Dr. Imants Barušs studies concepts often relegated as intangible or unscientific. One hears talk of human “energy fields,” the human consciousness affecting other people, and other such phenomena, but in exploring them one may ask: how much of it is imagined, and how much really exists?
While Dr. Barušs, a psychology professor at King’s University College affiliated with the University of Western Ontario, does not comprehensively or definitively answer such queries, his recent research starts to draw the matter into focus. He led the writing of a paper titled “Alterations of Consciousness at a Self-Development Seminar: A Matrix Energetics Seminar Survey,” published in 2014 in the Journal of Consciousness Exploration Research.
Remote Influencing
In two experiments, Barušs directed his thoughts at people from afar to see if those people could feel anything. These experiments were detailed in chapter three of his book ”The Impossible Happens“ and were mentioned in the current paper. He focused on the effect these thoughts had on subjects’ energy levels—whether they felt more energized or more fatigued than usual.He tested 37 participants, arranging times with them via email during which he would conduct these sessions. The participants would ensure they were not driving at these times, and they would also monitor how they felt at the time. Barušs flipped a coin at the beginning of each session to determine randomly whether he would perform remote influencing or do nothing.
He also monitored his own level of concentration and “the depth of his altered state of consciousness.” It seems when the depth of his altered state was greater, the participants were more likely to feel fatigued. He found it probable that the remote influencing had an effect on the participants—his result was p < .05, which means it is less than 5 percent likely that their change in energy level was due to chance rather than his influence; in other words, it is more than 95 percent likely he had an influence on their energy state.
Matrix Energetics
Matrix Energetics is a practice in which one person affects another with intention. Barušs summarized some of the effects as detailed by another researcher, Jos Marlowe at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology: “Participants sometimes experience various somatic sensations, including falling down, and that reality has become more plastic so that improbable events are more likely to occur, such as the spontaneous remission of disease.“All of these events should be more carefully examined, and we try to make a beginning at doing so in this study.”
His experiments were conducted at a Matrix Energetics conference in Philadelphia in 2012. These became the main focus of his paper. A variety of participants were involved, from healthcare professionals to engineers to gas station attendants. For the majority, it was their first time working with Matrix Energetics.
Barušs and his fellow researchers had the participants fill out surveys before the seminar, right after the experience, and two months later, to see what short-term and long-term effects were reported regarding physical and mental health. He used some standard psychology tests to assess their mental and emotional states. He also used the RAND 36-Item Health Survey, a standard measure for physical and emotional health in medical research.
According to the follow-up survey results, the overall health of participants improved in the long term. Again, Barušs advised caution in interpreting the results. He said some people whose health didn’t improve may not have participated in the follow-up survey, as not all participants in the study responded. It is also possible those whose health improved could have taken other measures to become healthier and the improvement may not be a direct result of the Matrix Energetics.
Could it Be Like Hypnosis?
When one person seemingly influences another in such ways, it begs the question, what may be happening on a subconscious level? Is this similar to hypnosis?Behaviors during Matrix Energetics seminars are comparable to those during hypnosis, Barušs said. He said the behavior of those undergoing healing in Pentecostal services may be included in the comparison: “The mechanism is not known for any of these.”
The definition of hypnosis generally used by researchers is vague, Barušs explained: “Hypnosis researchers cannot agree on a definition of hypnosis. The closest that they come to agreement is to say that hypnosis is whatever it is that is happening in situations that have been labeled as hypnosis.”
People who are highly susceptible to hypnosis fall into a few categories: “the positively set, the fantasy prone, and the amnesia prone.”
In the case of Matrix Energetics or remote influencing, a person might actively decide to remain influenced, in which case he or she could belong to the “positively set” category.
Barušs said that attributing these phenomena to “hypnosis is not an explanation but a re-labeling,” and further investigation should be done to uncover an explanation.
This was discussed by researchers prior to the study. They did not find evidence throughout the study that hypnosis was what was happening at the seminar; the study was not designed to determine this. It is true: what happens at Matrix Energetics seminars can look like hypnosis, Barušs said. But further study would be required to determine the relationship between the two.
