Introduction
The materialist standpoint of orthodox science and the continued predominance of the energy-denying Newtonian worldview continue to influence the hotel industry very strongly. As a result, the pervasive guest experience concept is mechanistic and non-energetic. However, now we know that we do not live in a solid matter universe; that everything in the universe is made of energy and exists because of vibrating energy; and that human consciousness affects the world around us. In other words, the hotel industry is organised according to obsolete science, and on a worldview, paradigms, and concepts, which stem from this obsolete science.
Some of the Elements of Consciousness
To keep it simple, human consciousness is the state of being awake, thinking, and knowing and aware of what is happening around you. Here are the main elements of consciousness:
- Awareness is the experience of now.
- Intelligence is the power of thought.
- Creativity is the power of expression.
- Idea of Self is the reference point of who is having the experience.
- Involvement is the activity of consciousness.
- Relationship is the continuous communication with the external world.
Now more precisely, here are the building blocks of consciousness:
- Awareness: sensations, observations, noticing, paying attention, emotions.
- Intelligence: learning, generalization, prediction, reasoning, setting targets.
- Creativity: novel approaches, surprise, hesitation, humour, stepping out of context,
courage.
- Idea of Self: ego, values, beliefs, morals, purpose/mission, intention.
- Involvement: introspection, reflection, inner feeling, desire, love, etc., action.
- Relationship: perceived commonness or difference to others “out there”, use of symbols, communication (language, music, writing, technology, etc.).
The Power of Intention in the Physical World
Intention is one of the building blocks of human consciousness, and science has shown how the energy of intention affects the world around us.
“For the last four hundred years, an unstated assumption of science is that human intention cannot affect what we call ‘physical reality.’ Our experimental research of the past decade shows that, for today’s world and under the right conditions, this assumption is no longer correct. We, humans, are much more than we think we are and Psychoenergetic Science continues to expand the proof of it.” William Tiller, Fellow to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and Chairman Emeritus of Stanford University’s Department of Materials Science
Collective intention through the synchronized meditation or prayer of many people around the world on a particular issue can have a significant effect on the world. People generally tend to be quite dubious about whether thoughts, intentions, or prayers can influence the world around them, but many scientific experiments have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that our thoughts do indeed affect the world around us. Indeed, it is old science, even though it may be new to hoteliers.
What Studies Reveal about Collective Intention
In 1984 an experimental study took place at three different gatherings of over 7,000 people who did meditation each morning and evening for three consecutive weeks to reduce global terrorism The study took place in Fairfield, Iowa (December 17, 1983, until January 6, 1984); at The Hague, Holland (December 21, 1984, until January 13, 1985); and in Washington, DC (July 1 until July 10, 1985). The results were surprising.
According to the Rand Corporation, a think-tank based in California, “acts of global terrorism resulting in fatalities and injuries were reduced by 72%.” Time series analysis was used in this study to rule out possibilities that the reduction in global terrorism was caused by pre-existing trends, drifts in data, or cycles. Scientists believe this is due to a coherent resonance being created in the Unified Quantum Field by those meditating.
The 7,000 people meditating created a Field Effect of harmonious coherence that spread throughout the collective, which in turn helped to reduce acts of terrorism (incoherent, disruptive energy).
This effect, also known as the Maharishi Effect, has had over 600 scientific studies conducted in 33 countries and in over 250 independent research institutions. The evidence overwhelmingly correlates synchronized group prayer and meditation as having extremely positive social, political, and economic benefits for the world. Positive correlations for numerous health benefits to the individual have also been observed and confirmed.
An article by D.W. Orme-Johnson, M.C. Dillbeck, and C.N. Alexander summarized the empirical research on the Maharishi Effect. (Orme-Johnson, D. W., Dillbeck, M. C., & Alexander, C. N (2003). Preventing terrorism and international conflict: Effects of large assemblies of participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 36, 283-302.) This article surveyed experimental studies documenting the sociological improvements resulting from the group practice of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Based on these results Maharishi asserts that the collective practice of the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi program in groups of 7,000 (the square root of one percent of the world’s population) produces coherence in the collective consciousness of the entire world. Statistically significant reductions in crime, accidents, fatalities, and disease, and other positive benefits on a global scale observed during experimental periods have established this as an effective means of changing collective consciousness and thereby changing the quality of life in the world simply by enlivening the source of order and coherence at the basis of nature, from the level of the Unified Field of Consciousness, which pervades and connects everything.
Today this structured and coherent energy is being calculated by the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), whose logistical home is the well-known Institute of Noetic Sciences. The GCP has been collecting data for 25 years, with about 70 host sites worldwide, using random number generators. The GCP notes that “Random number generators (RNGs) based on quantum tunneling produce completely unpredictable sequences of zeroes and ones. But when a great event synchronizes the feelings of millions of people, our network of RNGs becomes subtly structured. We calculate one in a trillion odds that the effect is due to chance. The evidence suggests an emerging noosphere or unifying field of consciousness described by sages in all cultures.”
Major world events, such as the 9/11 attack (2001), Nepal’s earthquake (2015), and worldwide meditations (2015), along with many other events, have been recorded by the GCP and have shown that the synchronization of RNG’s has occurred when thoughts, emotions, and intentions of many people from around the world get synchronized.
Dr. David Edwards, Professor of Government, the University of Texas at Austin says: “I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other ongoing social or psychological research program. It has survived a broader array of statistical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution. This work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policymakers alike.”
How This Phenomenon Can be Explained
Theoretical physicist Dr. John Hagelin explains: “We now understand that everything in life is essentially one. At the basis of all of the variety of life, there is unity. In our base, we are all one, and this unity on the foundations of mind and matter is consciousness, universal consciousness. And with this deep understanding, that consciousness is not generated by the brain, it’s not the result of molecular, chemical processes in the brain, but it’s fundamental in nature, is the basis of nature, this is called the Unified Field.”
Within the last 2-3 decades, modern theoretical physics has identified and mathematically described a unified field of intelligence or consciousness at the basis of all observable states of physical nature. This field constitutes a non-changing, unbounded field of intelligent consciousness, which pervades all forms and phenomena in the universe on a non-active, or silent, and unmanifest level. All matter and energy in the universe are now understood to be just excitations of this one, all-pervading field to which we are all connected, like waves of one ocean. Each individual’s consciousness is simply a wave on this intelligent ocean of consciousness from which it comes.
Dr. John Hagelin explains: “What we have discovered at the core basis of the universe is a single universal field of intelligence that unites gravity with electromagnetism, light with radioactivity, and the nuclear force. All the particles and forces of nature are all ripples on the same ocean of existence in the unified field or Quantum Superstring. All matter arises from this field of infinite possibility, from pure abstract potential. Our consciousness is composed of the vibrational waves in this unified field, which means all life is fundamentally one, as it arises from the same source. This reveals that the self is universal, which is the very definition of enlightenment”.
The view of the universe as consisting of billiard-ball-type objects, each separate, discrete, and isolated from the other, and behaving according to fixed, deterministic laws, belongs to the old classical Newtonian view of the world. This is the worldview upheld by the hotel industry; a worldview, which excludes energy and consciousness. In that worldview, there is no unified field of consciousness, and nobody can influence another person or place through his thoughts, feelings, and emotions, i.e. through his individual consciousness. As a result, all a hotel has to do to create the guest experience is to create mechanistic systems and for the staff to follow clearly written, mechanistic operational manuals. The hotel industry clearly needs to update its understanding of reality.
When we realise that all beings are part of the seamless fabric of creation, it naturally awakens in us a sense of connection with and compassion for the rest of life. We automatically broaden our scope of concern when we realize that we are inseparable from all that exists. We no longer see ourselves as isolated entities whose being stops at the edge of our skin. We see that, because we are all connected by means of a deep ocean of consciousness, a vital connection always exists among all beings.
Also, because we are all connected in a unified field of consciousness, we can meditate or carry out heart coherence exercises, for example, to influence the energetic feeling of the hotel or guests staying in the hotel, and also send love energy to influence a guest room or the whole area of the hotel. Of course, the effect goes much further than just the hotel.
Dr. Hagelin says: “Since the unified field is an all-pervading field at the basis of consciousness and matter when unity is enlivened in the individual, unity is enlivened everywhere. This is a field effect of consciousness.” Moreover, we unite within the field, and it is “enlivened everywhere.” Unless Executive Boards understand that there is a unified field and that human consciousness can influence the energetic feeling of the guests or the hotel area, it is unlikely that they will encourage staff throughout the group to meditate and send energy, which is beneficial to the hospitality experience in the group’s hotels. Moreover, it is unlikely that they will change from SOP-Customer Satisfaction to energetic, spiritual, heart-based, and consciousness-oriented hospitality, which I call Heart-Based Hospitality.
A New Paradigm Is Needed
An abundance of robust scientific research has shown that qualities of human consciousness, i.e. thoughts, feelings, emotions, intentions, and beliefs, influence the physical world. Classical physics has been very successful at understanding the physical nature of the universe, yet this worldview assumes that reality is limited to unconscious matter. We know that this is not true. Classical physics and its associated materialist and mechanistic worldview is, therefore, unable to accept or understand non-physical phenomena, such as energy, spirit, and consciousness. The SOP-Customer Satisfaction concept is based on this obsolete science, and consequently, hotel group Executive Boards cannot accept these aspects of reality either.
Hotel group Executive Boards should study Quantum science. In addition, hotel conferences should broaden their choice of speakers to include scientists, and not just feature CEOs and Vice-Presidents who have spent their whole careers within the obsolete Newtonian paradigms; otherwise, there will be no radical change in hospitality.
There is an urgent need in society generally as well as in the hotel industry for a new paradigm that allows the mind, consciousness, and non-material phenomena to be accepted into the equation of reality. There is strong resistance, though, because the evidence of the impact of human consciousness on the world is upsetting to many members of the scientific status quo. Careers, institutions, and corporations have been established on the foundation that there is no way that energy, spirituality, or consciousness can affect the physical world. Just imagine what would happen to the pharmaceutical industry, if people knew that they could cure themselves; and to the industrial military establishment, if people knew that they could create peace by collective intention.
The same resistance is happening in the hotel industry regarding the use of energy, spirituality, the power of the heart, and consciousness to create unknown levels of hospitality. The status quo cannot accept this even though it is based on ancient knowledge about the world, religious traditions and texts, and scientific research. This is understandable because accepting it would mean that the SOP-Customer Satisfaction concept would have to be replaced by a new energetic, spiritual, and consciousness-oriented concept of hospitality.
There would be a tremendous upheaval in the hotel industry as it changed from a materialist, mechanistic worldview to the energetic and spiritual Quantum worldview. Hotel groups would have to change their internal organisation, their Human Resources and Training systems, their corporate templates for opening new hotels, their operational manuals, the philosophy of all of their brands, their Sales and Marketing strategies, and their websites. In addition, the staff in every hotel would have to be trained and developed differently; amongst other upheavals.
There would be a rush to change everything quickly, and the hotel groups, which did not change or changed too slowly, might not survive the revolution in hospitality. Indeed, the resulting changes could bring down even the biggest hotel groups, if they did not adapt in time. Inevitably, some will resist change and they will be auctioned off.
But change is inevitable because the evidence about the beneficial effects of energy, spirituality, and consciousness is already overwhelming:
“Major advances in science – revolutions, even – follow the collapse of outworn paradigms, whose overthrow is forced by the accumulation of empirical evidence that violates the paradigm.” Dave Pruett, Former NASA researcher; Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, James Madison University
Science Has Arrived at the Doorstep of Energy and Spirituality
The first echoes of the need for a new paradigm that addresses the non-physical reality came from Einstein in the early 1930s. In his research, he observed something so bizarre that he could barely believe what he was seeing. He called it “spooky action at a distance”, which later became two of the main concepts studied in the quantum information sciences, known as entanglement and non-locality.
Entanglement occurs when two particles are so deeply linked (by a quantum field) that one particle can instantaneously influence the other even at great distances non-locally. This implies that the physical distance between the particles is irrelevant and that everything is connected. They just look separate.
Quantum Mechanics is showing us how the universe works, and it is very relevant to the hotel industry. We are learning that everything within the universe is interconnected. We may think that objects, planets, stars, and galaxies have no connection to each other, but they do. Quantum entanglement means that every action, thought, feeling, and emotion is connected and can affect the whole in one manner or another. The Maharishi Effect demonstrates this.
We are all made up of atoms, photons, electrons, and an array of quantum particles. We are all in a constant state of vibration. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions affect what frequency
our molecular structure vibrates at. The energy we emanate by frequency is speaking to the universe and to each other because we are all connected, we are all entangled, and we are all one.
The state of our being affects everything in the world at some level. The collective state of planet Earth and the beings upon it affects the universe. We truly are a lot more powerful than we think. “The shift from materialistic science to post-materialistic science may be of vital importance to the evolution of human civilization. It may be even more pivotal than the transition from geo-centrism to heliocentrism.” A Manifesto for Post-Materialistic Science
Maybe you have experienced a moment where you randomly thought of a loved one about whom you had not thought about in a long time. Then the phone rings and you pick it up to hear their voice. This illustrates how we are all entangled. These sorts of synchronicities happen often to many people.
Physicists Admit That the Universe Is Immaterial, Mental, and Spiritual
We know that a correlation between consciousness and our physical, material world does indeed exist.
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” Max Planck, the theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory.
“A fundamental conclusion of the new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality. Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a “mental” construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: “The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter, we ought rather to hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. Get over it, and accept the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial-mental and spiritual.” (R.C. Henry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, “The Mental Universe”; Nature 436:29,2005)
The Quantum Double-Slit experiment is a very popular experiment used to examine how consciousness and our physical material world are intertwined. It is a great example that documents how factors associated with consciousness and our physical, and material world are connected in some way. Although this is one of the most popular experiments used to show the connection between consciousness and physical reality, there are several other studies, which show clearly that consciousness, or factors that are associated with consciousness, directly affect our reality in some way. A number of experiments in the field of parapsychology have also demonstrated this time and time again. So, what I am saying is nothing new from a scientific point of view.
