formative causation.” The idea that M-fields assist learning has been verified by wide-scale experimentation.5 When Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, he created a new M-field. The belief system prevailing in human consciousness had been that the four-minute mile was a limit of human possibility. Once the new M-field was created, many runners suddenly began to break the four-minute mile records. This occurs every time mankind breaks into a new paradigm, whether it is the capacity to fly (an M-field created by the Wright Brothers), or the capacity to recover from alcoholism (an M-field created by Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous). Once an M-field is created, everyone who repeats the accomplishment reinforces the power of that M-field. We are all familiar with the fact that new ideas often seem to arise in the minds of several far-removed people at the same time. Somehow, the M-field acts as an organizing principle, like a sort of general magnetic attraction. An M-field does not have to move anywhere. It is a standin...