Can the human mind influence physical matter in ways we’re only beginning to understand? Groundbreaking research has shown that if mental intention is directed and focused on a physical object, it can alter its properties. For example, chocolate and tea treated with beneficial intentions can further enhance their mood-elevating properties, while treated water can improve plant growth and enhance cell activity. But can this interesting effect extend to something as complex as cancer cells?
The idea is related to the “quantum observer effect,” which suggests that observation or intention influences how physical systems behave. Inspired by this, with colleagues in Taiwan we set out to test whether directed mental intention might limit the behavior of glioblastoma cells – a particularly aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer.
Glioblastoma grows rapidly, resists standard treatments like surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and often comes back after treatment. Its behavior is further complicated by genetic differences among patients, making it one of the toughest cancers to treat. With survival rates remaining devastatingly low, there’s an urgent need for new and innovative therapies.
In our latest study, we hypothesized that water imbued with mental intention could reduce the migration of glioblastoma cells – a critical factor in the cancer’s ability to spread. This bold hypothesis could open the door to entirely new ways of thinking about and ultimately treating cancer.
How we did the study
To test this, human glioblastoma cells were exposed to either intentionally treated water or untreated water. The process began with an ultrapure form of distilled water, which was then divided into 20 glass bottles. Using a random number generator, a research assistant assigned these bottles into two groups: A and B. Then, four senior monks at the Bliss Wisdom Buddhist Foundation in Taiwan performed a special intention ritual. Their goal? To “imprint” positive effects into the water that would potentially reduce the harmful properties of cancer cells absorbing it. This focused intention was directed only at the treated water bottle group, while both sets of bottles remained in the same room to ensure environmental consistency.
To eliminate bias, the research assistant and monks were the only ones who knew which bottles were treated. Everyone else involved in the study, including the researchers conducting the experiments, remained blind to the group assignments until after the data was analyzed.
The treated and untreated water were sent to the lab, where they were used to grow glioblastoma cells. We then measured cell behavior, including their migration behavior (that is, how fast and far they were able to spread out), to see if the treated water had any effect.
What we found: mental intentions slowed down cancer cell movement
We found that glioblastoma cells exposed to intentionally treated water moved significantly less than those exposed to untreated water. This suggests that the treated water had a measurable effect on slowing the spread of these cancer cells, offering a potential breakthrough in understanding how intention might influence cancer cell behavior.
What does it mean?
While these findings are exciting, they raise as many questions as they answer. How could mental intention influence water structure at a molecular level? And how does the change in water affect cells? Does it affect the bonds between molecules or alter cell protein behavior? Some theories suggest that cryptochrome, a quantum-sensitive protein found in many living organisms, might act as a mediator of these effects.
Could some other factor besides intention have caused the results? Experimenter bias is a possible explanation, however, the strict double-blind controlled design of our study was used to reduce that likelihood. More research is needed to confirm the findings and uncover the process of how intention can be stored or “transmitted” in water.
A new frontier for science and medicine
The findings are exciting because if mental intention slows the spread of cancer cells—even by influencing something as fundamental as the water in their growth medium —it opens up entirely new avenues for understanding the connections among mind, matter, and health. Could this mental “power” be harnessed as a complementary approach for treating cancer? It leads to fascinating questions about the mind’s untapped potential and its role in science and medicine.
Read more about this study and the results in the paper “Effects of intentionally-treated water on cell migration of human glioblastoma cells” published in EXPLORE.