How We Evoke Our Reality

By William Frank Diedrich

Imagine a live cat placed in a box with solid walls. A device is set to trigger the release of either poison or nourishment. The probability of either occurring is equal. Time passes and the cat meets its fate.

Physicist Erwin Schroedinger designed this thought experiment back in 1935. The question is: “Is the cat alive or dead?” Schroedinger said that the cat is both alive and dead until the moment we observe it. Before we look, the cat exists as probabilities. Our curiosity determines its fate.

Probably most of us would say that it doesn’t matter what we think. The cat is either alive or dead regardless. But this logic misses the point of the experiment. In the quantum physics world an electron is both a wave and a particle until the physicist observes it. Once observed, the electron collapses into either a wave or a particle depending on what the physicist is testing for. The electron seems to “know” the mind of the observer and acts in a way that matches the physicist’s expectation.

It seems that in the quantum world the act of looking for certain information evokes the very information we are looking for. At the same time, other probabilities go unobserved. The cat in the box metaphor is no more strange than the “reality” that physicists discovered. Electrons do not circle around in neat little orbits, but are described as a blur of probabilities.

Schrodinger’s thought experiment humorously said that the oddities and uncertainties of the quantum world were not so easily applied to the world at large. As I began playing with Schroedinger’s cat in my mind, I found the world to be filled with cats in boxes. Every situation, every relationship and every person is like a box waiting to be opened. We develop expectations based on our beliefs and experiences. We frame our observations with our expectations. We tend to get the information we are looking for. But are we getting the information or are we evoking it?

Every person we meet has many probabilities, yet when we determine who they are, be it lazy, helpful, bad, or good, aren’t we evoking the traits we have ascribed to that person? If I see a person as selfish, won’t my way of being with that person serve to evoke more selfishness from him?
I believe it is fair to say this “selfish” person has other possibilities within himself. When a selfish act occurs I can say: “This is only one of his probabilities. What others might I find if I looked?” Might I assume that somewhere in this man is a person who wants to care? Can I speak to that possibility?

In Metaphysics we also evoke our reality. The Bible says that we reap what we sow and that it is done unto us as we believe. A Course In Miracles states: “Everything you see is the result of your thoughts. There is no exception to this fact.” The Buddha said, “With our thoughts we make our world.”  Metaphysics says that we attract what is in our lives by our thinking. This is the Universal Law of Cause and Effect. Ask and it is Given.

Whether I need money, wellness, or a loving relationship, if I have asked, it is given to me. I don’t create it any more than a physicist creates atoms. The Universe does that. I evoke it. I am always asking for what I want by my thoughts, beliefs and emotions. I may ask for a loving partner in the morning, but I feel depressed by lunchtime because I don’t have her yet.

The moment I asked, the Universe created it for me. The moment I began lamenting my loneliness, I started pushing it away. My lonely thoughts and depressed feelings evoke more loneliness. I have looked into my little box that contains my love life and pronounced it dead. My observation and judgment have eliminated all other probabilities.

My feelings tell me what I am evoking. If I feel ashamed, my shame evokes more opportunities to feel shame. If I feel joyful, my joy evokes joy in others. It evokes experiences and opportunities reflecting my joy.

Physicists discovered that atomic particles responded to the observer in experiments, and that the Universe was not something you could step outside of and observe. We live in a participative Universe where we are not observers of reality but participants in reality. Schroedinger said, “I don’t like it and I‚m sorry I ever had any to do with it.”

Like Schroedinger, most of us are resistant to taking responsibility for the reality we evoke. It seems easier if it is someone or something else doing it to us. But what if it isn‚t someone or something else? What if it is you evoking one of your many probabilities? And what if you could choose another probability? What if you could shift your focus from what you don’t want and who you are blaming to what you truly want? What miracles, what other probabilities are awaiting your shift in perception?

Instead of praying that situations be changed, perhaps we should pray that our minds be changed. We might pray to see ourselves, others, and the world as God sees it—with unconditional love, with acceptance, and with gratitude. We can pray to see the perfection in self, others, and in our situations. Our prayerful thoughts then serve to evoke the vision of the prayer.

Now the cat is out of the box. The reality you are expressing is the one you are evoking. We live in a Universe filled with probabilities. We can look at the past and the present to judge the future. or, we can design a new future in our minds. It already exists. It is our thinking and feeling that evokes it into manifestation. What is your vision for yourself? Can you envision more joy and feel it, too? As you spend more time feeling good, feeling joyful, your vision will evoke new conditions in your life. We can look into the box containing our life and see the potential for something greater. Our intention determines our fate.

William Frank Diedrich is a speaker, consultant, and the author of three books. For information on speaking and his online classes go to www.transformativepress.com or www.noblaming.com.