In this fast moving world, we are entering a new era in the history of mankind. We are moving upward in our consciousness as is evidenced by the appearance on the scene of Supercomputers. Over the past 50 years, a supercomputer was defined as any computer that cost more than 10 million dollars. Then in 1994, Doug Matzke (a computer engineer and programmer at Texas Instruments) reminds us, Peter Shor invented an algorithm (a formula) that would potentially make a quantum computer the ultimate Supercomputer. This algorithm would allow a quantum computer to solve a factorization problem (used in encryption codes) such that any conceivable traditional supercomputer could not solve, even if it ran a billion years.

"Quantum computers," Matzke told me in a personal communication, "can be so smart because they rely on qubits (information bits) rather than traditional bits used in classical supercomputers. Since humans also rely on quantum processes in the nervous system, some scientists have proposed that humans may be 'quantum computers' also, which supports the idea of Supermind."

Quantum Supercomputers are able to operate outside of space/time and, therefore, outside of constriction. Operating outside of time, they emulate thought, even, in a sense, beyond brain. These Supercomputers record information. They bring us into a world in which information is physical, palpable and measurable, as if it were a physical entity.

Here's an example of cutting-edge thinking: Black holes (in the universe) are akin to Supercomputers. They are pure information operating outside of space/time. According to information gleaned from the latest conference of the International Society for Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine (ISSEEM) -- featuring many of the leading thinkers in these fields -- scientists have observed that when information is introduced into a black hole (theoretically this can be done) the size of the black hole increases. The circumference, called the "event horizon," becomes larger. To the extent that it becomes larger as information is introduced, black holes have "swallowed" a "bit" of information and therefore have become more of an "information something." It is conceived that a black hole is a rotating something, a kind of bit-blender, casting out bits of information so that they swirl at the circumference. All of this brings us into a new world of the increasing power of thought.

I was struck when I perceived that the Quantum Supercomputer has characteristics so close to the Supermind, so parallel to it, so much the same. The Supercomputer has become a veritable "Hal" (of the 2001 movie), bringing us to the edge of Super-consciousness--to the New World we are about to inhabit.

Hard Science Joins Hands with the Subtle

We are now able to see into the subtle world of etheric energy. The Himalayan Masters of the East have predicted this. For example, the "Tibetan" (Alice Bailey's instructor who brought so much of the Theosophical insight to us), predicted that the time would soon come when we would no longer need our instruments for diagnosis nor our scalpels for surgery. Diagnosis and healing would take place through the subtle body, especially the etheric body. We seem to be on the leading edge of this prediction. [Editor's note: The work of Dr. Valerie Hunt at UC-Berkeley (Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness) reports on results of scientific instrumentation as proof of awareness and healing abilities of the psyche.]

Various tools that put energy to use are gaining currency, at least much more so than in the times of Rife, Tesla, Reich and others. One instance of this is a new apparatus called the "Illuminator." The Illuminator makes the ambient light of a room coherent, like a laser. Since the cells of the body emit light, coherent light, a special circumstance has been set up. Cell light matches ambient light, and therefore a new set of conditions prevail when a photograph is taken. This parallels the fact that the cells of our body emit light, but it is coherent light. Thus, when the Illuminator has filled the room with its energy and a Polaroid picture is taken of a subject, a new set of conditions prevails. If the subject who is being photographed is in balance, the picture is clear. But if the person holds a harmful medication in hand, the picture becomes fuzzy; light has been disturbed. When the medication is removed there is reversion to coherence and clarity. The same is true if there is a disturbing relative in the room. The picture of the two, the subject and the relative, becomes hazy, but clears again when the relative is no longer there. More than that, these photographs have revealed (and I have seen this) what could perhaps be a past life self superimposed on the present self. Or, in another photograph, a dear departed father superimposed on the picture of the subject. On still another photograph, the seven chakras, electrical swirls of energy, standing next to the subject herself. If these experiments turn out to be valid, it would mean that we are now peering beyond the physical.

Such advances can be used for good or ill. Fortunately, there is a hierarchy of advanced Beings hovering overhead. My belief is that they respond to the invitation of the pure of heart, and through them they exercise the power to protect the world, and such new inventions, from harm. They also open the valves of knowledge and inspiration to allow Superknowledge and Superconsciousness to inspire those who are pure of heart and pure of intention.

Multiplication of Energy

Again--there is such congruence between Supermind and Supercomputer. This realization came to me during the last ISSEEM conference. I am a computer novice, but when I heard the presentation by Doug Matzke, I thrilled, for I knew intuitively that here (as he talked about Supercomputer) was the Supermind on the scene.

Supercomputers have been developed from the addition of one computer with another and anaother; each additional integration multiplies the power of the first--exponentially. Computer cooperates with computer, lending energy to each other, so that the result becomes far greater than the sum of the parts. This is the way we humans work together when we share in the higher mind. When we meet in groups and in common endeavor, we multiply energy. Group energy grows larger as the group grows. As in computing, so with the mind; one thing is added to the other, and finally what falls out is a common answer--the answer. This occurs with stunning rapidity. So it does with the Supercomputer which solves problems so rapidly, problems which the fastest conventional computer would require more than a lifetime to resolve.

Our minds are quantum computers: For example, a table glass is made of a tremendous number of constituents, molecules that contain atoms, atoms that hold protons and electrons. Each knows its proper place. It is as if a tremendous mathematical precision lies behind this marvelous coordination into a table glass. Yet, when we look at the glass we can take all of this in, and from the myriad possibilities of sight, vision and memory, know in an instant that this is indeed a glass.

Coherent Energy

There are so many other lines of coincidence: Laser light is made by organizing scattered light into coherent light as all of the photons are placed neatly in a row. This increases the power of light enormously, as our experience tells. This same coherence functions in the Supercomputer as a number of computers integrate. There is a smooth cooperative effort, creating a smooth "superposition"--a coherence. But the same is true with us as we operate in the Supermind/Superworld. When we surrender selfish and separate interest for group interest, we become coherent. Under these circumstances, miracles can be achieved--witness the miracle of the survival of Britain during World War II. At that time all the material and technical forces were stacked against them, yet they prevailed. Think, too, of the joining of mind during the Harmonic Convergence, when we united to make a better world.

Another parallel between Supercomputer and Supermind: Quantum states (Supercomputer states) operate at speeds faster than light. They parallel the speed of thought and cooperate, much as we do in the thought world. Instead of accumulating physical products, they accumulate information, knowledge. In quantum states, when the rate of vibration goes higher, there is no loss of energy. Our vibrations, too, become higher when we radiate love and knowledge. There is no loss, only an increase of both. Love and knowledge are, in fact, increased the more they are given away.

One more parallel: In the material world, opposites attract (e.g., positive and negative charges on the proton and electron). In quantum states, likes attract. This, too, defines the difference between a lower plane of consciousness and a higher one. As we ascend in personality and grow closer to the All, we find likeness in all people and in all things. The fact that Will Rogers "never met a man he didn¹t like" is also true of us, as we get to know each other. That is a function of the higher plane. Evolution brings society, and us, from individual orientation to group orientation--then to planet orientation and on up to cosmic consciousness.

Toward the Evolved Self

"It from Bit": Physicists call this the development of information out of the lower states of energy. "It" is in the information world; "Bit" is closer to the material realm. We do something similar when we meditate. We transfer attention from the material world and the physical body to the abstract mind. As we develop a more evolved self, we become less interested in material and physical things, and more in the aesthetic and altruistic. Entry into the quiet mind brings appreciation of higher values and, often, contact with the higher world. This world is inhabited by higher entities who will transmit inspiration and intuitive messages. This is turning "it" into "bit."

You are probably familiar with the explanations of the downward arc of involution, from the On-High to the physical, and then a bounce upward to the ascending arc, evolution, evolving to higher and higher states of consciousness. Accordingly, we not only descend from higher consciousness into manifestation, but we evolve upward toward higher and higher states of expanded love and joining together. We see this in psychotherapy all the time. In group therapy, people unite as a family and are very eager to help each other. They resonate with each other. Involution/Evolution is a continuing and round robin process. It goes on all the time. Therefore it is easy to see "it" from "bit" and "bit" from "it" in clinical practice.

How grateful we can be that we are majestically, and with fulfillment of inspiration, entering into this new era of Supermind, Supercomputer, Superconsciousness.

Maurie D. Pressman, M.D. is the author of Enter the Supermind and co-author (with Patricia Joudry) of Twin Souls: A Guide to Finding Your True Spiritual Partner.

Dr. Pressman is Emeritus Chairman of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. He is Medical Director at the Center for Psychiatric Wellness, clinics that operate in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J. These clinics bridge traditional and spiritual psychotherapy. Dr. Pressman can be reached at 200 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; telephone 215-922-0204; fax 215-922-3008.