Electric Universe - the Human Story
A report on a conference exploring the electrical nature of reality held in Las Vegas 6-8 Jan, 2012
by Mintze Van der Velde
The Thunderbolts conference, "Electric Universe - the Human Story" was organised from 6 – 8 January 2012 in the USA as the first of a series of annual conferences. We all know that the theosophical literature as well as the books of Alice Bailey emphasise the electric and magnetic nature of the whole universe, be it an atom, a plant, an animal, a human being, a planet, a star or a galaxy. Regular science, ranging from biology, chemistry, geology, medicine, physics, astronomy to the human sciences, for largely historical reasons still does not recognise these basic facts. In her book "The Reappearance of the Christ," p185 Alice Bailey reminds us:
| "Through the impression and expression of certain great ideas, men everywhere must be brought to the understanding of the fundamental ideals which will govern the new age. This is the major task of the New Group of World Servers." |
This is exactly what the Thunderbolts conference was contributing to. More than 180 people from all walks of life, from all corners of the planet, from different religious, social, scientific and political background, came together, united by one common factor: the electric nature of the universe. There were scientists, businessmen, artists, writers, press people, professors and laymen. People with widely varying backgrounds, who would otherwise never know of each other or talk to each other, exchanged ideas, not to convince "the other" of this or that view or political or religious opinion, but to highlight the electrical nature of so many phenomena, not only in the sky, but also here on earth, and even in the home. As such, it was a beautiful and encouraging instance of group work.
Space does not allow for a review of all the talks contributed to the conference, so just a small selection is offered here.
Wallace Thornhill gave a very complete review of the cosmology based on the primacy of the electric force in nature, rather than gravity-only cosmology. He clearly urged science to focus on real physics, i.e. physics one can experiment with in the laboratory, rather than the beauty of mathematical formulae, which despite their beauty simply cannot be verified by laboratory experiments here on Earth. In its appeal to direct evidence and common sense, the electric universe paradigm requires a broad field of view: the human story cannot be excluded.
David Talbott contributed his part to the human story by focussing on the striking similarities which can be found between mythological symbolism and plasma discharge patterns in the sky. He also questioned whether the promise of science has been fulfilled, since, many centuries ago, ancient myths gave way to its steady predominance. Has it kept its promise, or has it fallen into dogma and self-serving politics? David Talbott suggested a third story, one that is possible only in the Electric Universe.
Prof. Gerald Pollack from the University of Washington gave a mind expanding talk on the Role of Water in the Electric Body. If you always thought of water as the liquid H2O coming from the tap, after this talk you would think differently. The role of water is central in understanding how biological systems work. 99% of our body is comprised of water molecules. At the interface of cellular material these water molecules become a highly structured liquid crystal medium. This liquid crystal carries charge and is in dynamic relationship to the charge of tissue in the body and the electromagnetic energy in the environment we live in. In terminology understandable for the layman, professor Pollack tackled questions like "How does a cloud stay in the sky?"
Prof. Donald Scott, a retired professor of electrical engineering, gave a very instructive talk on a puzzling property of the Sun, namely, the observed variations of solar activity. Astronomers have no idea what causes the fluctuations in the solar wind. Professor Scott described in a simple model the analogy of a solid-state transistor and observed solar activity. Prof. Scott stressed that this model does not imply that the Sun is a transistor, but the similarities of what happens at the surface of the Sun and inside a transistor are striking.
Dr. James L. Oschman, spoke on the theme: Human Metabolism Meets Cosmic Metabolism, and touched upon the electric circuits of the human body which regulate virtually every physiological process. The flows of electrons and other charged particles in these circuits give rise to biomagnetic fields that radiate from the body and interact with the fields of earth as well as lunar, solar, interplanetary and interstellar fields.
Finally, Dr. James Ryder talked about the Surprising Results of the IBEX Experiment, a mission to image the edge of our solar system and study the global interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium. Instead of the expected spherical structure, the experimental data showed a very dynamic ‘ribbon’ of bright energy with varying strength and location on a monthly time scale.
The above are only a selection of the speakers. Yet all of the speakers were both inspired and inspiring. Of course the focus of the conference was rather scientific, but in the corridors and at private meetings many topics beyond the strictly scientific were discussed. Perhaps some of the speakers may have been inspired by the words of the Tibetan, which he wrote in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p714:
| "If this treatise serves no other purpose than to direct the attention of the scientific and philosophic students to the study of force or energy in man and in groups, and to interpret man and the human family in terms of electrical phenomena, much good will have been accomplished. The polarity of a man, of a group, and of a congery of groups, the polarity of the planets and their relationship to each other and to the Sun, the polarity of the solar system and its relationship to other systems, the polarity of one plane to another, and of one principle to another, the polarity of the subtler vehicles, and the scientific application of the laws of electricity to the totality of existence on the physical plane will bring about a revolution upon the planet second only to that effected at the time of individualisation. " |