The following theories apply to the experiments.

1. Qualitative thought theory.

2. The Quality theory. Includes the Quality Hypothesis.

3. Two intentions theory.

4. Quantum prayer theory.

5. Cybernetic system theory.

6. Effective prayer theory.

7. Indirect prayer theory.

8. How does prayer work theory.

9. The law of distraction defense mechanism theory.

10. The comparison and gradation of thought theory.

11. The law of the conceptual whole theory.

                              The Spindrift Maxim

"Someday...the scientists of the world will turn their laboratories over to the study of God and prayer and the spiritual forces which as yet have hardly been scratched." -- Charles Steinmetz, the father of modern electricity

Following are three definitions. They are followed by the eleven theories listed above.

What is meant by the word system?

A system is the subject that is prayed-for. Bruce Klingbeil said, "A system by nature is patterned [has order to it]. We have found that some [prayer] thought is pattern related. It tends to produce order when it is associationally linked [when it is entangled] with a given system."... "Holy prayer focuses on what is best for the recipient of prayer, be it an animal or plant system, one's self, one identity or many identities."

What is meant by the word telekinesis?

The word telekinesis is the same word as psychokinesis. Telekinesis is the supposed movement of objects by mental and spiritual forces. Jesus Christ got the attention of his Jewish brethern to establish who he was as Messiah through his telekinetic works and healings. If prayer moves a situation from one state to another state, prayer is telekinetic.

What does Spindrift mean by qualitative thought?

Qualitative thought conveys the qualities in our human consciousness that promote order, pattern, coherence, healing, resolution, creativity, and wonder. QT, Qualitative thought, projects positive qualities from the subconscious mind. QT enriches order in the human mind. QT brings forth appropriate distinctions and order to systems. Qualitative thought has an ordering-nature that brings order-mending to systems that Quality touches.

1. Qualitative thought theory.

                                       "I'm not perfect. I'm just the best." - a saying

What is the theory of qualitative thought? Qualitative thought carries and conveys Quality. Qualitative thought is interested in what is potentially good, better, or best. When qualitative thought or QT is conveyed by a person, patterns of order follow. Why does order follow QT? Because QT invests mending-qualities into situations. 

Prayer that embraces qualitative thought shows qualitatively different effects than prayer that embraces non-quality thought. Non-quality thought produces no clue of order.

What did qualitative thought illustrate in the Spindrift tests? By degrees, QT instigated and inspired the best to occur. Spindrift experimented with the potential of prayer to make qualitative differences in experiments involving the healing of lower organisms.

Creative Mind's impulse to improve our thoughts is a qualitative action. Some call qualitative thoughts Christ-like thoughts. Jesus Christ was the epitome of having qualitative thoughts. Improvements arrived in the presence of Jesus' qualitative thoughts that beamed the Christ.

The power of God is in His spiritual qualities.  Our thoughts can cultivate and reflect these qualities.

Qualities are carried by our qualitative thoughts.

If qualitative thoughts carry Quality, then what is Quality?

2. The Quality theory.

"There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen

If we don't know what Quality is, we certainly know when it's missing.

If you can get the smallest part of Quality in your life, you will find enhancements to your life. Quality brings forth the closest to what is positive and best in a situation.

Quality let's in the light.

Quality is an ideal that promotes what is good, better, or best for a situation. 

Quality is a spiritual impetus.

Quality is virtue that reveals shades of goodness and healing in a situation. 

Quality is what initiates and forms layers of improvement for an ability, artwork, or situation.

Quality is an ideal that energizes esthetics and inventions.

Quality is led by promoting the levels of improvement that have the potential to be tuned-up to align with the blueprint ideals that further define, refine, and distinguish the purpose of a person, system, artwork, or situation that is getting attention.

Quality inspires order, vision, hope, and wonder.

Non-quality does not inspire order, vision, and hope.

Quality brings inspiration to our consciousness and human experiences.

Non-quality does not inspire. 

The influence and imprint of Quality arrives for us on an individual basis as our human consciousness becomes receptive to improvement.

Sometimes the impact of Quality is measurable.

For Spindrift, holiness, Christ, and Quality are very close in meaning.

Spindrift has a Quality Hypothesis.

      "It's important to find ways to add evidence for faith in effects from invisible forces."

                                                   - The Spindrift founders

Here is the hypothesis about Quality: Quality effects are conveyed by some prayers. Quality thought in prayer leaves a superior effect of order on subjects than does will-power thought. The hypothesis looked at distinctive patterns of order left by some prayers. The hypothesis sought to distinguish a Quality ingredient in human consciousness that promotes order in a separate way than how our ego, will-power, belief assumptions, and the placebo effect promote order. 

A summary of Quality in our experiences

To review Quality: The theory of Quality refers to the Quality ingredient in our human consciousness that promotes order, artistry, and wonder. Quality is conveyed by our talents, our keen awareness, our alertness to refined detail, and by some prayers. Quality reveals what approaches a fitting or ideal result. Quality asks us, "Why have lesser when you can have better?" For more details about the order-seeking nature of Quality, see the FAQ page, Question Four. Quality that affects creativity and healing is discussed on the Spindrift Overview page. Look for the headings "What is Quality?" and "What is the relationship between quality and quantity?"  

3. The theory of two intentions.

"A split decision tilts left or right."

Prayer forms "subtle mental imprints" on the physical world. The Klingbeils focused on two types of mental imprints. These two imprints are projected by two intentions found in many prayers. Spindrift called these two intentions goal-directed thought and non goal-directed thought. Both intentions produce patterns of expression in our human experience.

What do these two imprints mean? Goal-directed thought tends to be stuck on a goal. Non goal-directed thought tends to be flexible about goals.

Bruce and John Klingbeil were the first to formulate distinctions between the imprints produced by goal-directed thought and non goal-directed thought. An explanation follows:

 2) "Non goal-directed thought" in prayer involves giving up personal goals in prayer. Non goal-directed thought rises beyond personal choice to the divine choice to happen. The results are effects that tend to normalize a situation in ways that the person praying could not know were the proper effects in the best interest of the subject. Apparently non goal-directed thought references a matrix of ideas as the norm-points in the system prayed-for to affect outcomes that are not known by man's expectation, agenda, belief, and ego.

When drawing a distinction between the two prayers, their effects take divergent paths:

> About a goal-directed prayer: The clarification of what is the goal to achieve guides the effect from a goal-directed prayer. 

> About a non goal-directed prayer: The clarification of what is the intrinsic purpose and some semblance of normalcy and order is the effect of a non goal-directed prayer. 

> More about a non goal-directed prayer: To pray without having a goal in mind is counter-logical to many people. Why? Spirit often operates in us as a contradiction to our material desires and decisions. Our goals can get in the way sometimes. 

Personality may play a part. 

              "You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the track." - a saying

Our human personalities may be a factor in how we express goal-directed and non goal-directed thoughts and prayers. A person who is an extrovert may have a mind dominated by goal-directed thoughts. His personal goals, motives, and preconceptions often try to dominate his thoughts. For example, a type A personality who is an aggressive achiever might find it difficult to express a quiet thought without simultaneously thinking of a goal.

In contrast, it may be easier for a person who is an introvert to be dominated by non goal-directed thoughts. He may find it easier to not outline a specific goal to achieve.

Some prayers didn't produce any effects during the tests. These lack of effects in the tests were averaged into the results as zero results. When prayers did produce effects, these effects were either goal-directed effects or non goal-directed effects.

A prayer's non goal-directed strength of holiness or quality is proportional to the degree of qualitative compassion and love it conveys, not a goal or agenda it conveys.

There are exceptions where goals are needed, but non goal-directed prayers were found to produce effects of order that fit a tighter criteria of "a return to the norms" for the subject receiving prayer. That is, evidence developed that there is an increased correspondence with an apropos order and the norms needed for a healing with non goal-directed prayers.

Why say that a healing is a closer fit for the norms? Because non goal-directed thoughts have a norm driven nature that orchestrate ordering-effects that sync with the needs presented by the circumstances. That is, ordering-effects contribute to what would be the appropriate fit of order and norms for the circumstances.

In short, ordering-effects have a pattern seeking nature.

With some exceptions, asking to get material possessions and asking for a goal to be achieved do not include an order-seeking nature. Often, an asking prayer ignores order. In contrast, a prayer of holiness references order.

Ordering-effects and non ordering-effects affect order differently. These two effects are contrasting effects on order to be measured.

For a description of ordering-effects, see the Overview page here.

4. The theory of quantum prayer.

"Wave at me in a particular way." - a saying

Quantum prayer theory takes a closer look at the two intentions theory just described above.

What goes on underneath prayer is quantum prayer activity.

What does a quantum prayer do? In the context of a decision, a quantum prayer splits to the left or to the right. That is, the intention of a quantum prayer radiates waves or particles.

⇒ Waves and particles report to us what is the dominate intention that determines a direction taken by prayer.

⇒ Particles have a connection to goals. Goals produce effects that are locked-in to support a goal.

⇒ Waves have a connection to non goals. Non goals produce effects that are bending, creative, and not locked-in to a goal.

⇒ Particles result from petition that asks to receive a specific answer.

⇒ Waves lean on the Infinite for an appropriate answer.

In the early 1970s, Bruce and John Klingbeil found that the observer relationship with an object derived from quantum physics was a useful way to explain how subjective love and prayer could reach the object of prayer that has a need.

The two Spindrift imprints from prayer can be conceptualized from the quantum theory about particles and waves. The analogy of the particle and the wave can help us detect our human and divine intentions in prayer. These two intentions or motives show what effects a prayer can produce. Of course, that was when a prayer was found that could produce effects.

Bruce and John asked if we observe the particles in our prayers or the waves in our prayers? The Klingbeils theorized that particle prayer describes goal-directed prayer and wave prayer describes non goal-directed prayer. What is the difference? Particle prayer starts mental motions to achieve a goal. A billowing prayer of waves resolves a condition through a flow of order that fits the circumstances.

The following is the quantum prayer theory.

• Particles generate goal-directed-effects.

• Waves generate order-directed-effects.

• Particle prayers generate without reference to order.

• Wave prayers generate with reference to order.

The longer view:

1) Particle prayer observes more from our physical level of experience. Particle prayer outpictures our personal preconceptions, education, and "'goals we desire"' for how the result should eventually turn out. Don't have prayer so tied-up with details and goals that there is no room for God. Particles tend to be visualized material formations in the biological mind. They are projected as the objects of prayer.

2) Wave prayer observes more from our spiritual level of experience. Wave prayer outpictures the Principled Love, patterns of order, and "'norms needed"' for how the result should eventually turn out. Prayer waves cover more than a single goal. Prayer waves resonate the nearby ecosystem. Waves tend to bring forth what is the purpose, order, and the norms needed for the objects of prayer.

Has quantum physics given a boost to Spindrift's work? 

Yes. In the Twenty-first Century, a frontier of science to investigate are the nonlocality actions of human consciousness. The quantum discovery of nonlocality has given psychic actions and holy actions an opening to be considered as real phenomena in the world. Quantum mathematics works out well enough for scientists. However, the bizarreness called strangeness of the quantum world that subsists underneath our world of the five physical senses remains difficult to believe even for some scientists.

Spindrift hopes that the research of nonlocality gradually includes the ordering-effects of prayer which are qualitative in nature. Qualitative means that by degrees Quality effects inspire improvement. These nonlocal Quality effects that produce order and improvement should suggest that people have the potential to bring order and healing for the human scene.

It's understandable why people have a difficult time adjusting to odd names. For example, on a micro-level, holy prayer can be named quantum prayer or nonlocal prayer. Spiritual healing should adopt an alternative name--nonlocal healing.

Quantum discoveries open fresh ways to view beyond the limited images and feelings of the five physical senses. In Moby Dick we read: "In looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that the thick water to be the thinnest of air."

We are brought up to accept that the mind controls behavior. It may be a jump for us to accept that the mind controls our reality.

The hope for the future is that by understanding more about the education of the subconscious mind, prayer, meditation, theta healing, affirmation therapy, psychic research, Christian metaphysics that uproots the weeds in thought, nurturing spirituality in unconscious thought, and what is being learned about quantum activity in the mind should bring evidence that the mind contributes to reality.

Without quantum analogies "We see in a mirror dimly." Or another translation "We see as in a mirror, in an allegory." (1st. Corinthians 13:12, New American Standard and Aramaic Bible in Plain English.)

Quantum prayer is also discussed in Question 1 of the FAQ page here.

5. What is cybernetic system theory?

                       "Better is the enemy of average. Best is the enemy of better." - saying

The sides of a square are connected. When you start at side one and walk around the other three sides, you are back at square one.

6. What is the theory of effective prayer?

"Faith is feeling something is already true."

Effective prayer is when a system or organism is moved toward its norm-points of order that are nearest best for its circumstances. That is, prayer is effective when the prayed-for subject has moved toward what is closest to a normal order or what is the nearest proper order for the circumstances. What is proper order is the faith in true order to appear as degrees closer to true order. A true order is an understood set of norms.

For a situation being moved toward a proper order, a true order, Spindrift discovered that non goal-directed prayer is more effective than goal-directed prayer when producing order. Why? Non goal-directed prayer as wave prayer is aware of the norms, needs, and intricacies of a situation.

Wave prayer (non goal-directed prayer) apparently has this informed awareness of what is needed. Waves cover the needs. With some exceptions, wave prayers are holier prayers. For one thing, they get the human ego out of the way.

What God says about you is the truth about you. Wave prayer, also known as non goal-directed prayer, resonates with what is divinely true about you and acts reasonably close to what is humanly true for you in your circumstances. Wave prayer shows adjustments.

In showing what is true, wave prayers override what we want for what we need.

In contrast, particle prayer (goal-directed prayer) controls the specific results that people want to happen often without considering what is needed. That is, particle prayer usually wants to manifest a wish list of physical results it wants to appear.

In contrast, non goal-directed prayer doesn't have a wish list of requested results. A wave prayer is a free-flowing wave that doesn't bump into agendas.

The effects from wave prayers and particle prayers flow in different directions. Waves and particles display bifurcated effects to track. Waves act free of goals. Particles tend to focus on material goals. Material goals can be proper with the right motive. A right motive is the key to our choice when emitting particles or waves.

For Spindrift, wave prayer affirmed an identity to correspond with the potential purpose for an organism more often than particle prayer. The organism tested would grow in the direction of what was best for it. At least for Spindrift, wave prayer was found more effective than particle prayer to improve a situation. We could ask ourselves if our intention is to outpicture particles or waves in our prayers.

Instead of looking at a broad range of prayer effects, such as prayer on crime, war, weather, or a hospital ward, Spindrift mostly looked at a narrow range of effects. The effects looked at related to bringing systems or organisms back in-sync with their inherent norms of order.

7. What is the theory of indirect prayer?

"Blessed are they who make peace, for they will be called the children of God."

Indirect prayer is playing Russian Roulette with our prayers: We get misses, then a hit.

Indirect prayer is prayer for the environment or prayer for world hunger or for global warming or for peace on earth with ending every war on earth as the subtext. The scattered fire from an indirect prayer spreads out and tries to hit amorphous and ambiguous targets. Spreading indirect prayer and intention tends to disperse at diffuse targets.

It's a loving thought and a loving visualization to pray to end all wars. We hear "Visualize world peace." What picture does peace look like to us? The concept of peace is often vague and indirect. Even if the concept of peace is not vague, prayer for peace to stop a war might be the wrong effect to seek. The war-feelings would still be there seething underneath the surface ready to erupt again. That is, the underlying triggers of war are still there. For example, bottled-up collective subsurface, unconscious, hate and negativity might surface to create another surging cacophony of chaos. These swirling hate soaked gremlins, snakes, and snarls are often more appropriate targets to address in prayer than war and peace.

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading." -- Thomas Jefferson

We become peace makers by becoming makers of peace. 

About praying for world peace: All kinds of people do just that, and it would appear to no avail. What Spindrift would suggest is to pray for a concept of the world that is "'undefended."' For example, pray about world anger. Or how about the world's belief in causing pain? Who the heck puts it that way? And that is the point. Pray about something others aren't likely thinking about precisely. This approach is a less interfered with area of thought, and can stretch more.

Praying for such concepts as safety, satisfaction, greed, dominance, covetousness, the use of scare tactics, and the other underlying dark drivers of battles and wars apparently is more productive to pray about than praying indefinably for the end of all battles, wars, and poor people. Prayer and human effort can help ameliorate wars and poor people. But wars and poor people aren't going to end. Jesus Christ said, "The poor you will always have with you." (Matthew 26:11.) Why say that wars won't end? Jesus told his disciples that battles and wars would continually pester humanity. He said, "You will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately." (Matthew 24:6, New Living Translation.) The New International Version reads, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."

Aiming a direct prayer at a target few are thinking about tends to be a better way to image a target. Direct prayer is mentioned in "Praying for the undefended thought," Question 7, number 3, on the FAQ page.

Zen meditators and other good people have prayed directly for a location where crime was rampant. The crime rate diminished. After lingering, the effects of peace wear off, and crime raises its head again.

The Klingbeils have observed that there is a honeymoon period when peace and harmony are dominate soon after attention by prayer. Gradually, after prayer stops being applied, another surge of negativity raises its ugly head. It's frustrating, because there are good people who express gratitude for a positive change, but it often gets knocked down. St. Paul gave advice to "Pray without ceasing." (1st. Thessalonians 5:17) With all his good thoughts and prayers, legend has it that St. Paul was beheaded. Frustrated people of planet Earth would first have to be convinced that in certain contexts prayer changes things to consider Paul's advice, to add that workload.

If we mean what we say or not, in a nervous moment of not knowing what to say, we say, "I'll pray for you" or "I'll keep you in my thoughts." If we follow-through and lob a good thought or prayer at someone, other than one's belief that the prayer is doing good, there is no known way to check for feedback from indirect prayer. Even if the effect is a drop in the ocean, people want to hope that their thoughts and prayers are doing something.

In some experiments of indirect prayer on targets that are hidden from view, the unseen target might be weakly tagged by thought. Spindrift learned that the Associational Linkage to a target becomes stronger when the target is better understood by the prayer. The more individuals and groups know, define, and love what the target is that is prayed-for, the stronger becomes the Associational Linkage that the mind makes to tagging the target.

People say in effect that God knows where their prayer is supposed to go. Yet man and woman can also locate what is prayed-for. If we learn more about a vague target prayer is addressing, learning more forms a firmer Associational Linkage for the prayer to reach the target. Jesus asked the father of an epileptic boy if the boy's condition was acute or chronic. Jesus' question showed his humane concern, individual attention, and need of additional knowledge. (Mark 9:17.) Mrs. Eddy wrote "To know the supposed bodily belief of the patient and what has claimed to produce it, enables the practitioner to act more understandingly in destroying this belief." (Miscellaneous Writings, page 352:15.) These two examples demonstrate a form of Associational Linkage from Jesus' standpoint and Mrs. Eddy's writings.

Bruce Klingbeil failed to convey to Christian Science practitioners that in Mary Baker Eddy's day, virtually all the praying for patients was done in person. Aside from the telegraph wire used to send messages in Morse Code to people, people seeking help visited a practitioner's office or practitioners visited people's homes. Mrs. Eddy met almost all her patients in person. According to her account, patients averaged one to three visits with her. Much direct information was gained from having human contact in person.

Modern practitioners do virtually all their praying over the telephone. Telephone prayer can be indirect prayer. The human voice is a limited Associational Linkage to the patient whom the practitioner may never meet in person. With acknowledging there are exceptions, the Associational Linkage and familiarity with the patient becomes weaker over the telephone. The Klingbeils theorized that television telephones might help practitioners link a bit better to the relationship with the patient.

What about praying for the world? Can our thinking interface with the consciousness of the world? When prayer involves the sphere of the round world archetype, Spindrift theorizes that indirect prayer does transmit enough ordering-effects that help to maintain a thin veneer of order to preserve some of the worldwide concepts of home and civilization. Extreme chaos and evil would potentially dominate us, if it weren't for the collective prayers of the world's inhabitants. There is no proof for this theory of a thin veneer over evil that preserves mankind's joint real-estate of God's green Earth, but that shouldn't stop people geared-up to pray for the Earth. The premise is good to 'support' what is best for the world. World prayer desires to protect the collective sphere. Perhaps playing harmonies in music and praying for the round world is practicing prayer for ourselves. Maybe collective world prayer is expanded and evolved tribal prayer.

Mrs. Eddy wrote about the world: "EARTH. A sphere; a type of eternity and immortality, which are likewise without beginning or end. To material sense, earth is matter; to spiritual sense, it is a compound idea." (Science and Health, page 585.) Earth doesn't need man's input to bring a higher vibration as much as Earth needs to maintain Earth's vibration. Earth appreciates spiritual man to keep charging the atmosphere with sustainable protection.

When evil is funneled through the Internet. 

It's been suggested that there is a new challenge to the Earth. The sphere is now weaved into a ball called The World Wide Web. The Web is a Net of worldwide electrical synapses that is learning to mimic the brain. There are good uses of the Web. We know there are bad uses of the Web. Many cyberspace crimes encircle the globe. The Web hypnotizes and infects some people of planet Earth into the Net of the Internet to become terrorists. The point is that cyber evil on the Net or Web is contagious. Cyber evil is spreading an intrusion into the thin membrane of order that blankets the round world. The quote "A lie will go around the world while truth is still putting on its boots" has become a high-tech reality. The World Wide Web has created a challenge for people to watch and pray that "The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD." (Psalm 24:1, The Holman Christian Standard Bible.)

Here is an indirect prayer to consider: "May the Christ, not just the Web, encircle the World."

Similar to negativity on the Web or Net, negative prayer can be contagious going around the world. Clearly separate from the good Muslims praying, the religious terrorists on the Net are encouraged to show multitudes in unison in many countries directing their prayers toward the East to Mecca. These directed prayers to the East contain the desire to destroy the West. The constant whirr heard around the world amounts to connected group prayer as groupthink gone mad.

These negative prayers were indirect and semi-connected until history changed everything. The Internet directly and ubiquitously connected them all. These indirect prayers are more like directed prayers. In a sense, prayers are being bundled in the East and transmitted as directed prayers to the entire world. Imagine what negative prayers encircling collective consciousness can do? Spindrift has given laboratory examples of negative prayers doing damage to lower organisms.

John Klingbeil related negative prayer to the word spindrift. The word spindrift means disturbing waves that create water spray at sea. John said essentially, "You might suppose that one person praying a hateful thought is a subtle drop in the ocean that doesn't amount to anything. Now multiply that one person's hateful drop in the ocean by millions of people praying hateful thoughts. Now the subtle drops in the ocean have stirred up a surging storm in the ocean."'

What about a positive and good influence of subtle drops in the ocean? Apparently, enough subtle indirect prayer effects can synchronize a salutary sphere of influence. The spherical concept of 'the world' appears to be a more defined target to center in the mind than many other less concrete targets and symbols. The round world archetype and prayer for the world are conceptualized in the subconscious mind as "prayer to preserve the sphere." "God the preserver of man" operates in parallel with our prayers to preserve the sphere. Individuals, religious congregations, monks, group intenders, cloisters, watchers, prayer circles, nunneries, meditators, metaphysicians, monasteries, and abbeys contribute their collective indirect thoughts and prayers to uphold a delicate balance of order over the extreme chaos, disruption, and evil that creep into civilization.

The provisional scientific evidence of prayer could potentially provide encouragement for people to assemble their positive indirect prayers to help preserve a balance of order for the round world. Perhaps prayers being drops in the ocean won't sound so small after all.

In short, indirect and direct prayers and intentions have to do with the strength of the signals reaching the targets prayed-for. Associational Linkages can be both indirect and direct to targets. See "What is Associational Linkage? " which is Question 5 on the FAQ page here. For deeper details about mental linkage, go to this link here.

People who pray as a group are unsung stabilizers of the thin veneer that protects society. The collective influence of a group is sometimes labelled "The positive power of a mob."

Mrs. Eddy mentions indirect prayer: “Of this we may be sure: that thoughts winged with peace and love breathe a silent benediction over all the earth, cooperate with the divine power, and brood unconsciously o’er the work of His hand.” (Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896, page 152.)

Not a theory, but a prediction, John Klingbeil did extensive thinking and writing about the future uses of the Web; exspecially people who could battle each other through cyber blessing or cyber cursing. John's science fiction novel, Richard Garrett, is about direct and indirect cyber manipulations between spirituality and hypnotism. A government Special Forces group of Christly minded monks were tasked with the mission to protect national security interests with their rare qualitative thoughts. When needed, only people and monks with qualitative thoughts could gain entry and unlock top secret information stored on the holy cloud. The monks were often attacked by corporate military groups that acted like criminal gangs. The dark military gangs battled to kill monks and destroy the monks' unique qualitative abilities to protect classified government secrets. In science fiction terms, John included what are currently called The Dark Web and The Deep State which are hidden in the underbelly of the Web and society.

8. What is the Spindrift theory about how prayer works?

"I know he'd be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly." - John Denver

In our modern sophisticated society, prayer is becoming an ancient obsolete superstition or a random thought tossed around in moments of nervousness.

Some people need permission to believe outlier beliefs. People are thankful for scientific research to give them the "okay"' to believe in their crazy beliefs. Prayer is sometimes one of those "'crazy beliefs."' Atheists and Agnostics have become 20% of the American population. Many are promoting that prayer is stupid, futile, shows ignorance, and never works.

When some prayers work, how might we explain how they work? These six paragraphs below paraphrase the Klingbeils' theory about how prayer works.

Our human consciousness has a mechanism that operates on belief systems. Prayers based on our belief systems tend to push for imprints and outcomes to occur that align with held beliefs.

There is a second mechanism in human consciousness. It's an empathetic ordering-mechanism that produces patterns of order through healing, moral decisions, and seeking resolutions. This mechanism reaches out for what is potentially the best or nearest best blueprint and outcome in art, healing, business, athletics, and sometimes relationships.

In the proportion of adherence to one mechanism or the other mechanism determines the Quality patterns in our lives.

To summarize the theory: The first mechanism is driven by our beliefs and belief systems. Occasionally beliefs have Quality.

The second mechanism is Quality driven that produces patterns of order.

What is Quality? Quality can be conceptualized as the reflected Christ within human consciousness that scans for patterns of order to appear where reflection is welcomed.

The term the Klingbeils have for God is the Divine Ordering-Force. The theory of how prayer works involves the proportionality of man reflecting his own ego to get an effect or man reflecting the Divine Ordering-Force to get an effect. If the proportion is on the side of the ego, its mechanism hits a target or goal to achieve. If the proportion is on the side of the Ordering-Force, its mechanism aligns with what fits as a good, better, or best outcome.

The Divine Ordering-Force conspires to filter to us the best. If only we knew more about it. Some people do. They may or may not acknowledge it in them, but they feel the Force.

Our degree of ignorance of the operative GPS Principle blocks us from acquiring the best.

In the unconscious mind people have this GPS; a God Positioning Sensor. This GPS is difficult for people to read because it operates unconsciously and also requires the mind to be quiet to be heard. In our noise interfered civilization, it's not easy to listen without quietness. When is the last time you remember a quiet background? No quick memory emerges.

Overcoming ignorance and tuning to the ordering-directions of the GPS may be the reason we are students here on Planet Earth. The more we "'Know the Truth...that Truth will set you free."' (Jesus in John 8:32) Sometimes we have to learn to tune to the frequency of Truth to become free of ignorance. Finding the GPS frequency of Truth may involve discovering new slices of Truth. Be aware that noise, ignorance, and the ego may impede our progress.

Parables, laws, and theories don't always explain themselves too well, so in the future look for more inductive thinking and out-of-the-box theory to elucidate how prayer works.

In 1989, John Klingbeil said, "Aside from the charge a lot of us will get by seeing how the universe is really put together, I really do believe that the experiments will radically change the value system of mankind. I believe the truths illustrated by the tests will get people both to think about holiness and to understand its relationship to their well-being."

Bruce pointed out that there is information in our mind that we are unconscious of knowing. We learn the information is there and operates from the subconscious mind. The unconscious information is below the surface of the conscious mind. The unconscious mind is like a noise floor we don't hear below. Bruce Klingbeil called being conscious of the unconscious information "unknowing knowing." He explained in effect, "We need to educate ourselves to the quality and tenor of our unconscious thoughts and cultivate the holy qualities."

On the FAQ page, Question 7, point 2, has a sliding scale that describes when a prayer improves its beliefs and moves up the scale to Quality and Love. Point 4 advises about how to gain quietude through reducing noise levels.

9. What is the theory that expands the effects of Defense Mechanisms?

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." - Mark Twain

A Spindrift supporter and friend of Bruce Klingbeil wrote: "In their research, Bruce and John Klingbeil noted that after a "'mystical"' or paranormal experience, the mind began to deny what was experienced as a form of maintaining the "'reality"' we share. This article showing that the brain has areas which, when damaged, reduce inhibitions to mystical experiences, seems to support their findings." Click Mystical Experiences open a 'Door of Perception' in the Brain.

Bruce, John, and Deborah Klingbeil and the Spindrift staff hope that by following this extension of an established psychological theory will help families who are stressed by their paranormal experiences to cope with those liminal experiences. It's also hoped that investigators of the paranormal gain insights into why it is that spiritual and psychic effects evaporate so quickly when they try to pin-down the phenomena.

Spindrift expands Defense Mechanism theory from psychology to include parapsychology and prayer-a-psychology. Instead of the Law of Attraction, the Klingbeils researched what they termed the Law of Distraction.

Ever since Sigmund Freud and the intellectual search into subconscious thinking Freud launched, there has been a recognition that Defense Mechanisms in our minds are busy trying to prevent us from knowing certain things we should know about ourselves. Defense Mechanisms shut us off from knowing our own thinking sometimes, even who we are, especially when emotions get into the mix. Even individuals with personality problems are prevented from knowing what kind of people they are in comparison to so-called normal people. The shift-from-knowing oneself is an accepted dirty trick of the Defense Mechanisms.

Apparently our own Defense Mechanisms don't want us to know too much about who we are which includes knowing very much about the psychic subtleties of human consciousness. The Klingbeils proposed that no matter how real an experience seems to us, with few exceptions, dark and even protective forces in the mind (misplaced sometimes) keep us on our toes, so we always doubt our experiences a little bit or gradually dilute their significance.

Our Defense Mechanisms apparently anticipate that a discovery of our psychic capabilities would impose a responsibility on us which is scary.

The Klingbeils researched ways to track the cover-up of some psychic appearances and events choreographed by the mind's Defense Mechanisms.

What observation led to seek a theory? 

It's because seeking evidence of psychic and spiritual experiences seemed as difficult to do as catching lightning bugs in a wind storm. While observing the slippery nature of confirming a psychic experience or a spiritual healing, Bruce and John asked, "If spiritual and psychic phenomena are occurring around us all the time, why don't we notice more evidence of the phenomena more often?" Looking into the issue of a limited view, it was observed that something happens to alter the unusual experiences we have. When an unusual experience happens, at first there is a big view and sometimes a clear view. Soon some details are subtracted, or suppressed, or blown away from conscious view. People who were sure they had an exposure to a paranormal phenomenon begin to doubt it or soon deny it.

Other people felt they did have or partially remembered psychic experiences, but they were unable to describe them. If they tried to describe an experience, there arose a blockade of the facts. Inaccuracies entered in and the experience they had transformed into a dramatic story they might repeat, but the story had little relationship to what happened during the original experience. For example, when a person has a strong UFO experience, at first it's not understood, but what he experienced was real to him. Soon the person may say, "I don't want to talk about it." Later he may say, "It never happened." If the person persists it did happen, he tends to add hyperbole that blows the UFO experience into no credibility land. However, believers tend to accept stories as true.

Bruce and John Klingbeil felt a paranormal theory was important to develop to help explain why almost all psychic experiences and spiritual healings evaporate so fast or are skewed when there is an attempt to record and study them.

Here is one way to explain denial and forgetfulness: Defense Mechanisms start brushfires to burn away some convincing psychic memories.

The letters psi stand for psychic effects. Spindrift proposed that randomness may often cloud the evidence of psi being present with us.

Bruce and John Klingbeil hypothsized that during some common everyday activities that psi effects are present. To make it look not so, our Defense Mechanisms counter the psi presences with what appears to be random activities that attempt to blur and project no relationship to psi being present. Through experiments with shuffling cards, tossing dice, and checking on subtle patterns of order that were produced electronically by random number generators (called RNGs), the Klingbeils felt their novel application of mathematics pointed to a diversion from noticing psi being present by masking the presence of the psi in so-called randomness. Spindrift found it's not true randomness.

It's as if our defenses conspire, and say, "If we don't make these psi events look random to human beings, they might look deeper and notice the subtle patterns. We can't have that. If everything looks like randomness to them, we are safe, they are safe."

The Klingbeils felt they discovered a subtle order hidden in the randomness that was embedded to smooth over paranormal events. When randomness hides psi events, human beings are flummoxed or they may feel something strange happened to them. They might say, "That must have been a coincidence," but they don't directly consciously notice the psi event that happened to them.

The question investigated was about the randomness itself. First psi manifested a brief noticeable psychic effect. Then was the ensuing randomness a secondary form of psi? Yes. How was this hypothesis of there being a secondary psi followed? The hypothesis was followed by tracking the unusual behavior of mathematical number patterns that emerged in randomness to cover-up the presence of psi activity when psi emerged. First, psi appeared. Second, psi randomness appeared. (Refer to the book, The Spindrift Papers, written by John and Bruce Klingbeil, section 3 - 1, 1993.)

Do belief, neglect, and denial interfere with reviewing our experiences? 

Yes. Bruce told me that being human with Defense Mechanisms is powerful. Being human causes self-deception that skews the accuracy of telling our psychic experiences and spiritual healings. The subconscious mind affects the accuracy of gathering the scientific evidence about paranormal activities experienced by the mind.

The intervention of our minds to skew how human beings interpret their lives, which includes those unusual psychic experiences and spiritual healings, became a project that Bruce and John Klingbeil had to investigate. The project had a relationship to Mary Baker Eddy's statement: "You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being." (Science and Health, page 403.)

Why investigate defenses deceiving oneself? 

Here are five reasons why: 

Humans are story tellers. (We exaggerate stories of miraculous events.)

Humans are social beings. (We speak differently to ourselves than we do socially.)

Humans are believers. (We make psychic or healing claims, and they are believed.)

Humans are pattern seekers. (We humans seek patterns in most everything we do.)

Humans have a filtering system. (We see more information than we know consciously.)

About humans having a filtering system: what is called Neglect Research is finding out that an unconscious process neglects or rejects lots of information that is picked up by all the senses and sent to the brain. We humans neglect most incoming information to get at the information we need.

It's believed that autistic children don't have filters. The onslaught of sensory information isn't selective with autism, so everything is coming at them as chaos. Autistic children struggle to decipher one piece of information from another piece of information. It's hypothesized by some researchers that autistic children are effective psychics because they don't filter the phenomena coming at them.

Possibly neglect is used by the Defense Mechanisms. It could be that most psychic and spiritual phenomena are neglected and filtered out before people are consciously aware of the phenomena. Spindrift proposes that Defense Mechanisms filter and neglect most psychic and spiritual experiences. The result is that human beings either can't remember they had an experience or they remember inaccurately. Defense Mechanisms don't mind that human beings remember inaccurate paranormal experiences because inaccurate experiences are self-deceiving lies and cannot be proven as true experiences.

The neurological process for orchestrating what information gets through to our conscious-awareness is called Neural Correlates of Consciousness. "These NCCs summarize for the conscious mind the information entering the eyes, skin, ears, nose, and so on.... Rightly or wrongly, NCCs [in cooperation with Defense Mechanisms] may decide that psychic phenomena are too noisy and confusing for a human being to experience regularly.... Dr. Charles Tart said, 'If an angel holding a triangle is standing in your garden, all you will see is the triangle.' To me, that angel is an illustration of how a paranormal phenomenon can happen right in front of your eyes but is covered-up so we can't see it." (From A Journey Into Prayer: Pioneers of Prayer in the Laboratory: Agents of Science or Satan?, pages 54 - 55.)

Apparently being human affects the accuracy of our testimony for documenting spiritual healings or psychic events that we have witnessed or experienced. The tendency is to either twist our experiences into mystical events or to reject them. If the scientists of the future can find a way to monitor the manipulations made by neglect and the Defense Mechanisms, this tool should prosper the investigation of psychic and prayer phenomena.

What about believers who are convinced they experienced something different but real and tell people about their psychic experience or spiritual healing? 

If a testifier doesn't mind looking foolish to other people, the Defense Mechanisms can still gamble on the embellishing tendency of the testifier's mind to subtly change the details of his experience. Then credibility becomes an issue. The true details get colored and derailed. The true story becomes an untrue account causing doubt and sometimes fear or embarrassment when recollected. If an experiencer doesn't sway from telling his or her story, mental health issues might be claimed about him to undermind him.

Extreme experiences are known to bring on paranormal and mystical moments. Losing a friend or relative has occasioned angelic and paranormal incidents. After an accident, several regular folks have stretched away from their bodies and risen above the scene where they eyeballed the scene through floating around the scene. During the stresses and extremes of war, soldiers have reluctantly reported paranormal and odd moments. Many soldiers won't talk about the extremes of war or their sublime and strange paranormal interventions.

A paranormal experience is never more true and accurate than immediately after the experience. Soon the experience starts to morph and changes from being true to being peppered with exaggerations, lies, or denials. The Defense Mechanisms have done their job.

When a person has a spiritual or psychic experience, he or she should immediately write down what happened. Why? The story will immediately start to change when the Defense Mechanisms get a claw on it. Our Defense Mechanisms, DMs for short, edit what actually happens during a psychic experience. DMs hack memories. The DMs twist the facts, so observers can't get a handle on what originally happened.

These DMs create a false witness who no longer can accurately convey the psychic or spiritual experience to anyone else. If continuing to persist he had a psychic experience, this person will likely lose friends, be marginalized by society, and find he experiences a new set of psychological and social problems that ruin his previously normal life.

An exception to losing friends and credibility occurs when the person speaking about his or her unusual experiences has a high status in society. High social status and charisma seem to make some people overlook odd psychic beliefs and behaviors that people otherwise would never indulge. For years after basket ball player Magic Johnson contracted Aids, women continued to go to him for sex. That's the effect of status, charisma, and celebrity. (05/13/14)

About the word "Status" and tolerating psychic beliefs, see Question 8 on Spindrift's FAQ page.

Could Defense Mechanisms sometimes be our entity-filled minds at work?

Perhaps there is a Matrix that covers up spiritual reality, so we don't perceive it clearly. Spindrift adds, "Maybe some of the Men in Black are these DMs working in our own minds?"

Spindrift hears from people who express that they are bothered by dark entities, demons, Arcons, Djinns, ghosts from their past. Oppositely, Spindrift hears the more accepted psychology that people with addictions go into denial and excuses about what they have experienced. Defense Mechanism Theory doesn't exclude different types of intruders, but to be taken seriously by the scientific community, a psychological theory which includes a dose of Trickster overtones is a good beginning.

A preacher said, "Satan is a Trickster. The Devil is a hitman." The theory that there is an interference which skews the mind from comphrending some paranormal and spiritual insights should gain weight as the theory and evidence become acceptable to science.

To summarize: Bruce and John asked if it's possible that there are Defense Mechanisms of the mind which keep us from knowing that a vast interaction of the mind and the environment is going on continually? Yes. Is there a Law of Distraction that keeps us human beings away from clearly seeing paranormal phenomena (psi), some of which we did see or experience? Yes. There is a subconscious Law of Distraction. Bruce speculated that our Defense Mechanisms "'limit the view"' of our spiritual and psychic natures and our psychic abilities. The co-founders of Spindrift worked on ways to show the DMs at work to get us human beings to forget our psychic memories.

If Defense Mechanisms manipulate psi (psychic phenomena), does Spindrift have any speculations why the mind does this manipulation of psi?

Yes. The following items are speculations about why the mind first recognizes psi or psychic phenomena happening around us. Then when we recognize the psi phenomnea, our mind hides the evidence from us.

A committee of defense mechanisms anticipate that our psychic and spiritual natures might be too frightening for us human beings to discover. So we are "'defended"' and kept safe by our defense mechanisms so we don't find out too much information about our nonlocal natures. The Klingbeils wrote, "'The fact that our minds operate to conceal from us our own natures is thought provoking."'

Our defense mechanisms push us to maintain "'the status quo"' about how we see life around us. Why? So we human beings continue thinking of ourselves as exclusively biological, not as consciousness-beings with a spiritual core. Apparently defense mechanisms guard their turf--our unconscious minds. The unconscious mind constitutes the door to our psychic-consciousness realm. By guarding the door, our defense mechanisms can remain hidden and not let us detect how they function in our lives. Thus a version of mental self-sabotage takes place. One benefit might be that by being denied access to our psychic natures, we human beings can focus on survival that includes our work and taking care of our families. We would be free of distraction by a noisy constant bombardment of mental phenomena.

Our defense mechanisms might worry that once we biological human beings start to notice psychic phenomena, psi-abilities and prayer-effects in our every day conscious life, not only are our defense mechanisms and psychic natures exposed, but "'How do you keep them down on the farm, once (we humans) have seen Paree?"' The defense strategy is to rarely slip-up and let "'Paree"' through, that is psychic events to be noticed by our conscious minds.

What if defense mechanisms slip-up and permit a psychic event to get through to the conscious mind of a person? The defense mechanisms can still gamble on a person's desire "'not to be made into a fool"' to keep him from telling many people. In cases where a human being witnesses an extraordinary event, over time he may choose to consciously suppress or unconsciously repress the psychic or spiritual experience. Why? So his friends won't think he is mentally unstable and foolish to believe the psychic experience actually happened.

The author has friends who repeated their psychic and or spiritual experiences and healings, but much later said they never told me they had any such experience, or I made it up, or they forgot the experience, or they wished they could forget it happened, or the story I repeated to them didn't represent what happened.

There are also people who had unusual good or bad personal or psychic experiences in their lives, but they never mentioned them for years, even to a spouse. They may be able to tell a stranger what happened to them, but not often tell anyone close to them.

Most people understand that failures to heal and psychic failures create doubt that human beings ever experience any 'genuine' paranormal phenomena. The skeptics belief is that there is no distance in prayer or psi. Skeptics, doubters, and our defences heap these failures on us as proof that anything paranormal is fantasy. Our friends and families often let us know that we are foolish to be interested in religious and psychic phenomena. Occasionally, we experience paranormal phenomena that successfully sprints past our Defense Mechanisms to our conscious minds.

Those DMs are unconscious trickster saboteurs of conscious recollection.

For people who like a theological bent, one could think of some defense mechanisms as demons and tricksters in our minds. These demons operate as a committee to decide what tastes, sights, and sounds should constitute reality for a human being. Consider the following quotes.

U.S. News & World Report, January 13, 1997, p. 59:

The human senses detect only a fraction of reality: We can't see the ultraviolet markers that guide a honeybee to nectar; we can't hear most of the noises emitted by a dolphin. In this way, the senses define the boundaries of mental awareness. But the brain also defines the limit of what we perceive. Human beings see, feel, taste, touch and smell not the world around them but a version of the world, one their brains have concocted. 'People imagine that they're seeing what's really there, but they're not,' says neuroscientist John Maunsell....

Author Upton Sinclaire wrote a book on psychic experiments done with his wife, Mary Craig. The book is Mental Radio. The Preface is written by Dr. Albert Einstein. On page 4 Upton Sinclaire writes the following which indicates the defense mechanisms of his own mind trying to dismiss his belief in telepathy.

The evidence in support of telepathy came to seem to me conclusive, yet it never quite became real to me. The consequences of belief would be so tremendous, the changes it would make in my view of the universe so revolutionary, that I didn't believe, even when I said I did.

On page 38 of Russell Targ's and Dr. Jane Katra's book on psychic and healing experiments, Miracles of Mind, is the following about telepathic remote viewing experiments.

When an influential scientist, a vice-president of Hewlett-Packard, eventually had an opportunity to review the data..., he wrote, "This is the kind of thing that I wouldn't believe, even if it were true!"

On page 67, Russel Targ writes:

Surprise questions of a participant in a remote viewing test often elicits psychic data for the following reason. The remote viewer's perception appears to be mobile, and can shift rapidly with such questions. It is as though the data comes through before the viewer's defenses can activate to block it out.

* Based on theories and tests of how our mind's micro management of thought and randomness affects the conscious awareness of psychic experiences, the Klingbeils wrote a scientific paper called Cards, Dice, and Defense Mechanisms. This paper is on file at Spindrift and it is published in The Journal of the United States Psychotronics Association, Summer, 1990.

* More on how the subtle psychic saboteurs in our minds cover-up the noticeable evidence of psychic activity in our conscious world can be found in the book, The Spindrift Papers, written by John and Bruce Klingbeil, 1993, privately published, 396 pages. The Spindrift Papers details many of the prayer-to-plants and parapsychology tests conducted by the Klingbeils. There is a copy of the book on the Documents page.

10. What is the gradation of thought theory?

"'The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food."' (Job 34:3.)

The words we use indicate what is understood and conveyed by our thinking and praying.

"Human thoughts have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are better than others." (Science and Health, page 297.) The following words describe comparisons of thoughts as having gradations.

Spiritual Science and Natural Science involve the human mind moving from ignorance to understanding and demonstration. Natural scientists often proceed on hunches and intuitions. Notice that the word intuition is first in Mrs. Eddy's list next. She writes in a positive ascending order that our "'Spiritual sense...involves intuition, hope, faith, fruition, reality."' (Ibid., page 298.) A basic level of our subterranean mind is intuition.

The words listed above are all positive words. Normally, the word belief would be between the words hope and faith. Mrs. Eddy doesn't think of the word belief as precisely a positive or divine word. "'Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is a chrysalis state [a transitional state] of human thought, in which spiritual evidence...begins to appear.... A belief in Truth is better than a belief in error, but no mortal testimony is founded on the divine rock.... Until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has little relation to the actual or divine.... Life, Truth, and Love...dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding."' (Ibid., pages 297 and 298.) When your faith is right, you tend to do what is right.

Beyond belief is faith. "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham...." (Romans 4:16, NIV.)

Jesus' allusion to move a mountain by faith is an Eastern hyperbole about the potential of a little faith put into action to move mountains. (Matthew 17:20.) If it were in God's will to move a mountain, the potential is there: "Greater works than these shall he [we] do." (John 14:12.) Mostly the mountain stands for a mountain of difficulties that can be moved away by the power of faith.

Through the power of belief, a human being can be addicted to placebos and mob beliefs. It's murky to find what is true and false based on beliefs based on mob beliefs. A belief may not have a relationship to what is true. Beliefs can be uninformed beliefs. Beliefs can be untethered to truth. In contrast, "'Know the truth, and the truth will set you free"' implies faith to know, understand, and demonstrate what is true." (John 8:32.) We can believe anything, but we can know the truth.

Where does the popular word intention fall in the list above? The answer can be found by answering this question: Do you have faith in your intention? If yes, then intention goes between belief and faith as in belief, intention, faith.

Intention is driven by positive or negative, wide or narrow, good or bad beliefs. The who, what, where, why, and when that drive an intention depend on the beliefs that direct the intention. "Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine." (Science and Health, page 213.)

The words "intuition, hope, faith, fruition, reality" stand on their own. The power behind those words is independent of who, what, where, why, and when. They are not directly dependent on belief and intention.

Words have power. In Mrs. Eddy's lineup above, our human consciousness scales up through positive transitional states which gradually finds demonstrations of Truth in human circumstances.

"If you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abe Lincoln

The more we pay attention to the words we choose, the better for us. The idea is to not let many disruptive words interfere with our attempts to do the right thing in behavior and prayer. "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love to talk will have to eat their words." (Proverbs 18:21, God's Word Translation.) Another translation has: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and he that loves it will eat from its fruit." (Aramaic Bible in Plain English.)

Sermons often refer to this verse from Proverbs to warn against a foul mouth and hurting ourselves and others with words.

Words can indicate thought vectors of direction and power.

11. What is the Law of the Conceptual Whole Theory?

"The whole is greater than the parts."

The theory of wholeness explains the law of quantity that operates for a large number of targets being prayed-for as a group at the same time.

I asked John Klingbeil about the Spindrift wholeness theory: "Praying for one person, one project, or one plant at a time is easy to do and conceive. What about praying for many targets at the same time?" John explained the law that he and his dad derived from experience. John said in effect, "Focusing on the oneness for the many is how the Law of the Conceptual Whole operates best. When conceiving of a situation that has many parts, try to see them as one, as one in God's creation."

At another time, John said in essence, "Conceive the many targets as one conceptual whole."

It tends to be easier for a picture in the mind to see the trees for the forest rather than the forest for the trees. That is, it's easier to see a tree. The wholeness theory suggests to "See the forest" when praying for the many trees. Step back from seeing the trees and see the forest. See the wider perspective of many patients as a single patient, a single focus.

John said the following about the Spindrift yeast test. "We are praying with love and support for the identities of the yeast cells as a whole group. This praying for the whole group as a unit is applying The Law of the Conceptual Whole. The more you can think of the thousands of yeast cells as a single unit--a conceptual whole--the more easily you can conceptualize the pot of yeast cells in your prayers."'

John wrote the following in one of his books. "'In praying for a person, the effect of spiritual healing is not related to the number of cells in the body.... Thus...comparing various tests, one notices that there is no loss of effect...as long as one can conceive of the ‘patient' as a conceptual whole."' (The Quiet Revolution, 1980, pages 76 - 78.)

Praying for many as one could be conceptualized this way: Prayer stabilizes the norms of a system. By extension, prayer could potentially stabilize a larger eco-system conceived of as the whole patient.

A helpful sentence by Mrs. Eddy is "Love is the Principle of unity." (Miscellaneous Writings, page 117.)

Spindrift is a fresh look at "Observe how the lilies of the field grow." (Matthew 6:28, New American Standard.)

Farmers and others have prayed for the protection of crops in bad weather and for the protection of crops to grow with little resistance. Praying for a farmer's field of corn, berries, or soybeans etc. that have hundreds of thousands of plant seeds involves The Law of the Conceptual Whole field as one patient. Find some examples of fields of crops prayed-for at the bottom of the Experiments page.

The Law of the Conceptual Whole is one of four laws of consciousness derived by John and Bruce Klingbeil. You can find the equations for these laws on the Links page and on the Founder's page.

In the future, expect more discoveries about how one should address the many as one in individual and group prayers and intentions.

What about praying for the planet Earth? Conceiving a complex set of targets as one united whole helps envision when praying for the whole world. See theory 7, the theory of indirect prayer, above on this page.

Here is an outline of some of the Klingbeils' preliminary discoveries as contributions to science and religion.

Evidence that both goal-directed thought and non goal-directed thought exist in human consciousness.

A.  The strength of focus on a situation is proportional to our associational linkage to what is prayed for.

B.  The prayer's non goal-directed strength of holiness is proportional to the degree of qualitative compassion and love it conveys.

C.  The prayer's goal-directed strength of faith usually produces more means bigger, and bigger is better as a result versus producing an effective match to the needs of the situation.

      1. The Klingbeils postulated that the western cultural bias of presumably "bigger is better" influences our unconscious human faith to produce a larger sized effect. That our human faith can produce a larger effect may help to explain why goal-directed thought, expectation, and the placebo effect often produce an immediate conscious healing response recognized by a healee.

       2. In contrast to human faith healing effects, qualitative or quality healing effects are usually more subtle. Quality effects reference, fit, and fix a situation, not a size. Quality effects are synonymous with "ordering-effects." The subtle organizing of a situation by quality effects often means that it takes longer for a healee to consciously recognize that a healing has taken place.

       3. With non goal-directed quality effects, a return to a natural healing balance occurs. Often an increasing sense of natural balance is not as impressive for a healee to experience as an immediate large sized effect produced by human faith.

       4. The Spindrift researchers were first to introduce tests showing that people have an unconscious or conscious preference for either goal-directed thought or non goal-directed thought.

Evidence that some subtle actions of consciousness in healing experiments are meaningful links between science, theology, and medicine.

Qualitative thought is organizing thought that deploys quality as "ordering-effects" that are quantifiable. Qualitative thought is the organizing force fuelling non goal-directed thought. This quality thought promotes and supports what is closest to normal for the circumstances.

When this quality thought deploys a pattern, a relationship between quality and quantity emerges which means the pattern can be measured.

Evidence of a nonlocal spiritual information base the Klingbeils called the "'ordering-force."'

The ordering-force is called upon by non goal-directed thought in human consciousness.

The ordering-force identifies the norms, the normal healthy state, of the object of prayer.

The ordering-force promotes the norms that are best for each person, place, or thing prayed for. (The ordering-force references a matrix of order for the context beyond what a person knows.)

Preliminary evidence and theory to help explain how our psychic and spiritual experiences disappear from our conscious awareness or an accurate account of our experiences soon become inaccurate accounts.

Our own minds prevent us from finding out about our scary psychic consciousness abilities.

First, a proactive perceptive psychic force in our mind goes to work that we may notice as an experience.

Second, an antagonistic defense mechanism goes to work to hide what happened from us. "DMs" is short to describe defense mechanisms.

A series of defense mechanisms, DMs, in the mind block off or inhibit expressions of psychic activity. Defense mechanisms may see their job as keeping psychic occurrences way in the background, so life appears to a human being as "'business as usual."' If a psychic or spiritual experience is remembered, defense mechanisms try to downplay them and often make the believer of the experience feel foolish. When the DMs skew the accuracy of what happened, the memory of a paranormal experience has become clouded and doubted.

When a person's belief system is challenged by a peculiar event, the defense mechanisms may jump in to belittle and brush off the event as a coincidence, not a psychic or spiritual experience. A person apparently has to reject a psychic event or change his belief system.

Even for a believer of spiritual healing and psychic phenomena, though he includes the spiritual and psychic in his belief system, if an event happens that is outside of his culturally selective acceptance of psychic experience, then his mind tends to reject it as too extreme.