Here’s a combination of quantum physics, mindfulness, science fiction(perhaps) and spirituality. This may end up sounding a bit “out there” but what the heck…fun is fun and it’s entertaining to speculate “what if” even if you can’t prove it(yet).
There have been many studies about mindfulness that say if you practice mindfulness in a certain way predictable outcomes will happen. Science let’s us predict the probability of repeating results if a certain protocol is followed. To my knowledge no one has actually gone to first principles as the source of these interactions. We rely on cause and effect and are unable to actually prove the mechanism behind the cause.
In the case of mindfulness within a spiritual context we can come up with an interesting possibility. What if we are spiritual beings in/or around a physical body. What if that spiritual being was essentially coherent, organized energy and affected its surroundings in a coherent, organized, energetic way. If the spirit occupied the body then we would have an ideal situation where the energetics influence the body and awaken the corresponding energetic system in the body. At that point the body would reflect and express the energy of the spirit by exhibiting similar qualities of coherence and organization.
There are many spiritual traditions that say the spirit has yet to fully occupy the body. They say there are many reasons for that and at the core of those reasons is a hesitancy to fully occupy a body that has a tendency towards fear. Fear and fearlessness working on cohabiting.
Let’s say attention is the mechanism that moves energy/spirit much like a rudder steers a boat. Since mindfulness is about attention in the present moment let’s say the body represents the present moment since all mindfulness practices begin with the “mind/body”. In this scenario you have mindfulness as the mechanism that steers the energy/spirit into the body through meditation and practice. So….perhaps it is that coherent, organized energy/spirit that creates the transformation of the body and sets the stage for healing and realization of human potential. That would explain the first principle of why mindfulness works and would encompass spirituality and quantum physics(energy on a sub atomic level and it’s behavior). If in fact the process of embodying spirit is a first principle then we still have a way to go in our understanding of these broader issues. So is this explanation just science fiction and if so, is science fiction merely a glimpse as to what is possible as time unfolds?