3 Influential And Life-Changing Books That Will Shift Your Paradigms
By: Laine Kaleja
Tags: Self Improvement, Life, Self, Psychology, Books

2. “The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live, and Love” by Mel Schwartz

Picture from amazon.co.uk.

When I got to Chapter 7 in Switch On Your Brain — a chapter about Quantum Physics — I wanted to understand quantum physics better and found this book.

I was never interested in physics, and it had never been easy to understand for me.

However, with Switch On Your Brain and The Possibility Principle, I have quickly become very interested in quantum physics. I see how by understanding quantum physics’ principles, we can change our worldview from old, outdated paradigms that don’t serve us anymore to a paradigm that allows us a more abundant and flourishing life.

When writing this, I am only in Chapter 6 of The Possibility Principle book. Still, it has already been so intriguing and life-changing for me. It has been hard to resist using every moment to continue reading it.

Nevertheless, just like with other educational self-help books, you can’t read it all in one night. There are thoughts and ideas it takes time to process and reflect about.

This is a very practical book. Since Mel Schwartz is a psychotherapist, not a physicist. Therefore, his explanation of fundamental quantum physics principles is easy and helpful. He also gives a lot of real-life examples from his clients. It is easy to relate to these examples to recognize the toxic patterns in our own thinking and perceptions.

The Possibility Principle reveals how we can apply the three core tenets of quantum physics — inseparability, uncertainty, and potentiality — to live the life we choose, free from the wounds of our past and the constraints of our old beliefs.

Old Mechanistic Paradigm

We have been living under the Newtonian worldview of the mechanistic paradigm, which has dominated philosophy and science until the twentieth century, when quantum physics revealed that reality looks quite different.

The world’s mechanistic model says that the world consists of separate and inert objects disconnected from one another, interacting only through cause and effect.

According to this picture of reality, the world operates as a giant machine. We become cogs in the machine, detached from one another and disconnected from the universe at large. Through this filter, we are all separated.

Another core principle of the mechanistic paradigm is determinism. Determinism means that everything (including our moral choices) is pre-determined by previously existing causes. That’s why we seek certainty so much.

Most people fear uncertainty; it causes them anxiety. We are scared of the unknown and seek the safety that the environment, people, choices, and habits we already know bring.

“As a culture, the epidemic of anxiety that we experience is caused in large part by our addiction to certainty, which has us fear and avoid the unknown.” — Mel Schwartz

New Quantum Conscioussness Paradigm

Discovering how things work within the quantum realm makes us look at the world and our lives entirely differently.

Within the quantum realm, the rule of certainty no longer prevails. Uncertainty is the fabric of the quantum world.

And, in reality, uncertainty helps us to uncover our human potential. When we realize that everything is not anymore pre-determined, then anything is possible.

According to quantum physics, nothing is anymore in a fixed state of being — everything is a reality-making process. We can be creators of our destinies with our thoughts and consciousness.

We are no longer merely observers with limited ability to change something. We have a participatory role in the universe.

We can make and choose reality with our thoughts.

“The primary driver of reality is consciousness, not the material things of the mechanistic worldview.” — Mel Schwartz

When we understand the quantum world, there is no more either-or thinking, such as it is either “right” or “wrong,” etc.

Most people protect their egos by defending the need to be right. That is one of the most common ways that lead people towards disagreements, fights, and bitterness — their need to be correct.

However, when we realize that nothing is either-or, but instead either-and-or, it opens us up to wonder, inquiry, and new possibilities.

“The paradox here is that vulnerability of thought — being comfortable with being uncertain or wrong — actually makes us powerful and strong.” — Mel Schwartz

At the end of every chapter, Mel Schwartz provides a practical takeaway, for example:

“When you struggle with unsatisfactory or troublesome aspects of your life, ask yourself, “How is my fear around the unknown getting in the way of my change process?” Imagine yourself welcoming and embracing the uncertainty, and you’ll gain a sense of self-empowerment that can free you from the grip that certainty may have on you.”

If I would give stars to the books according to how much they can change my perceptions for the better, this book gets ten stars.

Reading about the old paradigm of mechanistic worldview and certainty — how we see everything as separated, determined, and static, has been eye-opening for me. I have seen this type of thinking everywhere — in University, in my own mind, in conversations with others, etc.

Understanding how things work differently from the quantum physics perspective is helpful. It helps us recognize how our ego has been the cause of a lot of anxiety and suffering. And it helps us courageously embrace uncertainty and take responsibility for our thinking as we can create our lives with our thoughts.

Reading this book also helps us switch on our metacognitive level of thinking — to see how we are thinking at the very foundational level. To think about our thinking and change what is old and limiting.