Blog #4

Having finished “The Field,” I won’t deny that it presents some very interesting ideas. From the start I was interested in the ZPF, that constant source of energy, and my attention was held all the way though to the ending. However, as I was reading the earlier chapters I kept asking myself, “what’s the practical purpose to these ideas?” Sure, it’s exciting to think we can change the number of heads and tails within a machine, but how does it play into real life? The answer finally came in chapters 11 and 12.

Chapter 11 might possibly have been the most exciting chapter of the book. In an earlier chapter, when McTaggert wrote about more ordered people helping disorganized people become reorganized, I thought about it in relation to prayer and intercession. It makes sense to me that someone might be disorganized (sick) and a more organized person could help them become better through prayer. I didn’t get the chance to bring this up in last week’s blog or class discussion, but I was very pleased when I saw this idea come through in Chapter 11. In this chapter it was explained that by performing some sort of intercession “the healers were dramatically contributing to the physical and psychological well-being of their patients” (192). I could see that the ideas presented earlier in the book actually did have a practical purpose.

Likewise, chapter 12 displayed some practical uses to the ideas presented earlier in the book. For example, very early in the book it was explained how the ZPF is a constant source of energy and is possibly the source of our consciousness too. Chapter 12 then explained the ways in which there is a collective consciousness within groups, especially when all the members are focused on a shared goal. In this way I can see how people working together in a group is simply a practical use or channeling of the ZPF. Indeed, what if we were to combine the ideas of chapter 11 and 12? If one specific healer could have an impact on the patient, how much more of an impact could a group of healers have?

People used to say it was impossible to reach the moon. Likewise, there is a lot of skepticism surrounding the ideas presented within “The Field.” I, as are probably many people in the class, am still skeptical, but I do like to see some of the ideas being put to practical use. Who knows? Maybe some day future generations will be talking about the “foolish old people” who didn’t believe what could happen through the ZPF. It wouldn’t be the first time the “impossible” had been proven possible.