Spooky Action at a Distance

Something really strange occurs at the microscopic level of particles such as electrons. So bizarre that no one has yet figured out why or how it happens.

In experiments with two electrons, if you measure the state of one of them, the other one instantly transitions into the opposite state of the first one. Even if those two electrons are billions of miles away from each other!

It completely defies all our known laws and has been baffling physicists for the past 50 years. Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance”.

But what Einstein – and every other quantum physicist – missed is that the laws of nature aren’t laws at all. We made them up.

Just like when we sleep at night and drift into dreams, the dynamics of nature in the dream aren’t God-ordained. They are creations from our mind. In fact, when we wake up in the morning, we often find ourselves bemused by the highly unusual physical effects that seemed to occur during the dream. But while we were dreaming, it felt perfectly normal.

If that’s the case, then why did we make up quantum physics to be so, well, spooky?

Because it keeps our attention rooted in the world. How does this work? Why does this work? Let’s create some theories to explain it.

And that is the purpose of everything in our lives. Not most things. Everything.

Fairly early in the workbook, we get this line: “The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function …, and provide you with a justification for forgetting it.” (W-pI.64.1)

In other words, everything we experience has a purpose. Actually it has two purposes. The one we think it has, and one that is hidden.

We think the purpose of quantum physics is to understand the laws of the universe. We think the purpose of our profession is to produce quality output and make money and take care of ourselves and our loved ones. We think the purpose of getting angry at or disappointed with another person is to help them see the errors of their ways.

But we’ve got it all wrong.

There’s a hidden purpose behind all of those. The real reason we get sucked in to any experience, profession, or emotional state is to keep us mindless. To “provide us with a justification for forgetting” that the world was made to keep us distracted.

Thankfully we can shift all our experiences to have a different purpose. That is the core teaching behind A Course in Miracles. Our true function in the world. To recognize the purpose we’ve given everything, and then to alter that purpose by making a change in our mind.

In fact, what we learn in the course is that the only way to experience true happiness is by making that shift in purpose. Following which, the peace we experience is extraordinary. We’ll have transformed spooky action at a distance to comforting love right here.

Join me in Thursday’s Zoom discussion where we’ll dive into the nature of purpose, and how we can redirect from the ego’s function of keeping us mindless to the holy spirit’s role of helping us awaken to peace. I look forward to seeing you then.