PARADE, the magazine-like Sunday insert in the L.A. Times, put out this query, with answers to be delivered to the president after the election:

What’s on your to-do list for the next president? Click here to tell us, and we’ll send your advice to the White House!  

Here’s what I wrote:

Try to harness the power of collective thought, where the winner of the election asks everyone to spend a minute in silence, at a designated time each day, to focus on the world being peaceful.

Here are two instances that speak to there being real power for the good in such focusing of collective thought.

 1. During World War II, “the idea of a daily moment of united prayer and silence was born, now known as the Silent Minute, and signaled by the chiming and striking of Bib Ben at nine each evening,” when people “were asked to devote one minute of their time  to pray for peace and to create a channel between the visible and the invisible worlds through which divine help and inspiration could be received.” “Soon after the end of hostilities in Europe, in 1945, a British Intelligence Officer, whilst interrogating high Nazi officials, asked one of them why he thought Germany had lost the war. This was the reply. ‘During the war you had a secret weapon for which we could find no counter-measure and which we did not understand, but it was very powerful…I believe you called it the Silent Minute.’” The idea, widely held at the time, was that this practice had prevented the invasion of Britain. (From a booklet about the man responsible for this silent minute, entitled, WELLESLEY TUDOR POLE: Appreciation & Valuation.)

2. There are scientific studies that attest to the power of collective thought. See this project, based on the idea that “the healing intention of one person can have a positive effect on another who is at a distance,” from the Institute of Noetic Sciences, founded by astronaut and 6th man to walk on the moon, Edgar Mitchell: . “Over the past thirty years, significant scientific research has been conducted on the potential effectiveness and value of distant healing practices. The practice of distant healing is drawing increased attention as an important component of integral medicine models that blend a range of approaches to health and healing. Many leading health professionals and spiritual leaders believe distant healing practices may significantly expand the capacity to facilitate healing.” “Scientific research projects have studied the effect of distant healing on a numerous disease states, including heart disease, AIDS, cancer, bacterial infections and recovery from surgery…does enhance the healing process across a broad range of disease states.”

One of the speculations of historians is that thought and perhaps sound gave us the pyramids. Our mechanistic culture has cut us off from what is in the ethers, if you will, beyond what can be put under a microscope. Why not try what perhaps our ancestors knew that we have forgotten? Worse that can happen is nothing, while the positive effects could not only achieve specific desired results, but could establish a whole new human capacity.

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